Hmmm not the businesses along highway 70.. They count on the traffic..

SAN FRANCISCO — Commuters in Missouri face the prospect of trading their grinding highway slog for a 700-mph hyperloop that is still in testing and would carry high-speed rail type prices.

A public-private partnership of Missouri scientists, builders and regulators announced Tuesday that it would study whether the Elon Musk-inspired transportation system — where levitating pods cruise inside vacuum-sealed tubes — could be right for the state's congested I-70 corridor between Kansas City and St. Louis.

The study will be conducted by Missouri engineering firm Black & Veatch, the University of Missouri and Virgin Hyperloop One, one of a handful of hyperloop companies pursuing the technology. Last fall, Virgin Hyperloop One announced a similar study with officials in Colorado. Most of its other feasibility studies are with consortiums in Europe, Russia and the Middle East.

"We've zeroed in on a route where the government owns the right of way, so we can really push hard to reimagine I-70 for the future," Dan Katz, Virgin Hyperloop One's director of public policy, told USA TODAY. "We'll be looking at infrastructure along the interstate, the economic demand of the project, the ridership model and all the regulatory issues."

Katz says that while federal officials ultimately will determine whether the hyperloop system is safe enough for both passenger and cargo transportation, Missouri state officials "will have the say when it comes to right of way issues, environmental impact and permitting." The study will take between six and nine months.

Musk's tunnel-based transportation system differs from Virgin Hyperloop One, in that cars are loaded onto platforms that accelerate to more than 100 mph. As Musk laid out, Hyperloop systems are aimed more at long stretches such as the 300-mile run between San Francisco and Los Angeles, a five-hour drive that a pod theoretically could tackle in around 30 minutes.

The new Missouri study allows state officials to explore transportation options for the future without breaking the bank. "We are especially pleased that the private sector is taking the helm and MODOT (Missouri Department of Transportation) will be able to participate without using Missouri taxpayer dollars," Michael DeMers, MODOT's director of Innovative Partnerships and Alternative Funding, said in a statement