Elon Musk's latest venture, The Boring Company, had its start when Musk grew frustrated with infamous Los Angeles-area traffic. Now it looks like the city might be warming to his vision. On Twitter, Musk describes "promising conversations" with L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti "regarding tunnel network that would carry cars, bikes & pedestrians."

No specific were offered, but, speaking to the complexity of public works projects, Musk says that permits for a hypothetical project would be harder to grasp than the technology. Given that such a project has the potential to change the lives of the over 10 million people who live in Los Angeles County, that complexity is understandable, and it's a good sign that city at least isn't closed off to the Boring idea.

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Garcetti's term as mayor has been plagued with traffic problems, which might explain why he's becoming seemingly more open to new solutions. In 2016, the first full year of his Vision Zero project to reduce preventable traffic deaths, the city saw an increase of almost 43 percent in fatalities. Things are looking grim in 2017 as well, with a 22 percent rise above 2016's numbers so far. Just a week ago, Garcetti was proposing a monorail to connect disparate parts of the city. He mentions Musk's name and his tunneling technology in a recent interview on a local news station.

A tunneling project in Los Angeles wouldn't be the first time Musk has injected himself into transportation debates in California. Musk has criticized the state's slow moving dream project of a bullet train between San Francisco and Los Angeles, offering his maglev Hyperloop train as an alternative. While critics have said the Hyperloop is "dramatically overblown and the price is drastically underestimated," that hasn't stopped Musk from building a test track for his train.

That test track, in the Nevada desert, won't affect many people's lives. If it fails, it fails. None of Musk's prior projects have affected as many people as The Boring Company could. Once the tunnels start drilling, there will be no turning back for the city that makes a deal with Musk.

Source: Engadget

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David Grossman

David Grossman is a staff writer for PopularMechanics.com. He's previously written for The Verge, Rolling Stone, The New Republic and several other publications. He's based out of Brooklyn.