(TNS) The Alamo Regional Mobility Authority doesn't exactly know where Elon Musk's Boring Co. wants to build its proposed underground transportation loop in San Antonio.

The RMA's board voted 5-0 last month to enter negotiations with the tunnel maker to construct a loop system at an estimated cost of between $247 million and $289 million connecting San Antonio International Airport and downtown.

The system could include a leg linking the Convention Center to the Pearl area on Broadway.

The Alamo RMA also has a lot of questions. Its chairman, Michael Lynd Jr., said the project remains largely conceptual.

"The tunnel is not designed," he said during an Express-News editorial board meeting Thursday. "We have no idea even what the route is today. All of that will have to be determined."

The drive from the airport and downtown is less than 10 miles, mainly on U.S. 281, and takes about 15 minutes in moderate traffic. Drive times are slower, of course, if there's an accident or it's rush hour.

Lynd said the loop would address current traffic problems and could help ease increased congestion resulting from San Antonio's future population growth.

The Boring Co. estimates it could transport 4,400 business travelers, tourists and locals per hour in Teslas from the airport to downtown and back, generating annual revenue of $25 million for the RMA. The tunnels would be about 12 feet wide.

If the loop gets built and is successful, Lynd foresees the possibility of expanding the system, with Teslas delivering passengers to Brooks on the Southeast Side, the University of Texas at San Antonio's downtown campus, Port San Antonio, Texas A&M University-San Antonio, the Shops at La Cantera and the AT&T Center, among other destinations.

But the RMA doesn't know yet whether the tunnel would be financially feasible.

"They need the ability to be self-financed, so they have to be economically viable," said Lynd, CEO of the development firm Kairoi Residential.

He said the authority will bring in consultants to conduct feasibility and ridership studies to determine whether there's enough demand to generate the revenue to pay for the loop's construction and operation.

The RMA hasn't yet hired firms to conduct the studies.

If the results show a loop makes financial sense, he said, the RMA and Boring Co. would begin working out its path. The tunnels could be dug mostly under U.S. 281 in part to avoid having to negotiate with numerous private property owners for rights of way, as well as complications with city utilities.

"It's a lot easier to generate right-of-way access for us," Lynd said. "We would need the ability to secure a right of way even if we're underneath somebody's property. We want to eliminate as many moving pieces as possible between the airport and downtown."

With the loop project, the authority's main goal is to bring in more revenue so the agency can pay for roadway projects that will result in less congestion.

Other RMAs in Texas take in revenue from toll roads. But San Antonio has none of those because of fierce opposition to such projects. As a result, the Bexar County-created Alamo RMA's biggest source of funding comes from vehicle registration fees.

In 2020, the fees accounted for $15.7 million, or more than half of the RMA's total revenue of $29 million.

The company told the RMA it could pay between $27 million and $47 million for the loop's first phase, and it could maintain and operate the system through a long-term lease agreement.

If the RMA moves forward with the project, it could sell revenue bonds to pay for construction of the tunnels. It would use money generated from passenger fares and possibly other sources to repay the debt.

"The key reason for selecting The Boring Co. is that their proposal did not reduce by $1 any available funds to construct any road," Lynd said. "It also did not require a revenue guarantee from the county or taxpayers. And it also did not require any new county taxes in order to pay for its improvement."

"In essence, the project, as proposed, is fully self-financed," he said. " The Boring Co. has indicated a willingness to construct the project under a fixed price with no cost overrun risk to the RMA."

The loop system would include several stations along the route, potentially both underground and at street-level.

Lynd said it could be more than an underground loop system that delivers passengers from Point A to Point B. Boring Co. drivers could drop off riders at locations outside the loop like rideshare drivers.

"What [drivers] can do is exit the tunnel, drive on the streets, drop you at your final destination, loop back around and then be at the entrance of the tunnel so the car can loop back into the system," he said.

Its track record is mixed.

Founded in 2016 by Musk who's also CEO of Tesla and founder and chief executive of SpaceX the company has completed one project: a $52 million, 1.7-mile tunnel under the Las Vegas Convention Center. In October, it received approval from Las Vegas officials to begin building a 29-mile tunnel to include 51 stations across the city.

It's also currently looking to build projects in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The Boring Co. reportedly connected with Cameron County officials last summer to pitch a tunnel system connecting southern South Padre Island to the northern portion of Boca Chica Beach, near SpaceX's launch site in South Texas.

The tunnel company, headquartered in the Austin area, also met with Austin officials last summer to discuss the possibility of connecting Tesla's "gigafactory" to downtown by tunnels.

Just as many of its proposals have fallen by the wayside, however.

The Boring Co. has halted work on projects in Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City and Washington, D.C., among others. Several of them died in the environmental review process.

"From San Antonio to Austin, this corridor is the fastest-growing in the nation in terms of population growth," he said. "There's no doubt that our roads will continue to meet expanded demand. That's the problem that we're trying to solve."

Bexar County's population alone is projected to hit 2.8 million people by 2040, up from its current 1.9 million.

The proposed San Antonio loop eventually could be expanded to New Braunfels and Austin.

2022 the San Antonio Express-News, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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