Elon Musk is pushing forward with a $760 million plan to build twin underground tunnels beneath Houston through his construction business, The Boring Company, according to a joint investigation by ProPublica and several local outlets.
The proposal, intended to alleviate chronic flooding in the region, involves constructing two 12-foot-diameter tunnels to divert stormwater from federal reservoirs to the Gulf of Mexico—a much narrower and shallower option than previously studied by local authorities.
Newsweek contacted The Boring Company for more information via email.
Why It Matters
The project reflects Musk’s ambitions to position The Boring Co. as a key player in public infrastructure, expanding beyond its focus on transportation tunnels.
It also marks a high-stakes intersection of politics, private business, and public need: Houston remains one of the most flood-prone cities in the U.S., and voters are increasingly frustrated by delays in large-scale mitigation projects.
Elon Musk, co-founder and chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., speaks during an unveiling event for the Boring Company Hawthorne test tunnel in Hawthorne, south of Los Angeles, California on December 18, 2018. Getty Images
What To Know
The Boring Co.’s plan focuses on the Buffalo Bayou segment, a core component of Harris County’s broader $30 billion flood control strategy.
The tunnels would stretch 36 miles from the Addicks and Barker Reservoirs to the Port of Houston, according to documents reviewed by ProPublica.
Backed by Houston-area Republican Congressman Wesley Hunt, who is reportedly considering a U.S.
Senate run, Musk’s effort has been quietly pitched to legislators and county officials across Texas in recent months.
The investigation run by The Texas Newsroom, ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and the Houston Chronicle revealed that the pair lobbied for state and local governments to provide an initial 15 percent of project costs up front, even before any formal bidding has taken place.
According to the outlets, internal memos and meeting agendas show that Hunt’s chief of staff, James Kyrkanides, repeatedly lobbied for $60 million in state budget funds to support the project.
The proposed public-private partnership model would see The Boring Co.
potentially design, build, and operate the infrastructure, a setup that has raised questions about transparency and competitive bidding.
While the Harris County Commissioners Court approved a white paper to study a scaled-down pilot version of the tunnel system, officials said that no commitments have been made to Musk or his company.
Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said in a statement to ProPublica and its partners: “If Elon Musk and the Boring Company, or any other company, can build two massive tunnels under the Houston bayous in a few years to save the city from flooding, I am always going to be interested to listen”.
What Happens Next
The state legislature ultimately did not include the $60 million request in the budget, and no public funds have yet been committed.
However, the Harris County Flood Control District has produced a confidential pilot project report that contemplates tunnels as small as 10 feet in diameter, which would fall within The Boring Co.’s capabilities.
Any actual construction would still be years away.
Officials estimate that even a smaller-scale version could take up to a decade to design and build, assuming no delays in environmental review, permitting, or funding.
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