Elon Musk's $760,000,000 plan to build underground tunnels beneath Houston, Texas
Instead of soaring to space, he's digging deep into the ground
Featured Image Credit: Kevin Dietsch / Staff / Getty
With all his Tesla and SpaceX antics, it's sometimes easy to forget that Elon Musk also founded The Boring Company, which isn't actually as 'boring' as its name might suggest.
The world's richest man has his fingers in many pies, and while he's since gotten a little quiet in the aftermath of his explosive falling out with President Donald Trump, Elon Musk is seemingly hoping to prove it's business as usual.
Despite his divisive nature, Musk has tried to do some genuinely good things for the world, like pioneering space travel and electric vehicles. Now, The Boring Company looks to give Houston, Texas, a hand with its latest megaproject.
Hoping to be more successful than Musk's abandoned Hyperloop project, The Boring Company might be due to begin construction on a series of tunnels beneath Houston in hopes of easing flooding across the city.
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The Houston Chronicle reports that The Boring Company could secure a lucrative cut of the $760 million being proposed for the project. An investigation from the Texas Newsroom and the Houston Chronicle claims that Mr. Musk has teamed up with Houston-area Rep. Wesley Hunt after months of state and local officials arguing against the idea that would see two narrow, 12-foot tunnels built around one watershed. The Boring Company would reportedly make 15% upfront of a $760 million pot, and although the option is cheaper, not everyone thinks it can solve the region's recurring flooding issues.
The debate particularly comes in the aftermath of 2017's Hurricane Harvey, which claimed 107 lives and cost $125 billion (2017 money) in damages. This ties it as the costliest tropical cyclone on record.
Harris County Commissioners Court is said to have unanimously voted to look at smaller tunnels like The Boring Company put forward. Still, there are concerns about conversations going on behind closed doors, especially as Hunt mentioned it in passing at a February town hall meeting.
Larry Dunbar is a veteran water resources engineer who previously advised Houston-area governmental agencies on issues with drainage, and by the sounds of it, he's unimpressed with the plans. Alongside others saying that The Boring Company's credentials lie in transportation tunnels and not flood mitigation, Dunbar added: "If you build a smaller tunnel, OK, it’ll be cheaper, but it can carry less water.
"So what have you saved? Have you reduced the flooding upstream by an inch? And are you going to spend multimillions of dollars to do that? Well, maybe that’s not worth it."
The Harris County Flood Control District released findings from a tunnel study in 2022, and in the aftermath, the initial idea pitched eight tunnels that would total around 130 miles in length while being wide enough to fit a container ship.
Both Austin and San Antonio have similar systems on a smaller scale.
Jim Blackburn of Rice University’s Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disasters Center says that while The Boring Company's slimmer tunnels could have their uses, he reminded the outlet that giving a project like this to a private company would require serious vetting.
Hunt is accused of avoiding discussing the idea and whether it was sold to him by Musk. Similarly, the outlet says requests for comment from Musk and The Boring Company weren't returned.
State and local officials reiterated that The Boring Company hasn't been allocated any public money, while a tunnel contractor hasn't been selected.