Local Texas officials are studying a new transportation system that could create the fastest ground travel method in the state. A hyperloop could make it possible to travel from Dallas to Austin in 19 minutes.
The Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Transportation Council, a governmental body that represents the interests of dozens of cities in North Texas will announce their plan on Wednesday to conduct an environmental impact study of the Texas Hyperloop One (THO) Project.
The study will take place over the next two to three years and is evidence that the futuristic, high-speed hyperloop is being treated as a serious travel option.
This is new technology that allows for tube travel at speeds of 500-plus mph and removes air pressure through the use of magnetic levitation.
THO could take riders from Fort Worth to Dallas in 8 minutes, Dallas to Austin in 19 minutes, Dallas to Houston in 46 minutes and Austin to San Antonio in 8 minutes.
Michael Morris, the Director of Transportation for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, said: “We are at 7.5 million people (in Dallas-Fort Worth) on our way to 12 million in the next 30 years. I think it is an environment that welcomes new technology, new investments to handle what will be 12 million people trying to get around our region.”
THO is in the design phase and is one of 10 proposed hyperloop routes. Recently Morris, along with other members of the Transportation Council, visited the full-scale test track of Virgin Hyperloop One in the Nevada Desert.
“I think we went to Nevada somewhat skeptical. We did not leave Nevada skeptical. It is an unbelievable accomplishment,” Morris said about the hyperloop technology.
Morris is hopeful North Texas could be considered a candidate to test hyperloop, with what he envisions as an elevated track with stops in Dallas, Arlington and Fort Worth.
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