Transit tunnel project quietly advancing
SAN ANTONIO — It’s been quiet since a decision to enter negotiations with Elon Musk’s Boring Co. on a proposed San Antonio transit tunnel system, but the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority is on track to take its next steps on the project by late this year or early 2023.
The behind-the-scenes nature of the talks, which began when the regional transportation authority’s board voted to enter discussions in mid-March, has led to some uncertainty about the future of the plan to build a loop of tunnels to ferry visitors in Tesla electric vehicles between San Antonio International Airport and downtown.
But Michael Lynd, board chairman of the public-private authority created by Bexar County to fund regional transportation projects, said last week that it’s still rolling.
“Of course, there’s a lot of effort that has to go into this process,” he said. “It’s not entered lightly, or quickly.”
The next step — feasibility studies of key aspects — will begin when the RMA hires a company to look at route issues and financing.
“I would say the fourth quarter of this year or the first quarter of next year is the probable timeline to vote on the studies,” Lynd said.
The chairman’s remarks came after the RMA’s monthly meeting, in which he and two other board members met with staff in an executive session to discuss timing and process. No representatives of Musk’s tunneling company took part.
Secretive talks have become a hallmark of Boring’s efforts in the region.
Since last summer, the Pflugerville-based company has also been looking to collaborate with cities along the fast-growing Interstate 35 corridor to build an underground transportation loop connecting Austin and San Antonio. While those projects would rely heavily on tax dollars, Boring has been working with local officials largely in secret.
In San Antonio, the company has said its project, estimated at a cost between $247 million and $289 million, could carry as many as 112,000 passengers daily on its route along U.S. 281 and produce annual revenue of up to $25 million.
The company based its projections on carrying 10 percent of visitors who land at the airport. It estimated that San Antonio gets about 30 million annual visitors, with 10 million arriving via the airport.
For the RMA, the tunnel system represents a potential moneymaker that could help finance future projects needed to accommodate population growth. But it provoked backlash from residents who have derided it as unnecessary and others concerned about risks its proposed route could pose to the environment and landowners.
To curb growing concerns about its financing, Lynd has promised the project wouldn’t burden taxpayers. Instead, the authority aims to pay for it through revenue bonds paid off with revenue generated by operations. That plan is one aspect the feasibility studies will address.
Another is concerns about environmental impacts to the karst topography and caves along its route.
Lynd has repeatedly warned that the RMA lacks the billions of dollars that will be needed for transportation projects to handle expected population growth in the coming decades. The authority primarily brings in money from annual vehicle registrations and lacks the revenue stream its counterparts in other large metros have with toll roads.
The ongoing negotiations reflect his desire to solve the cash flow problem and address future needs.
“It’s not going to fall out of the sky. We’re not going to wake up tomorrow and the government’s going to ride in,” he said. “Nothing will happen. There’s no such thing as free roads. There’s tax roads. There’s toll roads. Somebody has to pay for these infrastructure projects. And there is no money.”
Lynd said he worries about the challenge the next generation will face catching up with unmet needs.
“If we don’t do something, it’s going to be really awful in 2050, and our kids are going to be asking, ‘What were you guys thinking back then?’ ” he said. “That’s the problems and the challenges we are trying to solve with a creative solution to generate revenue.”