๐ UPDATE โ March 25, 2026
The Boring Company has shared a progress update on the University Hills Loop in South Dallas, one of the three Tunnel Vision Challenge winners. The company reports successful initial meetings with regulators and is targeting an April permit application submission. The project's primary goal is to strengthen access to transit and jobs in South Dallas, with a potential future extension connecting to North Dallas.
The News: The Boring Company has selected New Orleans, Baltimore, and Dallas as the three winners of its "Tunnel Vision Challenge" โ and will fully fund the construction of passenger transport tunnels in all three cities.
Why It Matters: This is a first-of-its-kind model for urban infrastructure: a private company building public transit tunnels at zero cost to the city. If the diligence phase clears, all three get built.
Source: @SawyerMerritt ยท @wholemars โ March 24, 2026
Three Cities, Three Tunnels, Zero Public Cost
The Boring Company launched its "Tunnel Vision Challenge" in January 2026, inviting US cities to pitch their case for a free tunnel. The company received 487 submissions โ and instead of picking one winner as originally promised, TBC is moving forward with three.
The three winning projects are:
- NOLA Loop โ New Orleans, Louisiana (passenger transport via vehicles)
- Ravens Loop โ Baltimore, Maryland (passenger transport via vehicles)
- University Hills Loop โ Dallas, Texas (passenger transport via vehicles)
All three are passenger transport tunnels โ consistent with TBC's existing Las Vegas Convention Center Loop model, where Tesla vehicles shuttle passengers through underground corridors at speeds that bypass surface congestion entirely.
๐ Key Figures
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Challenge submissions received | 487 |
| Cities selected | 3 (+ 2 additional) |
| Max tunnel length (per proposal specs) | Up to 1 mile |
| Tunnel inner diameter | 12 feet |
| Cost to winning cities | $0 |
| Challenge launch date | January 2026 |
What "Fully Funded" Actually Means
This isn't just a promise to build โ TBC is covering the entire pre-construction phase too. That includes meetings with city officials, regulators, and community leaders, plus geotechnical borings and infrastructure investigations. Every dollar of due diligence comes out of The Boring Company's pocket, not the city's budget.
The catch โ if you can call it that โ is conditionality: the projects are currently entering a diligence phase to assess feasibility. If all three pass, all three get built. TBC hasn't committed to a build timeline yet, but the fully funded diligence phase is the clearest signal yet that these aren't just concept renders.
The tunneling technology behind these projects is TBC's Prufrock machine, engineered for continuous mining with zero people inside the tunnel during operation. That's a meaningful safety and speed advantage over traditional cut-and-cover construction methods that tear up city streets for years.
Beyond the Three Winners
The Tunnel Vision Challenge produced more than three compelling pitches. TBC announced it will also work independently with two additional entrants it found notable:
- Hendersonville Utility Tunnel โ Hendersonville, Tennessee
- Morgan's Wonderland Tunnel โ San Antonio, Texas
These two won't receive the same fully funded treatment as the three main winners, but TBC's decision to continue engaging with them suggests the company sees a pipeline of projects well beyond what was originally scoped.
๐ญ The BASENOR Take
Timeline: Diligence phase begins now (March 2026). No confirmed construction start date.
Impact Level: ๐ High โ represents the largest geographic expansion of TBC's Loop network to date
Confidence: ๐ข High โ fully funded diligence is a concrete commitment, not a press release
The Tunnel Vision Challenge was announced as a one-winner competition. Selecting three โ and flagging two more for independent collaboration โ tells you something important: TBC has the capacity and appetite to scale faster than its Las Vegas-only reputation suggests.
For Tesla owners in New Orleans, Baltimore, and Dallas, the practical upshot is a potential future where your vehicle operates inside a TBC Loop โ either autonomously or driver-operated โ moving through the city at speeds impossible on surface roads. The Las Vegas Loop currently serves the Convention Center and resort corridor; these new cities would bring that model to entirely different urban contexts, including a university district (Dallas) and a major sports and transit hub (Baltimore's Ravens Loop name is a telling nod to local identity).
The broader signal here is strategic. By funding construction itself rather than waiting for municipal budgets or federal grants, TBC removes the single biggest obstacle to getting tunnels built: political and financial inertia. Cities don't have to fight for budget line items. They just have to say yes and pass the feasibility check. That's a fundamentally different playbook than any other infrastructure company is running right now.
Whether all three cities clear the diligence phase remains to be seen โ geotechnical conditions vary wildly between New Orleans (notoriously difficult soil), Baltimore (dense urban core), and Dallas (more favorable geology). But the fact that TBC is absorbing that risk entirely means the company is betting real money that at least some of these will work. Watch the diligence timeline closely โ that's when we'll know which cities are actually getting shovels in the ground.
