In recent years, I’ve become quite militant over public transportation and our society’s desperate need to move away from its car fetish.
That being said, that means I’m also a glutton for punishment for getting excited about sci-fi-esque pipe dream projects that will probably never happen, such as the Great Lakes Hyperloop, which purports to someday transport people from, say, Cleveland to Chicago in around thirty minutes at speeds reaching 700 miles per hour.
What Even Is the Hyperloop Concept?
Essentially, the Hyperloop will exist as pressurized capsules that will float on a frictionless cushion within tubes, utilizing a developed material called Vibranium™ (yes, really) that will provide critical information. Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, the company behind the project and not to be confused with whatever Elon Musk claims to be doing with the concept, even claims to build this large-scale infrastructure project by integrating solar panels and other forms of renewable energy.
It all sounds ridiculous and utopian for the United States, and it most likely is at this point, but it’s had the backing of many influential people going back to this particular project’s inception around 2018. Senate candidate Tim Ryan sang the praises of such a project then, and Hyperloop technology was even mentioned by name in Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
So there does seem to be this groundswell of support for such a project, despite the fact that we can’t even get decent regular public transportation in most cities. Maybe the government wants to just bypass all of that, which is fine. But it’s now 2023, and we are no closer to getting the Great Lake Hyperloop than we were four years ago, and eventually, somebody is going to balk at the $25 billion price tag that will likely only grow.
I will say, though, that it still remains an intriguing concept. Imaging someone living in Cleveland, commuting to their job in Chicago, and vice versa. What does that mean for property values? Local businesses? Does that mean we’re one step closer to figuring out pure teleportation technology then?
I’m going to hold on to this pipe dream just a little bit longer.
