BobRehak : Are you familiar with Elon Musk efforts to get the contracts to build tunnels under Houston for drainage and the impact it will have on flood mitigation funding? From what I've read, he's trying to sell the idea of building much smaller tunnels than designed which likely wouldn't make a significant impact on flooding while still spending a boatload of our tax dollars. I'd love to read your take on it.* This is a General chat discussion. This post was gray boxed because it was likely a Fastlane topic in a General Chat thread. Gray box details Dispute
MGBguy : I was just reading about that today so I'm curious to hear his thoughts as well.
Elon Musk's Boring Company is interested in Houston, investigation finds
The proposal is a shift away from the tunneling firm's usual projects tackling traffic.
By Andrea Guzmán,
Texas Brands Reporter
Aug 28, 2025
The Boring Company, billionaire Elon Musk's tunneling firm based in Bastrop, has garnered the attention of leaders in Tennessee and at Texas A&M for plans that aim to address congestion and traffic. But outside of that, Musk also thinks it could tackle storms and flooding and he has an idea for a big Houston project.
Musk has been trying to get Texas officials to hire the Boring Company to build two tunnels around a major watershed in Houston, according to an investigation by the Texas Newsroom and the Houston Chronicle.
The proposal comes as flood experts have weighed the possibility of a tunnel system across Harris County in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, with studies exploring how it could transport stormwater out to the Gulf.
The devastating hurricane, which made landfall in Aug. 2017 as a Category 4 storm, killed dozens and pushed local leaders to consider ways to protect the community during future floods.
Musk has reportedly had an ally in this effort: Houston-area Rep. Wesley Hunt, who has considered primarying U.S. Senator John Cornyn.
Hunt has previously called attention to flood mitigation. Though it has been years since the Harris County Flood Control District shared its findings from a tunnel study (which involved the idea to build eight wide tunnels buried deep underground, with a key Buffalo Bayou segment), the project has not broken ground.
As an elaborate project with a $30 billion price tag, the Army Corps of Engineers has been part of its discussions. "The Corps, basically, they've been dragging their feet a little bit on it," Hunt told the Houston Chronicle last year.
And in recent months, Hunt has been trying to grant Musk access to lawmakers ahead of a formal bidding process. Hunt's chief of staff also emailed the Boring Company's proposal for the Buffalo Bayou segment to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's office. While Texas law calls on county governments to open projects like these to competitive bidding, it doesn't quite say that local officials can't discuss projects with companies before then.
In February, Community Impact reported Hunt saying, "I talked to [Musk] about Hurricane Harvey and how we need tunnels. He told me, 'I can do that at a fraction of the cost the Army Corps of Engineers would do it.'"
When it comes to the details of the project, local flood experts have weighed constructing pipelines that are 30 to 40 feet in diameter.
Meanwhile, the Boring Company has pitched two 36-mile, 12-foot inner diameter tunnels from the Addicks and Barker Reservoirs directly to the Port of Houston.
Estimated costs are $760 million, and Musk's company reportedly desires 15 percent of the up front costs from state and local funds.
But the depth and volume of the Boring Company's proposal have come up as concerns. The investigation found that flood control officials have questioned the firm's representatives on its capability to build tunnels at least 20 feet wide.
The Boring Company could still have a shot at two Houston tunnels. The Texas Newsroom and Houston Chronicle obtained a pilot project report from June examining a version of the original tunnel design with consideration of tunnels 10 feet in diameter as an option. That size would fall within the Boring Company's abilities, and the report even noted a public-private partnership could be a possibility.
Still, the future of the project remains uncertain, and public money hasn't been provided to Musk at this time.
www.chron.com/cultur e/article/boring-com pany-houston-tunnels -21019744.phpGray boxed for being political and/or controversial in a General Chat discussion.
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reduceflooding.com/2 025/08/29/dawn-of-a- disaster-harvey-reme mbered/
