The city of Chicago has approved plans for The Boring Company, founded by Elon Musk, to build an underground transit link that will carry passengers from O’Hare International Airport to the Block 37 development on North State Street in about 12 minutes.
Privately funded, the project will serve Terminals 1, 2 and 3 using electric “skate” vehicles that travel on concrete tracks through tunnels at speeds up to 150 mph. Drawing on design research related to the Tesla Model X, each skate is expected to accommodate 8–16 passengers.
Ticket prices are planned to be comparable to a typical ride-share fare and similar to the cost of taking the Chicago Transit Authority’s Blue Line from O’Hare into downtown. However, the Chicago Express Loop would be three to four times faster than those alternatives.
The service is intended to operate roughly 20 hours per day, with departures every 30 seconds. Vehicles will be battery-powered with zero emissions and include climate control, luggage storage and WiFi for passenger comfort and convenience.
Officials describe the tunneling process as designed to be “silent, invisible, and imperceptible at the surface,” minimizing disruption to neighborhoods and street-level activity. Projections indicate the system could move up to 35,000 travelers per day by 2045.