Archinect - News

Lana Del Rey is right: There is a tunnel under Ocean Boulevard

2024-02-01T13:10:00-05:00

With days to go until the 2024 Grammy Awards, one nominee in the running for Album of the Year contains an unexpected architectural overture.

Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, nominated in three categories, contains a song of the same name that dwells on an abandoned piece of infrastructure in Long Beach, California.

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In the song “Did You Know There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd,” Del Rey draws on themes of being forgotten and underappreciated in the future despite current fame. The lyrics draw a parallel between Long Beach's Jergins Tunnel under Ocean Boulevard which was closed to the public in 1967 and has since been largely forgotten, a historical fact Del Rey entwines with her own foreboding of one day being unappreciated and overlooked.

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Constructed in 1927, the su...

Planning officials are getting fed up with Elon Musk's string of empty tunnel promises

2022-11-30T14:49:00-05:00

The six-year-old company has repeatedly teased cities with a pledge to “solve soul-destroying traffic,” only to pull out when confronted with the realities of building public infrastructure, according to former executives and local, state and federal government officials who have worked with Boring. Boring has yet to make good on its most ambitious pitch: that it can design tunnel-boring machines that are so fast to operate that they will drive down costs and shake up the industry.

The concerning string of incidents has led some to label Musk, now the world’s richest man, as a highly-compensated grifter. Chicago, Los Angeles, Maryland, and San Bernardino County are among the list of victims of Boring’s illusory promises, with even some of the company’s own demonstration sites becoming abandoned relics of a pursuit Musk began after losing patience with LA traffic in 2016.

Prominent financial interests keep pouring money into the entity in spite of its repeated ghosting. Several large-scale constructions are still tentatively planned. To date, its sole completed project is a 1.7-mile EV tunnel at Las Vegas Convention Center that was qualified under a local Amusement and Transportation Systems (ATS) provision, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Plans for new San Francisco Bay rail tunnels inch closer to realization

2022-09-26T17:35:00-04:00

The effort to engineer new train tunnels across the San Francisco Bay is gaining traction after the planning body responsible for overseeing the massive proposed Link21 infrastructure project unveiled conceptual maps detailing a key segment of the rail network on September 21.

The maps offer a look at two separate plans that would either divide the tunnel along regional/local service lines or combine them both into one corridor that connects Oakland and Alameda County to the Salesforce Transit Center and Mission Bay. They also included references to a "possible extension" of the BART system leading away from downtown to the west.

Image: Link21 courtesy sanfranciscoexaminer.com

The details released last week hint at a number of key future projects that have made headlines in the region for a number of years. Other than enhancing links to the larger regional Caltrans system, plans show an addition of new BART service routes along the contested I-980 corridor, along with four added stat...

Scott Brownrigg's Rhondda Tunnel will transform a disused railway portal into the world's longest digital art space

2022-07-15T11:30:00-04:00

An imposing new cultural project will transform what was once a railway link in the Welsh countryside into what London-based studio Scott Browrigg says will be the world’s longest digital art space once it is completed in a few years.

By remaking the last vestiges of a 130-year-old abandoned rail tunnel formerly pegged to become a walking path and bike trail, the new arts-centered scheme will deliver an in-demand tourist destination that connects the two communities of Blaencwm and Blaengwynfi located at either end.

Image courtesy Scott Brownrigg

One might say this is a real windfall for the critically-important (especially in terms of an exhibition settings) area of wayfinding. The design made the cut for the recently-announced 2022 WAF shortlist in the Future Project: Culture category and will strive for a BREEAM Excellent rating, according to the firm.

To the east, the tunnel’s entrance will be defined by either a land art referencing hotel, while in its west, on the Blaengwynfi s...

A judge has blocked impending highway construction around Stonehenge…for now

2021-08-02T17:05:00-04:00

The proposed highway tunnel near Stonehenge that loomed over a recent UNESCO ruling has been called off thanks to a court order preservationists across the UK are referring to as a “wake up call” for Conservative politicians behind the controversial £1.7 billion ($2.4 billion) development project.

Activists are celebrating after a legal challenge against an approval granted last year by British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps was upheld by a High Court judge in London on Friday. The ruling cited the government’s own guidelines regarding the consideration of alternative schemes in a process that deliberately excluded impact assessments, something Justice David Holgate deemed irrational.

A plan that would revitalize an eight-mile-long section of the A303 road was first brought forth in 2017 and called for the installation of a tunnel near the 5,000-year-old ruins that opponents claim would significantly harm Stonehenge’s integrity and authenticity as a cultural site. Highways England...

Planned tunnel beneath Stonehenge could put world heritage site on UNESCO danger list

2021-06-22T13:57:00-04:00

Unesco has warned that Stonehenge could be put on its list of World Heritage sites in danger if plans to build a tunnel under the prehistoric site in Wiltshire are not modified. Unesco’s warning comes on the eve of a judicial review scheduled to take place at the High Court in London from 23 to 25 June which will examine the UK government’s decision to greenlight the 3.3-kilometre tunnel.

The planned tunnel scheme aims to reroute an existing road and divert traffic away from the world heritage site. In a newly published report, UNESCO's World Heritage Committee warns that the current length of the proposed tunnel was inadequate and could adversely impact the integrity of the property, potentially threatening Stonehenge's status as a world heritage site.

"The proposed tunnel still only extends across part of the property, with around 1km of the proposed new dual carriageway being exposed in a wide cutting within the open landscape," states committee's report. "It is regretted that for such an iconic World Heritage property, the argument persists that the perceived benefits of a longer tunnel do not outweigh the costs."

Elon Musk's The Boring Company achieves milestone in Las Vegas

2020-02-14T20:53:00-05:00

Friday, the boring machine broke through the last bit of a tunnel under the Las Vegas Convention Center. This completes the first section of drilling for the project. It’s part of the master plan to move people quickly around the facility. The convention center is in the process of expanding by 1.4 million square feet. That will bring the total convention space to 4.6 million in exhibition space.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) announced today that excavation is complete for the first of The Boring Company's tunnels for the Vegas Loop that will be located beneath the Las Vegas Convention Center. As previously reported on Archinect, The Boring Company projects that the tunnel loop will move 4,400 passengers per hour. It is scheduled to be completed in January 2021.

Boring Co. begins underground construction on Las Vegas peoplemover

2019-11-19T15:28:00-05:00

Elon Musk's tunneling company, The Boring Co. (TBC), will begin underground construction on a tunnel for a tram system at the Las Vegas Convention Center on Friday, Nov. 15. The people mover project is contracted at $52.5 million and scheduled to be completed in January 2021, in time for the annual Consumer Electronics Show.

The company projects that the tunnel loop will move 4,400 passengers per hour. According to Construction Dive, aboveground work on stations and stops began last month, after TBC's boring machine was assembled on site.

Savvy entrepreneurs grow fresh vegetables deep beneath London city streets

2019-09-16T14:52:00-04:00

Deep beneath the streets of Clapham, London, in a former air raid shelter, Steve Dring and his colleagues are farming. Vertical farming, that is. The company Dring co-founded, Growing Underground, is cultivating a wide range of vegetables and herbs in vertically-stacked trays in the confined space. It’s part of a growing trend in Europe and the U.S.

Marketplace visits Growing Underground, a cutting-edge vertical farm inside a converted WWII-era air raid bunker 100 feet beneath London.

"If we were growing peas out in the open, we’d have three crops a year," the company's cofounder Steve Dring tells the reporter. "Here, we get 62 crops a year because we’re precisely giving the plants exactly what they want, all year round."

View this post on Instagram Great to have @bbcbreakfast filming LIVE on the farm yesterday! Go to @bbcbreakfast for full film!! . Repost @bbcbreakfast This farm makes salad ingredients 33m under Clapham . . #growingunderground #undergroundfarm #sustainablefood #sustainability #agritech #bbcnews #sustainableliving #sustainablefarm #healthyfood #microherbs #eventbrite #microgreens #healthysalad #nutrition #foodwaste #foodies #growingundergroundtour #plantpower #health #undergroundlondon #verticalfarming #futurefood #futurecities #agritech #urbanfarming #agriculture #urbanagriculture
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Major flaws in Elon Musk's public transit plans for Los Angeles

2018-08-31T15:23:00-04:00

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is back at it again with more outlandish ideas to solve Los Angeles' traffic. Earlier this month, Musk's latest venture–The Boring Company–resuscitated its flawed proposal to dig new car tunnels for Los Angeles, this time to connect the Red Line subway with Dodger Stadium [...] The Chicago tunnel idea is bad enough, but the Dodger Stadium plan is exceptionally poor even if one takes Musk's promises at face value.

Alon Levy pokes holes in Elon Musk's public transit plans for Los Angeles. Musk's plan involves tunneling under Sunset Boulevard between the Dodger Stadium and one of three Red Line stops: Vermont/Sunset, Vermont/Santa Monica, or Vermont/Beverly. Levy cites major issues with construction, capacity, alignment with the city's existing transit, and overall regional impact.

MAD Architects restore a historic lookout tunnel for Japan's 2018 Echigo-Tsumari Triennale

2018-08-07T18:21:00-04:00

MAD Architects have restored Japan's historic Kiyotsu Gorge Tunnel as a permanent art installation, “Tunnel of Light”, coinciding with the 2018 Echigo-Tsumari Triennale. The art event hosts approximately 160 artworks across 200 villages, inhabiting abandoned spaces as sites for interaction. Located in the Niigata prefecture, the 2,500-foot long passageway cuts through rock formations to offer visitors panoramic views of Japan's mountainous snow country.

"Tunnel of Light" by MAD Architects, located in Echigo-Tsumari, Japan. Image: MAD Architects.

The firm's scheme for this historic lookout consists of transforming several points along the tunnel as spaces for interaction with art and nature.

"Tunnel of Light" by MAD Architects, located in Echigo-Tsumari, Japan. Image: MAD Architects.

Upon approaching the tunnel, a small wooden hut has been constructed to serve as the café and souvenir shop. Inside the pitched cedar roof on the upper level is a hot spring foot spa.

"Tunnel of Light" ...

Elon Musk’s Boring Company selected to build Chicago airport high-speed transit tunnel

2018-06-15T14:53:00-04:00

Autonomous 16-passenger vehicles would zip back and forth at speeds exceeding 100 mph in tunnels between the Loop and O’Hare International Airport under a high-speed transit proposal being negotiated between Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s City Hall and billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk’s The Boring Co., city and company officials have confirmed. Emanuel’s administration has selected Musk’s company from four competing bids to provide high-speed transportation between downtown and the airport.

Musk's Boring Co. beat out established engineering firms, including Mott MacDonald and JLC Infrastructure, even though it has famously been in business for less than two years and only has a test tunnel near the company's headquarters in the Los Angeles area to show for as construction experience.

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and Aedas unveil major boundary crossing facility for Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge

2018-01-16T15:38:00-05:00

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP) and Aedas today unveiled their involvement in a boundary crossing which will provide a new entry point into Hong Kong. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities (HKBCF) is a joint project between the two architects, working with AECOM, which will provide new connections between Hong Kong, mainland China, and Macao, and which will bring wider benefits across the Pearl River Delta.

After years of delay and enormous cost overruns, work seems to be picking up again on the ambitious Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge project; connecting Hong Kong International Airport with Macau across the Lingdingyang channel and Zhuhai in mainland China via a series of bridges and one undersea tunnel which, once completed, would be one of the world's longest at 34 miles/55 kilometers.

Image via Wikipedia

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and Aedas, working with AECOM, now revealed designs and construction images of one the bridge project's key elements, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities (HKBCF).

HKBC Construction

From the architects: "The HKBCF will cover 130 hectare on a new 150-hectare artificial island reclaimed from the open waters to the north-east of Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), and will benefit from the proximity to the HKIA’s transport links, including the SkyPier Ferry Terminal, and the MTR’s Airport Express and Tung Chung line...

Going from bad to worse: Penn Station's massive tunnel system is aging rapidly

2018-01-11T17:35:00-05:00

I’d been assigned to write a story about Pennsylvania Station, but I wanted to get a caboose-eye view of the decaying tunnels leading up to it, because the only imaginable way the station could be any worse is if it were underwater. Penn, the Western Hemisphere’s busiest train station, serves 430,000 travelers every weekday—more than LaGuardia, JFK, and Newark airports combined.

"As the gateway to America’s largest city," Devin Leonard writes in his piece for Bloomberg Businessweek, "Penn Station should inspire awe, as train stations do in London, Paris, Tokyo, and other competently managed metropolises. Instead, it embodies a particular kind of American failure—the inability to maintain roads, rails, ports, and other necessary conduits."

Musk claims his plans to bore a tunnel under Los Angeles are moving forward

2017-01-27T12:30:00-05:00

Elon Musk has received the go-ahead for another wild transit idea: a tunnel beneath Los Angeles. Intended to ease the city’s notorious traffic, it’s not clear where Musk intends to dig, besides that it will start near his Hawthorne office, about 5 minutes from LAX.

Musk’s been railing against the city’s traffic for months, and it seems he’s actually taking action. Apparently, he’s considered the city’s seismic instability in the planning process. “Traffic is driving me nuts. Am going to build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging,” he said on Twitter.

For the most part the news, which came from his Twitter, has been met with incredulity. The office of city planning said they were unaware of the plans, but the tech mogul said the boring would start in about a month.

The name for the new company that will be in charge of the project, should it actualize, is “the Boring Company.” “Boring, it’s what we do,” said Musk.

...

Boring: how serious is Elon Musk about his latest traffic-solving venture?

2016-12-23T14:20:00-05:00

Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk has a pretty good sense of humor, but sometimes we can't tell when he's just joking or mulling his next big idea. For example, on Saturday Musk took to Twitter to say out loud what every traffic-plagued Los Angeles resident is silently screaming inside: The city is a gridlocked hellscape. "Traffic is driving me nuts," wrote Musk. But he didn't stop there. He also raised the idea of boring through obstacles to alleviate traffic woes.

"It would be easy to toss this off as random talk from an eccentric auto and space mogul, but Musk's last "random idea," the Hyperloop, has spawned a number of startups and millions in funding. So when Musk not only says that boring through things would be a good idea to ease traffic, but that he plans to do it himself, it's time to start paying attention."

This drone video takes you on a fascinating flight through the guts of Seattle's Bertha tunneling machine

2016-05-06T15:15:00-04:00

As Seattle’s Alaskan Way Viaduct sat free of cars overhead and drivers attempted to move around the city during the roadway’s planned 2-week closure, a new drone video Tuesday showcased again what all the fuss is about. A view inside the SR 99 tunnel won’t get much better than this until you’re actually able to drive through it. [...] The 4-minute video captures what has been built behind nearly 1,600 feet of mining along Seattle’s waterfront.

Bertha previously in the Archinect news: Seattle's massive Bertha tunnel drill is up for repair, but still faces a shaky outlook

About that troubled Seattle Tunnel – an interview with local advocate Cary Moon

2015-01-06T18:44:00-05:00

If there’s anything positive to emerge from the current mess, it’s that local advocates like Cary Moon, who warned against building the tunnel in the first place, are commanding attention again. Moon recently took to the pages of the local alt-weekly, the Stranger, to argue that in light of the tunnel project’s spectacular, slow-motion meltdown, the city should explore other options.

Previously: In Seattle, a Sinking Feeling About a Troubled Tunnel

IceCave Iceland is a city in the glacier

2015-01-05T14:25:00-05:00

There's an interesting construction/excavation project going on over in Iceland right now: an artificial tunnel and cave complex being dug into the Langjökull Glacier. When complete, the publicly accessible infra-glacial facility "will consist of numerous nooks and dens which will house exhibitions, information, restaurants and even a small chapel for those who would like to marry deep within an ice cap."

In Seattle, a Sinking Feeling About a Troubled Tunnel

2014-12-10T13:36:00-05:00

Ancient Egypt endured plagues of locusts. Seattle has its tunnel, which over the last year has featured a series of setbacks and fiascos that, depending on one’s outlook, can be the setup for a punch line, or an eye-rolling narrative of put-upon endurance. In the latest blow, project engineers said this week that 30 or more buildings in the historic Pioneer Square area [...] had unexpectedly settled, possibly because of water pumping related to the project.