#Colorado
 |
| Hyperloop One |
What seems like a far-out, sci-fi mode of transportation hit home Thursday as Colorado was named one of the 10 finalists for the Hyperloop One competition to build a vacuum-sealed tunnel that will shoot pods between Cheyenne, Denver and Pueblo at up to 700 miles per hour.
But don't get too hyped about the trip just yet. The Los Angeles firm Hyperloop One, which sponsored the competition, now moves to the next phase where it will invest its own time and resources to narrow down the candidates. Colorado, however, may have the advantage. The company liked Colorado's proposal so much, it announced that it is partnering with the state's Department of Transportation to work on a feasibility study to build the futuristic transportation system anyway.
"Now that we've been named a winner and I'll put air quotes around that, we're setting up the model for a public-private partnership," Shailen Bhatt, CDOT's executive director. "There's a chance that this doesn't come to fruition. But I'm sure there were a lot of people who told the Wright brothers they would never fly. Or transcontinental railroads wouldn't work. We have significant challenges in both public safety, freight and congestion issues and if there's technology out there that can help us solve it, it's our (duty) to explore it."
