Elon Musk Expresses Frustration With Interstate 405, Offers To Fund More Workers

It's no secret that California's 405 interstate is often a crowded expanse of endless cars, with the widening project it is undergoing being delayed over a year. Last summer, Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX fame gave $50,000 towards the construction project to help speed it up, but that contribution has been little more than a drop in the bucket. In an interview he had with the LA Times, Musk expressed his frustration with the 405 and said he'd be "open" to funding additional workers to help with the delay.

The 405's expansion is an ambitious project that has been a thorn in the side of residents forced to deal with it, including Musk, who uses it to commute from Hawthorne and Bel-Air. The original project was budgeted $1 billion, a figure that has long passed away with the announcement that things won't wrap up until next summer with an additional 100 million being tacked onto the price tag. Residents are losing patience.

Says the LA Times, Musk stated he would pay to add workers "as a contribution to the city and my own happiness. If it can actually make a difference, I would gladly contribute funds and ideas. I've super had it ... The 405 ... varies from bad to horrendous. It just seems people in Los Angeles are being tortured by this ... I don't know why they aren't marching in the streets."

Los Angeles County supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky also expressed frustrated with the project, calling it "horribly managed" while lambasting the contractors working on it. He says the problem with getting things moving is a lack of funds, and that the overbudget costs are already something they're having problems covering. Adding additional costs on top of the excess expenses over the initial budget will only compound the problem.

[via LA Times]