Elon Musk has shared the first ever photo of the traffic-busting tunnel that will allow Los Angeles commuters to travel under the city at 150mph (240kph).

The 150-metre (500ft) shaft, excavated by the billionaire's tunnel-digging firm The Boring Company, 'should be 2 miles [3.2km] long in three or four months', he said.

The SpaceX and Tesla founder came up with the idea for the tunnelling firm while frustrated at being stuck in heavy LA traffic.

He plans to build a series of tunnels underneath the city that could ferry cars in pods on 'electric skates' to avoid LA's notoriously busy roads.

We have known for months that Musk's Boring Company has been testing its equipment beneath SpaceX's LA headquarters.

But this is the first image he has shared of what appears to be a completed underground system since the firm was granted permission in August to dig under public roads around campus.

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Elon Musk has shared a new photo of the traffic-busting tunnel that will allow Los Angeles commuters to zip under the city at 150mph (240kph). The 150-metre (500ft) shaft 'should be 2 miles [3.2km] long in three or four months', he said

BORING COMPANY Elon Musk has outlined how his Boring Company will work, claiming: Tunnelling costs must be reduced by a factor of more than 10 Key to this is smaller tunnels that can be dug more quickly Will work to increase the speed of the Tunnel Boring Machine Envisions a new breed of smaller, more powerful boring machines, with triple the power of current devices, that can tunnel continuously Advertisement

Over the weekend, Musk posted a new image of the firm's first tunnel on his Twitter and Instagram accounts, laying out where the underground track system will run in separate comments.

In response to a user asking how long the tunnel is, Musk tweeted: '500 ft so far. Should be 2 miles long in three or four months and hopefully stretch the whole 405 N-S corridor from LAX to the 101 in a year or so.'

On Instagram, the billionaire gave more detail on where the track would run and how it would operate.

'First route will go roughly parallel to the 405 from LAX to [Highway] 101, with on/offramps every mile or so,' he wrote.

'It will work like a fast freeway, where electric skates carrying vehicles and people pods on the main artery travel at up to 150mph [240 kph], and the skates switch to side tunnels to exit and enter.

'This is a big difference compared to subways that stop at every stop, whether you're getting off or not.'

Musk's proposed first tunnel will run from LAX to Culver City, then to Santa Monica, and end in Westwood. Musk claims the tunnel trip will take five minutes, compared to 45 minutes driving in normal LA traffic

As well as new images of his initial tunnel, Musk also laid out where the track would run under the city (pictured). The SpaceX and Tesla founder came up with the idea for the tunnelling firm while frustrated at being stuck in heavy LA traffic

In a comment on Instagram, the billionaire gave more detail on where the track would run and how it would operate

THE BORING COMPANY'S TUNNEL In August, it was reported that Elon Musk's firm would build a two-mile-long test tunnel in Los Angeles, after the City Council voted four to one in favour of his ambitious plans. The extension will run 13.5 metres (44 feet) under public roads around the SpaceX headquarters, and is the first time the Boring Company has been allowed to dig outside it's property line. This dry run will make sure plans actually work - if it doesn't, the city can request the tunnel is filled with concrete or soil. 'They won't even know we're there', Brett Horton, senior director of facilities and construction at SpaceX assured members of the council. 'This is groundbreaking, this is establishing a precedent, and I think we all agree that we want to make sure that this goes off without a hitch,' Hawthorne's Mayor Alex Vargas said. The company assured citizens that if the soil moves by as little as half an inch, work will stop immediately. Musk has since posted his plans to Instagram: 'First route will go roughly parallel to the 405 from LAX to [Highway] 101, with on/offramps every mile or so,' he wrote in October. 'It will work like a fast freeway, where electric skates carrying vehicles and people pods on the main artery travel at up to 150mph [240 kph], and the skates switch to side tunnels to exit and enter. 'This is a big difference compared to subways that stop at every stop, whether you're getting off or not.' Advertisement

Earlier this year, the Boring Company's first tunnel-digging machine, called 'Godot' (pictured), began digging test tunnels under LA

The tech boss took to social media in August to share progress on his traffic-beating tunnel beneath Los Angeles, revealing it is now big enough to fit a Tesla Model S. Pictured is a test tunnel

Since he first announced plans to dig a tunnel under LA last December, Musk has regularly updated fans with his Boring Company's progress via social media.

Earlier this month, the technology mogul tweeted that the firm's second tunnel digging machine was on its way.

'Second boring machine almost ready. 'Will be called Line-Storm, after the poem by Frost' he tweeted.

The billionaire also brought attention to the Frost's line 'and be my love in the rain' in his post.

Second boring machine almost ready. Will be called Line-Storm, after the poem by Frost. "And be my love in the rain." pic.twitter.com/xlWPYdPu3P — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 19, 2017

Earlier this month, Elon Musk announced that his Boring Company's second tunnel-digging machine is 'nearly ready'

MUSK'S 'BORING' PLAN When Musk first announced his plans to bore a tunnel to his SpaceX offices in Los Angeles, it was hard to know if he was simply venting his frustrations about being stuck in traffic. 'Traffic is driving me nuts. Am going to build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging...', he tweeted in December last year. He ended his rant on the social media site with: 'I am actually going to do this'. The billionaire first tweeted a picture of his firm's boring machine back in February with the caption 'Minecraft' - a reference to the popular video game in which players dig large tunnel networks for resources. Many have speculated that Musk will use his Boring Company to build tunnels for Hyperloop transportation systems - either for other firms or his own venture. When he first revealed the plan in a white paper developed with his team at SpaceX, in 2012, he said he would let others build the system. 'I don't have any plan to execute because I must remain focused on SpaceX and Tesla,' he said in a conference call at the time. But in August it appeared Musk would build his own hyperloop tunnel system in a bid to speed up adoption of the radical travel technology he invented. According to reports from a 'person close to Musk,' it appears the billionaire will build the whole system himself. Musk also hinted at it, replying to a tweet about the issues facing the various Hyperloop plans by saying 'I guess a proof of concept is needed.' Advertisement

When Musk first announced his plans to bore a tunnel to his SpaceX offices in Los Angeles, it was hard to know if he was joking

This led some to speculate that his latest machine will be designed for all-weather operation.

The firm's 'Godot' machine was named after Samuel Beckett's famous play 'Waiting for Godot.'

The news came just two months after the firm first got permission to dig outside of its own property.

In August, it was reported that Musk's firm would build a two-mile-long test tunnel in Los Angeles, after the City Council voted four to one in favour of his ambitious plans.

The extension will run 13.5 metres (44 feet) under public roads around the SpaceX headquarters, and is the first time the Boring Company has been allowed to dig outside it's property line.

Elon Musk says he has 'verbal government approval' to build an underground tunnel to transport passengers between New York and Washington DC in just 29 minutes. His firm the Boring Company could dig these tunnels

WHAT IS HYPERLOOP? Hyperloop is a proposed method of travel that would transport people at roughly 700mph between distant locations. It was unveiled by Elon Musk in 2013, who at the time said it could take passengers the 380 miles (610km) from LA to San Francisco in 30 minutes - half the time it takes a plane. It is essentially a long tube that has had the air removed to create a vacuum. The tube is suspended off the ground to protect against weather and earthquakes. As several firms vie to create the first operational Hyperloop, Elon Musk's vision of a radical transport system that could ferry passengers above land at 760 miles per hour continues to inch closer to reality Advertisement

This dry run will make sure plans actually work - if it doesn't, the city can request the tunnel is filled with concrete or soil.

'They won't even know we're there', Brett Horton, senior director of facilities and construction at SpaceX assured members of the council.

'This is groundbreaking, this is establishing a precedent, and I think we all agree that we want to make sure that this goes off without a hitch,' Hawthorne's Mayor Alex Vargas said.

The company assured citizens that if the soil moves by as little as half an inch, work will stop immediately.

In August, it was reported that Elon Musk's Boring Company will build a two-mile-long test tunnel (proposed route shown as dotted line) in Los Angeles, after the City Council voted four to one in favour of his ambitious plans

When Musk first announced his plans to bore a tunnel to his SpaceX offices in Los Angeles, it was hard to know if he was simply venting his frustrations about being stuck in traffic.

'Traffic is driving me nuts. Am going to build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging...', he tweeted in December last year.

He ended his rant on the social media site with: 'I am actually going to do this'.

Images released earlier this year show the design of the Boring Company's underground electric buses that it plans to use in its tunnels

The billionaire first tweeted a picture of his firm's boring machine back in February with the caption 'Minecraft' - a reference to the popular video game in which players dig large tunnel networks for resources.

Many have speculated that Musk will use his Boring Company to build tunnels for Hyperloop transportation systems - either for other firms or his own venture.

When he first revealed the plan in a white paper developed with his team at SpaceX, in 2012, he said he would let others build the system.

CHALLENGES FACING MUSK'S 'BORING' PLAN Musk has an uphill battle ahead if he's serious about tunnelling under LA. Digging under cities takes a lot of time because the densely packed earth and rock underground is poorly mapped. 'Our recent experience with tunnels in the US is that neighbours worry, you run up against various environmental laws, and you just never know what's underneath the Earth,' Michael Manville, who studies urban planning at the University of California, Los Angeles, told Wired. The hole is legal because it has been dug on private property. But extending the tunnel further than SpaceX's headquarters would require more discussion, paperwork, and LA City council approval. 'We're just going to figure out what it takes to improve tunnelling speed by, I think, somewhere between 500 and 1,000 percent,' he said during a recent Hyperloop design competition at SpaceX. 'We have no idea what we're doing - I want to be clear about that.' Advertisement

'I don't have any plan to execute because I must remain focused on SpaceX and Tesla,' he said in a conference call at the time.

But in August it appeared Musk would build his own hyperloop tunnel system in a bid to speed up adoption of the radical travel technology he invented.

According to reports from a 'person close to Musk,' it appears the billionaire will build the whole system himself.

Musk also hinted at it, replying to a tweet about the issues facing the various Hyperloop plans by saying 'I guess a proof of concept is needed.'

Many had thought Musk would simply create the tunnels for Hyperloop systems using his recently revealed Boring Company.

'While we're encouraged that others are making some progress, we would like to accelerate the development of this technology as fast as possible,' Musk's Boring Co., a venture created to build roads that run through underground tunnels, said in a statement.

'We encourage and support all companies that wish to build Hyperloops and we don't intend to stop them from using the Hyperloop name as long as they are truthful.'

Musk has an uphill battle ahead if he's serious about tunnelling under LA.

Musk posted a picture on Instagram in February, writing 'Cutterhead in operation at standard industry speed. Planning to jack this up by a factor of ten or more'

Digging under cities takes a lot of time because the densely packed earth and rock underground is poorly mapped.

'Our recent experience with tunnels in the US is that neighbours worry, you run up against various environmental laws, and you just never know what's underneath the Earth,' Michael Manville, who studies urban planning at the University of California, Los Angeles, told Wired.

The hole is legal because it has been dug on private property.

But extending the tunnel further than SpaceX's headquarters would require more discussion, paperwork, and LA City council approval.

'We're just going to figure out what it takes to improve tunnelling speed by, I think, somewhere between 500 and 1,000 percent,' he said during a recent Hyperloop design competition at SpaceX.

'We have no idea what we're doing - I want to be clear about that.'