The Boring Company (TBC) met with Cameron County officials to discuss the possibility of a tunnel project running from South Padre Island (SPI) to Boca Chica Beach.
The Boring Company pitched the idea of an SPI-Boca Chica tunnel to Cameron County administrator Pete Sepulveda Jr. and county engineer Benjamin Worsham early this summer. Cameron County officials have been thinking of giving people access to part of Boca Chica Beach even during closures.
SpaceX activity has been steadily increasing as it continues to develop the Starship program. In August alone, Cameron County issued at least 13 public notices ordering temporary and intermittent closures due to SpaceX’s activities.
To give people access to the beach during closures, The Boring Company proposed digging a tunnel from the south end of SPI to the north end of Boca Chica Beach.
“From what we understand from SpaceX is there is a good portion of the beach that can remain open if there was access to it, even though the road is closed and even though a portion of the beach is closed,” Sepulveda told The Brownsville Herald.
Sepulveda noted that the proposal was just a concept for now and an in-depth study was necessary to see if the SPI-Boca Chica tunnel was feasible. The Boring Company would have to consider several factors relating to the tunnel if it wishes to continue with the project, including that the county might not be interested in paying for the project.
“(Paying for it) is not something that the county would be interested in,” Sepulveda said. “That would be prohibitive for us. We really didn’t get into those details, but once we do we wouldn’t be able to participate with any type of funding.”
In Las Vegas, The Boring Company has two tunnels: The Las Vega Convention Center (LVCC) Loop and the Vegas Loop.
The LVCC Loop is managed by the Las Vegas Convention Center Authority (LVCVA) Board, who agreed to pay TBC a monthly fee to maintain operations and test the system. On the other hand, the Vegas Loop is fully funded and operated by The Boring Company. Cameron County may consider a setup like the Vegas Loop the SPI-Boca Chica Boring Company tunnel.
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