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San Bernardino County moves forward with underground tunnel plan without Elon Musk

San Bernardino County moves forward with Elon Musk-proposed tunnel
San Bernardino County moves forward with Elon Musk-proposed tunnel 00:39

The San Bernardino County Transportation Authority is moving forward with plans to build a tunnel to connect Rancho Cucamonga's Metrolink station to Ontario Airport after SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk pulled out of the project.

The Boring Co., another company founded by Elon Musk, had proposed the project, linking the Rancho Cucamonga Metrolink station to Ontario Airport via a nearly 4-mile, underground tunnel in 2019, according to the Daily Bulletin.

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(credit: San Bernardino County Transportation Authority)

It's not the first time Musk has proposed a tunnel to bypass Southern California traffic. He has done so in Hawthorne, where SpaceX was based, and has proposed others for underneath Sepulveda Boulevard, to run along the 405 Freeway, and another that would link Dodger Stadium with the Los Feliz, East Hollywood or Rampart Village neighborhoods in Los Angeles.

But when the San Bernardino County transit officials wanted a third party to look into the impacts of such a tunnel, The Boring Co. declined to submit a project impact proposal or continue pursuing the project, the newspaper reported.

So San Bernardino County officials are moving forward with the plan, but changing it to be a pair of tunnels that travelers would enter through above-ground stations. The goal would be to whisk travelers between destinations in under 10 minutes.

If their timeline proceeds as planned, such a service could start as early as 2027.

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