CDOT Announces Colorado As Winner For Hyperloop Route Concept

WASHINGTON, D.C. (CBS4) - A Colorado proposal to create a hyperloop system here has been selected as a winner in an international competition.

The Colorado Department of Transportation announced the win on Thursday and said they are now getting involved in a private-public partnership to study the feasibility of such a system.

The proposal was chosen by Los Angeles-based Hyperloop One.

The plan would be to use a pod and tube system to move passengers through Colorado at speeds exceeding 700 mph. The route would run from Cheyenne, Wyoming, just north of the Colorado-Wyoming border, to Pueblo. Stops would include Fort Collins, Greeley, Boulder, Castle Rock, Monument and Colorado Springs.

Pods would run through tubes, much like an above-ground subway system, and use magnetic levitation to glide at speeds faster than airlines due to extremely low aerodynamic drag inside the tube.

"Hyperloop One will commit meaningful business and engineering resources and work closely with each of the winning teams/routes to determine their commercial viability," CDOT officials wrote in a news release.

CDOT Executive Director Shailen Bhatt says the plan could "potentially transform how Colorado moves."

"The Hyperloop technology could directly align with our goals of improving mobility and safety in Colorado, and we have been encouraged by the continued progress the technology is taking," he said in a prepared statement.

Hyperloop One is the only company in the world that has built a full-scale hyperloop system, according to CDOT. Other routes that were chosen in the United States are as follows:

- Chicago to Columbus to Pittsburgh
- Dallas to Laredo to Houston
- Miami to Orlando

Routes were also selected in India, Great Britain, Canada and Mexico.