A tunnel from South Padre Island to Boca Chica Beach? Elon …

With closures of State Highway 4 and Boca Chica Beach becoming more frequent due to activity at SpaceXs Starbas production complex and launch site, Cameron County officials are mulling ways to restore access to at least part of the beach even during closures.

One possible solution would entail digging a tunnel from the south end of South Padre Island to a point on the north end of Boca Chica Beach, an idea proposed by the Boring Co., owned by SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk.

The Boring Co. has dug one tunnel, in Las Vegas, and the companys representatives responsible for that project met with county administrator Pete Sepulveda Jr. and county engineer Benjamin Worsham about a month and a half ago.

So far, the idea hasnt gone further than a presentation by the Boring Co., Sepulveda said.

From what we understand from SpaceX is there is a good portion of the beach that can remain open if there was access to it, even though the road is closed and even though a portion of the beach is closed, Sepulveda said.

A tunnel would provide access to Starbase for SpaceX personnel who live on the island or in the Laguna Madre area, and allow the public to access the portion of Boca Chica north of State Highway 4, though the Boring Co. would have to find a way to pay for it, he said.

The 1.7-mile tunnel known as the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop cost $52 million to build. The distance between the southern tip of Isla Blanca Park and the northern tip of Boca Chica Beach is about a third of a mile.

[Paying for it] is not something that the county would be interested in, Sepulveda said. That would be prohibitive for us. We really didnt get into those details, but once we do we wouldnt be able to participate with any type of funding.

The proposal is just a concept for now; an in-depth study would be needed to determine whether a tunnel is even feasible or not, he said.

Keep in mind that the ship channel goes by there, so that depth would have to be pretty far down, Sepulveda said.

Boring Co. presenters seemed quite confident they could tackle the project, he added.

They did to me, Sepulveda said. Thats way above my understanding, but with technology today you can get pretty creative.

The next step would be to sit down with the Boring Co. for more specific discussions, he said, noting that the county is also exploring the possibility of a ferry service between the Island and Boca Chica Beach. Building a new road to Boca Chica is another potential solution, though Sepulveda said it would be tough to accomplish.

Understand the sensitivity of the environment in that area, he said. Perhaps doing a tunnel is one way to impact the environment a lot less than doing a surface-level road or bridge. Again, the whole gist of it is what are our options to provide access to the north end of Boca Chica Beach.

With activity at the SpaceX site continuing to pick up in preparation for the first orbital flight of a Starship prototype and closures becoming more frequent, theres plenty of impetus for the county to find some way to restore access to at least part of the beach.

I think were willing to work with SpaceX just to look at what options, solutions, are out there, Sepulveda said. Im not sure what amount, if any, we can bring to the table financially.

Steve Clark,

The Brownsville Herald

(Tribune News Service)

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A tunnel from South Padre Island to Boca Chica Beach? Elon ...