Dive Brief:
- The Boring Co., founded by Elon Musk, has been in discussions with officials in multiple Texas cities, the San Antonio Express-News reported on June 24. At least three tunnel projects are in the early stages of development, according to local media reports that have specified the different projects.
- The projects reportedly include a 10-mile San Antonio airport to downtown connector, a pedestrian underpass in Kyle, and a 2-mile long private access tunnel at Tesla’s Gigafactory and new global headquarters along the Colorado River.
- According to the Express-News report from last week, the company’s ambition is to build separate tunnel systems connecting Austin, Kyle, San Marcos, New Braunfels and San Antonio.
Dive Insight:
There is no mention on TBC’s website of any planned projects in Texas. But in May, the Kyle City Council agreed to provide $50,000 to begin a feasibility study with TBC for what was described as a pedestrian underpass, according to a May report in the Austin American-Statesman. Bikes, scooters and small electric vehicles would also be allowed, the newspaper reported.
At the April 20 meeting of the board of directors of the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority, which serves the San Antonio area, the board voted unanimously to enter negotiations with TBC to move forward with a proposed transportation project linking the San Antonio airport to downtown. Teslas would run along two tunnels, with stations, according to an opinion piece published in the Express-News in April by Alamo RMA Chair Mike Lynd Jr., who is also the chief executive officer of Kairoi Residential, a property management and development company based in San Antonio.
The cost for the project could range from $247 million to $289 million, a “very rough” estimate, according to an Alamo RMA press release from March. Funding would come from bonds issued by the RMA and repaid by revenues from riders, Lynd wrote in the opinion piece the following month.
But the project doesn’t have the support of San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg. He told the San Antonio Business Journal in May that while the city has a lot of transportation priorities, “I don't see where a tunnel project fits into that. I don't know what it accomplishes.”
And on June 22, TBC filed an application with the city of Austin, Texas, for the private access tunnel at 12733 Tesla Road, referred to in the document as the Colorado River Connector Tunnel.
TBC currently lists five projects on its website, three of which are in Las Vegas, and only one of which is operating. This month, the Las Vegas City Council approved an agreement for the company to construct and operate more than 34 miles of tunnels under the Strip. The two other projects are the hyperloop test track and the R&D tunnel, both in Hawthorne, California.
The Boring Co. did not respond to a request for comment.
