Mayor Francis Suarez of Miami revealed he had a call with The Boring Company's CEO Elon Musk regarding The Boring Company tunnels coming to Miami and The Tesmanian says the tunnel's intentional design is only for electric vehicles.
"Just had a wonderful call with Elon Musk, obviously discussing the tunnels in the city of Miami. I am looking forward to seeing his concept in Las Vegas. The order and magnitude in terms of saving is significant," says the mayor the full speech of which you can hear in this video report.
Just had my call w/ @elonmusk regarding @boringcompany tunnels coming to MIADETAILS BELOW pic.twitter.com/NsJFYcvGeQ— Mayor Francis Suarez (@FrancisSuarez) February 5, 2021
So if everything goes well, The Boring Company will add another project, building a Miami tunnel at the sea level.
Miami has an alternative tunnel project that is expected to cost nearly one billion dollars. The Boring Company's tunnel is expected to cost about 30 million dollars. How is The Boring Company going to build such a huge tunnel at such a low price?
The Tesmanian's reporter K10 says that the new tunnel project's design is intended only for electric vehicles and doesn't need expensive ventilation, needed for gas cars.
"The new tunnel project is rumored to supposedly be 30 million where costs are low due to the tunnel’s intentional design of EV only vehicles so no need for expensive extra ventilation engineering. Miami Dade, county area of Miami, transit officials in 2018 priced the tunnels that consider CO2 ventilation measures, to cost 900 million. An interview with the Miami Herald, after a call with Musk Friday, February 6th, Suarez stated that the CEO said TBC may be able to build the tunnel in under 6 months. The tunnel would run from Brickell Avenue, the Downtown financial area of Miami, to Biscayne Boulevard. Saurez stated he will be reaching out to the Florida Governor," writes K10 in The Tesmanian.
"That estimate was for a tunnel for electric vehicles, which is great. But how do other vehicles cross if the bridge is not repaired? Even if there is an alternate route, how do you prevent non EVs from entering?," asks one Twitter user under the mayor's tweet. I try to explain the benefit of this in the video.
Some other Miami residents are worried about what may happen if the sea level rises. Others are worried about the price asking how can a project estimated at $1 billion be done for $30 million, pointing that it's a 9\% discount.
Others reply that it’s not a discount. It’s a real cost to get The Boring Company's tunnel done efficiently.
The Tesmanian also reports that currently, according to the companies website The Boring Company is actively working on four big projects in North America. Las Vegas, Hawthorn, Los Angeles, and the East Coast. The Las Vegas project alone is quite extensive with many Resorts contracting to have a tunnel made to their resort on top of the already large Vegas Loop and smaller connected LVCC, Las Vegas Convention Center, Loop.
At least for now the Miami Tunnel has not yet been added to TBC website as an official project.
Armen Hareyan is the founder and the Editor in Chief of Torque News. He founded TorqueNews.com in 2010, which since then has been publishing expert news and analysis about the automotive industry. He can be reached at Torque News Twitter, Facebok, Linkedin and Youtube.