Elon Musk has an established track record for news-worthy tweets. His latest is in response to Jeremy Buckingham, a New South Wales MP who recently tweeted at him asking about the potential cost of a solution for Australia’s most congested city’s major traffic problem.
His solution: cracking open the Blue Mountains and installing a high-speed transit tunnel. Cars would not actually drive through this tunnel but instead would be secured to platforms that travel at high speeds between stations.
About $15M/km for a two way high speed transit, so probably around $750M plus maybe $50M/station
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 16, 2019
Musk said that this tunnel is achievable for a $1B price (it’s not determined whether this estimate is in USD or AUD). Analysis by Transport for NSW has determined that Musk’s proposal may be a bit off. They believe that the tunnel would likely cost three times Musk’s offer.
However, it just might be worth it. Research has shown that Congestion could cost the Australian economy up to $37B each year by 2030 without significantly improved infrastructure.
For now, all we can do is wait and see if these Tweets become a reality.
