Hyperloop Test Track and Research Lab Planned Near Denver

AURORA, CO -- Imagine: You drive you car into a ferry and zip through Denver like a bank drive-thru pod in a pneumatic tube. You reach Denver International Airport from downtown in nine minutes -- instead of an hour and a half. This is the future that California-based Arrivo proposes, created at a new research and development facility that will be located in Commerce City, employing 100 engineers.

The Colorado Dept. of Transportation announced a partnership Tuesday with Arrivo to build a prototype in Colorado for a hyperloop-inspired electromagnetic levitation superhighway with speeds up to 200 miles per hour. The new test track will be built on vacant land now owned by the E470 tolling offices.

CDOT announced partnership for a feasibility study Tuesday at the E470 offices in Aurora. The state agency's Executive Director Shailen Bhatt welcomed Arrivo's CEO Brogan BamBrogan, who was an early SpaceX engineer and co-founder of Hyperloop One. BamBrogan said the proposed hyperloop-inspired system would carry cargo, passengers and even ferry cars to cut travel time drastically in Denver, with capacity ten times the existing highway system. The cost? As much as the current E470 toll, about $15, BamBrogan said.

“Twenty-First Century transportation technology is finally arriving, and Denver is positioned to be the early benefactor,” said BamBrogan in a statement. “Everyone is a winner with our technology. Passengers and cargo arrive quickly and efficiently at extremely low cost. The whole region also wins as our high-throughput enables more total miles to travelled to support growth and economic fire power. Arrivo will end traffic and future-proof regional mobility. Now that’s a big win.”

“We are reaching max roads in many cases in Colorado," Bhatt said, in a statement. "Arrivo has a unique and practical approach to implementing hyperloop technology to eliminate traffic and dramatically improving the way people and goods move around the city. As part of the next steps, we are committed to working with Arrivo on the feasibility of how we address mobility in our state.”

See the announcement here on Facebook Live.

Image: Shailen Bhatt, executive director of CDOT and Arrivo CEO Brogan BamBrogan announce a public-private partnership in Aurora Nov. 14. Via Patch.com