He’s built spaceships as well as electric cars and is about to open a ‘disturbingly long’ tunnel beneath Los Angeles.

But not everyone is delighted with Elon Musk’s impressive ambition, which has inspired him to dig a huge subterranean passage which will eventually carry passengers in small ‘pods’.

Residents of Hawthorne, a city in LA where the poverty rate is just below 20%, have spoken out against the building project by a Musk-owned firm called The Boring Company that’s taking place under their homes.

When Musk to dig his tunnel beneath a richer area, residents sued his company and it ditched its plans.


Will the billionaire make our congested cities more pleasant – or ruin the lives of people living near his massive hole?

Now one Hawthorne local has told The Atlantic that they are planning to move away, whilst others feel they don’t have the political or economic power to fight against the tunnel.



‘They have so much money, so much capital, to make things happen, that your vote wouldn’t mean anything,’ said binman Fred Lopez

“But I’m a nobody, and I know there’s a lot of political money involved with this big project for the city.’

Vicky Warren lives on 120th Street, where the 14-foot tunnel is being built roughly 10 metres underground.

A view of the street which has Musk’s tunnel running underneath it

The area is polluted and noisy, with planes taking off from a nearby airport.

She said: ‘We’re just sandwiched in between so much already.’

Others claimed they only realised what was going on when the Boring Company purchased a dilapidated house and started digging a hole.

However, there’s no doubting the impressive ambition of Musk’s project, which is designed to cut pollution and traffic.

In October, the billionaire said the tunnel – which will end up being 2.7 miles – will open by the end of the year.

Walked full length of Boring Co tunnel under LA tonight. Disturbingly long. On track for opening party Dec 10. Will be very one-dimensional. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 3, 2018

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

The Boring Company has already built a test tunnel near the SpaceX HQ in Hawthorne, California, which Musk says will have an opening party in December that means pedestrians and cyclists can try it out.

‘To solve the problem of soul-destroying traffic, roads must go 3D, which means either flying cars or tunnels,’ explains the Boring Company in its FAQ.

Elon Musk speaks near a Falcon 9 rocket on September 17, 2018 in Hawthorne, California (Photo: Getty Images)

‘Unlike flying cars, tunnels are weatherproof, out of sight and won’t fall on your head. A large network of tunnels many levels deep would fix congestion in any city, no matter how large it grew (just keep adding levels).

‘The key to making this work is increasing tunnelling speed and dropping costs by a factor of 10 or more – this is the goal of The Boring Company’.