Elon Musk’s Boring Co. Submits Plan for North Miami Beach Tunnel
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Elon Musk’s Boring Co. is seeking to build an underground loop around North Miami Beach for Tesla vehicles, the latest idea to help address traffic in an ever-growing part of Florida with limited public transportation.
A plan submitted to the city of North Miami Beach contemplates seven entrances on the 6.2-mile tunnel. It would cost $185 million to $220 million based on current prices, and would take less than 36 months to execute, according to the proposal, which came in response to a request from the city. The plan, dated Feb. 1, was shared by Commissioner Michael Joseph. Business Insider reported on the proposal earlier.
Musk’s company has held talks with several South Florida governments since early 2021 as the region tries to improve traffic to lure high-paying jobs. Traffic has worsened as public transportation solutions remained elusive, hampered by politics and logistical challenges, including a relatively shallow water table.
Musk
Joseph said Boring was the only company to respond to North Miami Beach’s request for information.
In its proposal, Boring noted that the recently passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act could help the project via grant programs. The government’s scoring methods “would likely score Loop favorably,” the proposal stated, and Boring would be willing to finance “a portion of the project costs to support construction and operation.”
Joseph traveled to Las Vegas last year to tour Boring’s operations. But he acknowledged it would take much broader buy-in to get the tunnel built, including from adjacent municipalities, Miami-Dade County and the state and federal governments. He said parts of the project would need to involve the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has also entertained the idea of a Boring tunnel, openly chatting with Musk about it last year on Twitter. He claims Miami’s water table wouldn’t be an obstacle for Musk’s technology.
Joseph said his majority Black and Hispanic community is among those that suffer most, because it receives a lot of the traffic heading into affluent nearby areas. He said residents should focus on the communitywide benefits to traffic calming, even though the tunnel would be for Tesla owners.
“This is a majority-minority community, and we don’t get a lot of opportunities,” Joseph said. “But this is something that I feel is right, and I feel that my community can make this happen.”
— With assistance from Sarah McBride.
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