Newly released bidding documents have shed light on how Elon Musk’s Boring Company plans to connect Universal Orlando Resort’s north campus to Universal Epic Universe. 

The materials outline staffing, construction timelines, tunnel configuration, and operational details that were not previously public about the planned Loop system.

The Shingle Creek Transit & Utility Community Development District voted Feb. 11 to begin contract negotiations with The Boring Company after ranking it the top bidder for the Universal Orlando transport project. Now, evaluation documents obtained by local news media reveal how the company intends to execute the project, according to Attraction Insight.

The proposal describes a twin-tunnel configuration, with one tunnel in each direction. It also noted that permitting, design, and construction could take roughly a year and a half once approvals are secured. The company indicated it could deploy multiple tunnel boring machines and install temporary support infrastructure, including muck storage pits and stormwater systems, during construction.

Bid documents list eight internal specialists assigned to the project, including tunnel engineers, structural engineers, and tunnel boring machine experts. Six subcontractors would handle fire protection, communications, soil treatment, and concrete work.

The company stated it “has the necessary internally produced tunneling equipment and personnel immediately available to complete this project for the district as quickly as permits and approvals can be obtained.”

Operationally, the system would mirror the company’s Las Vegas Loop model, using Tesla vehicles to provide point-to-point transport rather than fixed-route buses. The proposal frames the concept as “on-demand, express transportation,” with vehicles dispatched as needed and capacity adjustable in real time.

Stations could be built underground or above ground with ramp access into tunnels. The documents also referenced potential future integration of a configurable Robovan for passengers and cargo, though capacity projections for the Orlando tunnels have not yet been disclosed.

The proposal states that the Loop can integrate “easily into environmentally sensitive areas,” but it does not provide detailed mitigation plans for Central Florida’s high water table and limestone geology, which is susceptible to sinkholes. The company has stated that it intends to hire an Orlando-based geotechnical firm to evaluate soil conditions.

Elon Musk’s bankers are looking to trim the debt that xAI has taken on over the past few years, following the company’s merger with SpaceX, a new report from Bloomberg says.

xAI has built up $18 billion in debt over the past few years, with some of this being attributed to the purchase of social media platform Twitter (now X) and the creation of the AI development company. Bankers are trying to create some kind of financing plan that would trim “some of the heavy interest costs” that come with the debt.

The financing deal would help trim some of the financial burden that is currently present ahead of the plan to take SpaceX public sometime this year. Musk has essentially confirmed that SpaceX would be heading toward an IPO last month.

SpaceX IPO is coming, CEO Elon Musk confirms

The report indicates that Morgan Stanley is expected to take the leading role in any financing plan, citing people familiar with the matter. Morgan Stanley, along with Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase & Co., are all expected to be in the lineup of banks leading SpaceX’s potential IPO.

Since Musk acquired X, he has also had what Bloomberg says is a “mixed track record with debt markets.” Since purchasing X a few years ago with a $12.5 billion financing package, X pays “tens of millions in interest payments every month.”

That debt is held by Bank of America, Barclays, Mitsubishi, UFJ Financial, BNP Paribas SA, Mizuho, and Société Générale SA.

X merged with xAI last March, which brought the valuation to $45 billion, including the debt.

SpaceX announced the merger with xAI earlier this month, a major move in Musk’s plan to alleviate Earth of necessary data centers and replace them with orbital options that will be lower cost:

“In the long term, space-based AI is obviously the only way to scale. To harness even a millionth of our Sun’s energy would require over a million times more energy than our civilization currently uses! The only logical solution, therefore, is to transport these resource-intensive efforts to a location with vast power and space. I mean, space is called “space” for a reason.”

The merger has many advantages, but one of the most crucial is that it positions the now-merged companies to fund broader goals, fueled by revenue from the Starlink expansion, potential IPO, and AI-driven applications that could accelerate the development of lunar bases.

SpaceX opened February 13 with a dual milestone at Cape Canaveral, featuring a successful Crew-12 astronaut launch to the International Space Station (ISS) and the first Falcon 9 booster landing at the company’s newly designated Landing Zone 40 (LZ-40). 

A SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off at 5:15 a.m. Eastern from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, placing the Crew Dragon Freedom into orbit on the Crew-12 mission. 

The spacecraft is carrying NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, as noted in a report from Space News.

The flight marked NASA’s continued shift of Dragon crew operations to SLC-40. Historically, astronaut missions launched from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center. NASA is moving Falcon 9 crew and cargo launches at SLC-40 to reserve 39A for Falcon Heavy missions and future Starship flights.

Crew-12 is scheduled to dock with the ISS on Feb. 14 and will remain in orbit for approximately eight months.

Beyond the crew launch, the mission also delivered a first for SpaceX’s Florida recovery operations. The Falcon 9 first stage returned to Earth and touched down at Landing Zone 40, a new pad built adjacent to SLC-40.

The site replaces Landing Zone 1, located several kilometers away, which has been reassigned by the U.S. Space Force to other launch providers. By bringing the landing area next to the launch complex, SpaceX is expected to reduce transport time and simplify processing between flights.

Bill Gerstenmaier, SpaceX’s vice president of build and flight reliability, stated that landing close to the pad keeps “launch and landing in the same general area,” improving efficiency. The company operates a similar side-by-side launch and landing configuration at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.