The Boring Company is going to build a free tunnel somewhere in the United States. They are looking for proposals up to 1 mile in length for a 12-foot diameter tunnel that can be used for pedestrians, utilities, a Loop, or any other use case. So this got me thinking, if San Jose were to submit a proposal where should it be?
At first I thought about connecting SJC with Downtown San Jose, but there is no way to do that within a mile. 1 mile isn't even enough to connect to Caltrain in Santa Clara. The only option would be connecting a Loop to a Lightrail Station on First, but that would likely not get a ton of use. Then I looked for options in various parts of Downtown to find the maximum utility you could get within 1 mile. Here was my best effort:
- Stop 1 - Diridon Station / SAP
- Stop 2 - Guadalupe River Trail / Adobe HQ
- Stop 3 - Plaza De Cesar Chavez / The Tech Interactive / Convention Center
- Stop 4 - SJSU Campus
For the ride vehicle, I could see something like the old DASH Downtown Shuttle. Even a 20-person AV that just goes back and forth between Diridon and SJSU would make it so much faster to get around Downtown and encourage more people (especially SJSU students) to take advantage of public transit. What do you think? Is there a better 1 mile option?
Source: Boring
I have major political and personal objections to musk, but, putting those aside, the other major problem I see with these tunnels is that they are not safe...
ReplyDelete(1) no proper ventilation to the surface
(2) no emergency egress of passengers to the surface
(3) no room for emergency equipment, such as fire fighting equipment, to get to the teslas and/or pods
He's looking for municipalities that will let him build things like that...but those safeguards are there for a reason. Sounds like something else he has been doing lately, eh?
Let me put it this way, just imagine if you were in one of these, and the battery caught fire. I'm not even sure there's room to open the door and walk away. :-O
Having said all that, it's about a mile from SJC to the nearest light rail (metro/airport), I think.
Ventilation would have to be added similar to the Vegas loop. The tunnels are wide enough to get out on either side and walk, but it would require specialized equipment for an emergency. It could also be a pedestrian or bike tunnel with no vehicles at all, but then I'd worry about safety and vandalism.
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