Chicago-Cleveland Hyperloop Estimated at $29.8 Billion

A feasibility analysis published today estimates costs and benefits for the still-unproven Hyperloop technology, as envisioned for a route connecting Cleveland and Chicago.

1 minute read

December 16, 2019, 10:00 AM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


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Olga P Galkina / Shutterstock

Steven Litt reports the details of a feasibility analysis of a Hyperloop connecting Cleveland to Chicago, published today by the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) and the Los Angeles-based Hyperloop Transportation Technologies.

"A high-speed hyperloop line that could zoom passengers through a vacuum tube from Cleveland to Chicago and Pittsburgh could cost from $24.7 billion to $29.8 billion to build, depending on variations in the route and stops along the way," explains Litt of the findings included in the feasibility analysis.

NOACA Executive Director Grace Gallucci is quoted extensively in the article explaining that the impetus for the study and the project is coming from the private sector, which would be expected to pay most of the costs of any project.

"NOACA’s not trying to push this," says Gallucci in the article. "NOACA wants to be part of the innovation and a leader, but that’s very different from pushing it. This is not our agenda."

The article includes details on how the technology is expected to work, along with data on the jobs and economic benefit the project's construction could deliver to the region's along the Cleveland to Chicago route.

Sunday, December 15, 2019 in The Plain Dealer

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

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