Oligarch Elon Musk does a lot of things. He’s currently leading a program to destroy the federal government (DOGE), he’s building rocket ships and fancy cars, he posts shit every day at a rate that seems almost impossible, and apparently he’s planning to build a 10-mile underground tunnel in Dubai.
Well, let’s clear up some of the above. Musk is definitely disrupting the federal government – he seems to be working overtime on this initiative. He’s definitely an oligarch, and he’s definitely a jackass. He certainly tweets at a rate that seems impossible. But Musk himself doesn’t build anything. Tesla employees build his cars, and SpaceX employees build his spaceships. According to a recent Bloomberg report, illegal immigrants built his Gigafactory in Texas. And his tunnel and infrastructure company, The Boring Company, plans to build a tunnel in Dubai.
On Thursday, the company announced its underground project in a press release on its website. “Dubai, under the visionary leadership of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has consistently strived to be at the forefront of global urban development,” the press release said. “The initial Dubai Loop pilot project will have 11 stations and 17 kilometers of tunnel and carry more than 20,000 passengers per hour, with the goal of eventually expanding to Dubai Loop, the next generation underground transportation system across the emirate of Dubai.”
If you’ve never heard of The Loop, you’re in luck. Essentially, Boring’s Loop is a network of underground tunnels that cars (including Tesla) can travel through at extremely low speeds. Musk first unveiled The Loop in Las Vegas in 2021, at the time it was just one tunnel, and it seemed like a ridiculously ridiculous project. Recent reports from ProPublica have revealed that Musk’s company is now building a wider Loop network under Vegas, with the planned tunnel system set to stretch 68 miles. However, as ProPublica notes, because the project is privately funded, it has not had to undergo “the vetting typical of public transportation systems, including lengthy government studies,” which gives it a distinctly sketchy tone.
God only knows why Musk decided this was a good idea, but he has the money and the power to make it happen, so we’re all here. The Dubai project also sounds considerably riskier than the US project, as it states that Teslas traveling through the future tunnel system will be able to travel at speeds of “up to 100 mph.” It also makes big claims about capacity, claiming that the future system “aims to serve more than 100,000 passengers per hour.” That’s all I can say: Good luck, Dubai! Perhaps you will be more fortunate than we are.
