Boring Company Selects South Dallas Tunnel Proposal Among Three Feasibility Study Winners

Hoque Global's University Hills project in South Dallas was initially named among 16 finalists selected out of 487 submissions. Then, in a move that surprised even competition organizers, The Boring Company, which had been expected to announce a single project winner from its 16 finalists, instead chose a triplet.

The company posted on X that "Thrilling Three" projects would be eligible for free tunnels: the University Hills project in Dallas, the NOLA Loop in New Orleans, and the Ravens Loop in Baltimore. To win, 487 entrants submitted proposals for a tunnel that could solve real-world problems in innovative ways, competing for a free tunnel up to one mile long and 12 feet in inner diameter.

The University Hills Loop would be located at the development and connect to the University of North Texas Dallas DART Station. University Hills is Hoque Global's $1 billion development in Southern Dallas. The walkable urban neighborhood broke ground last May and is slated to include a town center, 580 homes, around 1,500 apartments, 1.5 million square feet of commercial space, and 50-plus acres of open green space, all near the intersection of I-20 and Lancaster Road.

"It is an honor to be recognized with the city of Dallas as the winning project for The Boring Company's Tunnel Vision Challenge," said Mike Hoque, founder and CEO of Hoque Global. Hoque added: "University Hills is innovative in all of its features to bring connectivity and growth, and this recognition highlights the development's landmark work for Dallas and Southern Dallas, and shows how emerging infrastructure solutions can strengthen access to transit, jobs and opportunity for the surrounding community."

UNT Dallas President Dr. Warren von Eschenbach welcomed the selection. "UNT Dallas is pleased that this innovative tunnel will increase access to and from our campus and the region," he said. "It symbolizes the continued growth of southern Dallas through technology, collaboration and forward-thinking and will strengthen the community surrounding the university."

Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert called it "an exciting opportunity for Dallas to explore innovative infrastructure solutions," noting the project reflects the city's "commitment to forward-thinking transportation." But Dallas City Council member Lorie Blair, whose district covers the University Hills project, urged caution: "The City of Dallas and its residents are working hard to attract innovative developments that benefit residents and lift up the economy and image of Southern Dallas, and this is a sign of greater things to come." Blair also told WFAA that this is "not completely a done deal" and that feasibility and safety studies will need to take place first.

The Boring Company and University Hills stakeholders will now enter into a "rigorous diligence process" that includes meetings with elected officials, regulators, community and business leaders, as well as geotechnical borings and a utility and subsurface infrastructure investigation, all 100% funded by The Boring Company. If all three winning projects are deemed feasible, the company says it will fund and build all three; if only one is deemed feasible, that will be the only one built.

The Boring Company also named two other submitted projects it found "so compelling" that it will "continue to work with the entrants and try to get them built": the Hendersonville Utility Tunnel in Hendersonville, Tennessee, and Morgan's Wonderland Tunnel in San Antonio, Texas.

The Boring Company's Loop tunnels are designed to transport passengers in Tesla vehicles, bypassing surface traffic through narrow, subterranean tunnels, with test speeds reaching over 100 miles per hour. The Las Vegas Convention Center Loop, the company's only publicly operational tunnel, broke ground in 2020 and has been in operation since 2021; expanded to 2.1 miles in 2024, it has transported more than 3 million passengers. The Boring Company, founded by Elon Musk in 2017, has also built tunnels in Austin and Bastrop, though most of its proposed projects across the country have not been completed.

Infrastructure work is already underway at University Hills, with lots to be delivered to homebuilders in early 2027. Whether a tunnel runs beneath it will depend on what geologists and engineers find when they start drilling.