Elon Musk is so fed up with LA traffic he’s willing to spend his own money to solve the problem

Billionaire entrepreneur and PayPal co-founder Elon Musk has already tackled space flight and electric vehicles, but now he’s moving on to an arguably more difficult problem: Los Angeles traffic jams.

Musk told The Los Angeles Times in a recent interview that he’s fed up with the notoriously congested traffic situation in LA and is willing to pay money out of pocket to address the problem.

“If it can actually make a difference, I would gladly contribute funds and ideas. I’ve super had it,” he said, noting that the contribution would be for the city and his own happiness.

In fact, Musk has already spent money on the issue, as he donated $50,000 to the Angelenos against Gridlock cause of improving the transportation system in the city.

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Musk even joked that he has an easier time launching things into space at SpaceX than he does commuting to the office.

At particular issue is a construction project on the 405 freeway that is overbudget and behind schedule. Musk characterized the freeway as varying from “bad to horrendous”, even going so far as to note that residents are being “tortured” by the process.

LA county supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky told the LA Times that the project had been “horribly managed” and questioned where the money would come from to hire workers to speed up the project. Considering that Musk has offered to pitch in, it’s possible the city could fund the project’s overruns with private donations from the city’s elite.

This isn’t the first time that Musk has offered up his personal funds. Earlier this month, he personally vouched for the trade-in value of Tesla Model S vehicles purchased through a new financing program. Of course, all those new Teslas on the road aren’t to help much with the traffic problem, but at least they’re won’t be adding to the smog.

Image credit: iStockphoto