An Elon Musk-owned company announced it wants to build a one-mile tunnel under New Orleans.
The mayor's office says it's interested, but there are some engineering challenges.
"I can't imagine a worse job than to try to tunnel in New Orleans," said civil engineer H. J. Bosworth.
Bosworth says most of the dirt underneath the city is waterlogged deposits from thousands of years of Mississippi River floods, and not conducive to traditional tunnel-making techniques.
“You're going to have all sorts of challenges trying to use a tunnel-boring machine in New Orleans," he said. "You're going to run into everything the Mississippi River has deposited in this area over, you know, ten, twenty, thirty-thousand years.”
Bosworth says it’s not impossible to use tunnels in New Orleans — there is one under the Harvey Canal, and the Belle Chasse tunnel helped vehicles traverse the intracoastal waterway in Plaquemines Parish for decades before it was replaced in recent years by a bridge. And a tunnel was constructed in downtown New Orleans to be part of a riverfront expressway that was never built.
But those tunnels, Bosworth said, were built by basically scooping out a large trench, then tunnel sections were placed inside and covered up. Workers did not bore a hole beneath city streets and existing buildings. And the Rivergate tunnel beneath Canal St. infamously collapsed, forming a large sinkhole, in 2016.
Technical challenges aside, New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno said in a statement that the interest in New Orleans is a good thing:
"There’s renewed excitement about New Orleans and we’re frequently hearing from investors locally and around the country. Any time major corporations or players are interested in New Orleans, it’s a positive. We are in the early stages of exploring this project. Whether it is feasible or not, we’ve opened the door for conversations that could lead to opportunities, even if it’s not this one. This is further recognition that our work to improve our basic services, enhance local quality of life, and make New Orleans an easier place to do business is attracting opportunities and attention from around the globe. My focus is to think big, create jobs and invest in our future to move our city in a new direction."
