Elon Musk’s “verbal approval” for a Hyperloop tunnel between New York and Washington D.C. has been shot down by the White House. White House Advisor, Reed Cordish, has said that he was misunderstood and what Musk actually heard was “verbal government excitement.” But, that doesn’t mean the tunnel won’t happen.

Elon Musk's Hyperloop Dreams

It was back in July when Musk had the internet in a frenzy discussing his verbal approval for a tunnel between NY and Washington DC (177092), something that would drastically cut down travel time in a very congested area. Obviously, for this reason, it was a big deal, but as it turns out, the White House didn’t offer up approval, just excitement for such a thing to happen. When Cordish was speaking at an Internet Association Event in San Francisco, he weighed in a little more on the topic, saying, “That’s innovation… if we could tunnel from Washington D.C. or New York, or even Boston. We’ll all work together for actual government approval.”

The Boring Company has yet to say anything about this development, but according to Cordish, the Trump Administration's relationship with tech companies isn’t as broken down as it seems. That means that a tunnel connecting these congested areas could happen, but it’s not just the White House that needs to offer up approval. For this kind of infrastructure work to happen – and we’re talking about major infrastructure work – it would require joint efforts from the federal government as well as local and regional authorities.

And, for those of you living on the East Coast, don’t lose hope quite yet. Musk is currently in the middle of a tunnel project under the streets of Los Angeles (177426) – where he does have official approval – which will certainly help provide evidence that not only is the idea feasible, but it’s actually doable. That is, of course, assuming that The Boring Company can successfully tunnel out the meat below the streets without causing a major collapse of existing roads and structures above.

Was Musk just overly excited and misunderstood or did he make a false statement in hopes that it would become a reality? In his Twitter post he seemed pretty sure of himself, but what do you think? Let us know in the comments section below.

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