Fort Lauderdale Approves Underground Transit Proposal From Elon Musk’s Boring Co.

Fort Lauderdale formally accepted tonight a proposal from @elonmusk's @boringcompany to build an underground transit system between downtown and the beach. Other firms have 45 days to submit competing proposals. This could be a truly innovative way to reduce traffic congestion. pic.twitter.com/R7Bh2NPVnl

— Mayor Dean J. Trantalis (@DeanTrantalis) July 7, 2021

Fort Lauderdale, Florida, officials voted Tuesday evening to accept a proposal by Elon Musk’s The Boring Co to construct an underground transit system to connect downtown with the beach.

In a tweet announcing the approval, Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said the Las Olas Loop project “could be a truly innovative way to reduce traffic congestion” in the popular tourist destination. 

Now that officials accepted the proposal, other tunneling firms have 45 days to submit competing bids, he added

More details about The Boring Co’s plan, such as the length of the tunnel and the total cost, are still unknown. The city says that state law prohibits the release of the specifics of the plan until the competitive process is concluded.

NBC News reported, however, that Fort Lauderdale’s nearly three-mile tunnel will cost about $30 billion and that the city’s vice mayor, Heather Moraitis, has already contacted Gov. Ron DeSantis seeking state funding to expand the loop. 

Officials first revealed last week that the city had received the proposal for the Las Olas Loop, a system that officials believe could “provide quicker and more efficient access downtown and the beach, as well as alleviate street-level traffic.” 

The idea stemmed from discussions between the city and The Boring Co earlier this year regarding “underground alternatives” for a high-rise commuter rail bridge over the New River, officials said.

"When corporate executives later visited the city, they asked to look at other transportation needs of our city,” they said.

If the project moves forward, the loop would be The Boring Co’s second tunnel system and first on the East Coast.

The company’s 1.7-mile, $47 million tunnel under the Las Vegas Convention Center opened last month. The all-electric, zero-emissions, high-speed loop uses human-driven Tesla cars to shuttle passengers between three stations. 

In December 2020, Las Vegas officials approved an expansion into downtown, with plans to link the tunnel to McCarran International Airport.  

Musk is also in talks with Miami officials about building a $30 million tunnel under the city to reduce traffic on some of the busiest roadways in South Florida.  

Previous projects pitched by The Boring Co, including a 35-mile Washington, DC-to-Baltimore tunnel and a Chicago loop system, never advanced.

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Source: Equities News