Elon Musk’s Boring Co. Tapped for Tunnel Transit Project at Universal Orlando Resort
The Elon Musk-owned Boring Company was selected to (presumably) dig tunnels connecting Epic Universe with the rest of Universal Orlando Resort. This underground transportation network would make it more efficient to get between Islands of Adventure, Universal Studios Florida, CityWalk and the many up there with the Epic Universe campus. If it happens. Here’s the latest.
The board of the Shingle Creek Transit and Utility Community Development District (SCTUD) voted to begin contract negotiations with Musk’s the Boring Company to design and build the infrastructure improvements, following a multi-month search for transit solutions.
The SCTUD is an independent special-purpose government entity in Orlando, existing primarily to fund and manage infrastructure for the Universal Orlando Resort expansion area. It’s much like the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (formerly the Reedy Creek Improvement District), which oversees developments in and around Walt Disney World Resort.
According to its website, the District includes within its boundaries approximately 722.180 acres, more of less, generally located south of Sand Lake Road, west of John Young Parkway, and north of State Road 528. Most of this is Universal’s Epic Universe campus.
The SCTUD is also working on the Sunshine Corridor project, which aims to connect Orlando International Airport (MCO) to the Orange County Convention Center via a new SunRail station.
Here’s the official announcement about the Boring Company on the Shingle Creek Transit and Utility District website:
The Shingle Creek Transit and Utility Community Development District Board voted to authorize staff to begin contract negotiations with The Boring Company. This follows the Board’s Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for transportation infrastructure improvements that support District priorities, such as the Sunshine Corridor, for Central Florida’s continued growth.
Of the three RFQ responses, Board members determined that The Boring Company’s proposal best addressed the District’s request for an innovative, future-ready, point-to-point solution. The District will now continue collaborating with local stakeholders while exploring the operational and financial feasibility of the preferred proposal.
Any final contract would be subject to Board approval. If a final feasible agreement relative to the project is not ultimately reached, the District Board will have the discretion in the future to issue another RFQ or take any other action consistent with Florida law for last-mile solutions.
The Boring Company was one of three bidders, along with V2R and Sunshine Connection Partners.
Nothing is known about how the Boring Company intends to proceed, including how it might construct tunnels in Central Florida given the state’s shallow water table. The district sought bids from companies to design and build an innovative transportation system to provide connectivity between Universal’s parks and resorts.
Brian Gettinger, a representative of Glydways, a collaborator with the Sunshine Connection Partners that lost out on the project, confirmed to Orlando’s News 6 that the scope of the project involves connecting Epic Universe to the legacy Universal Orlando campus to reduce traffic and make it easier for tourists to visit all Universal properties.
Gettinger emphasized that construction speed was a key consideration in the decision. “Tunnels typically are very slow to build. Boring Company talks about building them very quickly,” Gettinger said. The underground tunnel system is aimed at improving the guest experience, according to transit board discussions.
He explained that the project is primarily focused on connecting Epic Universe to CityWalk, and creating a “more premium passenger experience.” He added that the goal is maximizing time in the park and guest experience, minimizing commutes.
Currently, the only way to get from Epic Universe to the main campus of Universal Orlando is taking cars or buses on surface streets. As someone who has used these buses for getting from Helios Grand or Terra Luna to CityWalk at rush hour, I can “confirm” that a better solution is needed.
The commute is fine when there’s no traffic; a complete non-issue on par with what you’d experience at Walt Disney World. But there often is traffic, and I assume that’ll only worsen as Central Florida’s population continues to grow.
There have already been a couple of times when I’ve opted against going to CityWalk after checking Google Maps for current traffic conditions. That’s something I never do at Walt Disney World. Suffice to say, something is needed.
The Shingle Creek Transit and Utility District did not define a specific mode of transportation that would need to be used to connect the Universal Orlando campuses. Gettinger assumes it’ll be tunnels given that Boring was chosen, but other pitches involved other solutions.
Sunshine Connection Partners proposed an above ground, dedicated light rail system for “high capacity people movement” between Universal properties according to Gettinger. He told the Orlando Sentinel that he was disappointed not to be the first choice, but offered praise nonetheless for Universal’s plan.
“I think Universal/Shingle Creek deserves a lot of credit for considering alternative transportation technologies that are more cost effective,” he said. “All three teams that responded offered innovative, 21st Century solutions. They’re all different but they’re all in that transformative bucket.”
The Boring Company, as the name suggests, bores underground to build tunnels. It is probably safe to assume that the company that builds tunnels is going to…build a tunnel. With that said, you’ll note that the above announcement makes no mention of tunnels.
The Boring Company’s website says its mission is to build transportation, utility, and freight tunnels to solve traffic and allow rapid point-to-point transportation and transform cities. To solve the problem of soul-destroying traffic, roads must go 3D according to the Boring Co., which means either flying cars or tunnels are needed.
Tunnels minimize usage of valuable surface land and do not conflict with existing transportation systems. A large network of tunnels can alleviate congestion in any city; no matter how large a city grows, more levels of tunnels can be added. (Boring’s words, not mine.)
The most high-profile example of this is the Las Vegas Loop, which is an all-electric, high-speed underground public transportation system in which passengers are transported to their destination with no intermediate stops. It’s also known, both by Boring and its critics, as “Teslas in Tunnels!”
The Las Vegas Loop has already transported more than 3 million passengers through 8 stations, according to the company. In its final form, the Las Vegas Loop will supposedly serve up to 90,000 passengers per hour, connecting Harry Reid International Airport, Allegiant Stadium, and downtown, with transit times between 2 and 8 minutes. That all strikes me as very optimistic.
Clark County and the City of Las Vegas have approved 68 miles of tunnel and 104 stations, cementing the Vegas Loop as a vital piece of the city’s future infrastructure. However, it is not a true mass transit system; it uses Tesla cars to transport passengers through its below and above-ground network. (Hence “Teslas in Tunnels/Tubes.”)
A previous proposal from the Boring Company to tunnel through Florida never got off (below?) the ground. The company discussed in 2023 a $100 million project to tunnel from downtown Fort Lauderdale to the beach, but both the city and The Boring Company seemed to lose interest as obstacles arose and costs increased. There were also previously reports last summer about the Boring Company collaborating with Universal on this project.
Our Commentary
Back in 2018, Virgin Trains signed signed a letter of intent with Walt Disney World to build a train station on-site. Along with that, Virgin was building a connection between WDW and MCO, a project the company planned to compete within a 3-year timeframe. By my math, that would’ve opened in 2021. Let’s say 2022 or even 2023 with COVID factored in.
At the time, we wrote this in our commentary:
As for our thoughts on the potential for high speed rail connecting Walt Disney World to South Florida, we’ll believe it when we see it. We are incredibly bullish on high speed rail, and its potential for transforming the way Americans think about public transportation. We are also realists. This has been proposed countless times in the past, and never come to fruition.
And in fact, we did not end up seeing it. Unless it’s hidden, perhaps in a tunnel, there is no station at Walt Disney World.
Last summer, in response to Anaheim exploring aerial gondolas for Disneyland and beyond, we wrote this:
This has a zero percent chance of happening in that timeframe. This isn’t Asia; it’s Anaheim, California. Honestly, the only reason I’m covering this at all is because I’ve seen way too much excitement about this gondola “project.” A car tunnel in Orlando has better chances of happening by 2028, at 0.001%.
My reasons for quoting my past commentaries are two-fold…
First, because Elon Musk is one of the most polarizing people in America. If I share my unvarnished thoughts about this project, they’d likely be met with skepticism or even backlash by half of you, regardless of whether I were optimistic or skeptical. And understandably so, as many people have difficulty separating the man from this businesses, which cuts both ways.
Accordingly, the above provides context and my established track record of categorical skepticism towards infrastructure projects. It’s not that I’m optimistic about everything else but the Boring Company. I’m skeptical of it all. I’ve been covering Walt Disney World for too long, and have seen too many of these projects come and go. It’s not just Disney, either. I’ve watched this unfold similarly all over. I’ve seen this movie before and know how it ends.
Of course, there is plenty of criticism online unique to the Boring Company. I recognize that, given the polarizing nature of Musk, most of you already have an entrenched position and nothing I could write would change that. So I’m going to sidestep all of that; it’s worth Googling, though.
Second, because I’ve already shared my opinion on the likelihood of car tunnels in Orlando, putting the chances of it happening by 2028 at 0.001% as of last summer! Just so we’re clear, that was hyperbole intended to be a throwaway line underscoring my belief that neither project would ever happen.
The actual chances that the Boring Company builds several miles of tunnels connecting Epic Universe to Universal Orlando’s main campus has a much higher likelihood than .001%. I’m not sure what that number is, but it’s possibly double-digits? Still closer to 0% than 100%, though.
I don’t want to overdo the analysis on a project I’m skeptical ever gets under the ground, but there are a couple of things worth noting…
“Tunnels in Florida, what could go wrong?!” is a bit of a punchline due to the shallow water table. I don’t know a single Floridian with a basement. However, tunnels in Florida actually are possible–just costly.
The Port of Miami Tunnel improves access to and from the Port, serving as a dedicated roadway connector linking the Port with the MacArthur Causeway and I-395. The tunnel had a cost of $1.1 billion and was opened to traffic on August 3, 2014.
That tunnel is significantly shorter than the Universal connection would be, and 2014 is before construction costs skyrocketed. Otherwise, boring is beyond my expertise, so I don’t know how this project would compare to or differ from that. I’d hazard a guess that tunnels in Orlando would still end up costing in the billions of dollars. That’s a lot of money, which probably could be spent better.
There’s also the possibility that the Boring Company’s proposal doesn’t actually entail tunnels, despite what the company’s name might suggest. Or maybe it’s mixed, and there’s a bit of tunnel plus a lengthy above-ground solution. Or perhaps it’s an entirely above-ground tunnel, which strikes me as an oxymoron.
In performing due diligence for this article, I researched the competing companies that also bid on this project, and they actually offer innovative solutions that strike me as, at minimum, superficially viable. One way or another, I suspect there’s more to this story than we know; I hope that involves a more sensible, faster and less costly solution.
The bottom line is that Universal Orlando needs a novel transportation solution to connect Epic Universe to everything else. Getting that traffic off of the surface streets that everyone else is using is a good goal, and seems like inevitable at some point down the road. I just don’t think it’ll involve miles of tunnels going under the road. We’ll keep you posted.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of the Boring Company being tapped for tunnels connecting Universal Orlando and Epic Universe? Think this will actually get off/under the ground? Do you agree or disagree with our commentary? Any questions? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
A bit of comparison from the recent construction of an expensive lengthy Western expansion of the Washington, D.C. Metro system (which is both below and above ground). There was a long controversy over whether to build a tunnel through the Tysons area in Northern Virginia, near where I live (which has two gigantic malls and large numbers of office and residential towers). Eventually, opponents of an above ground solution bowed to the much cheaper and much quicker to construct above ground solution for this large section, which I suspect is what would happen in Orlando, with only small sections being below. Ironically, most people now like the above ground Metro section, which looks much like watching the Disney Monorail at WDW (only with less cool graphics). These projects are very expensive, much more so now with the high tariffs on steel and aluminum, so your skepticism is most warranted — a major fight as usual will be over who pays, the taxpayers or Universal, and in what proportion.
First of all….it’s really pitiful that so many of the people commenting didn’t have the intelligence to follow Tom’s lead and keep your personal feeling about Elon Musk to yourselves.
Second…you people that hate and despise Elon Musk and call him “one most despicable humans alive” really need to get a life and a new hobby. Apparently you are entitled to to your opinions, you adore the ill-infomed opinions of actors and musicians….but Elon is not entitled to his.
Forget Musk he is in the files!!
“First of all….it’s really pitiful [YOU] didn’t have the intelligence to follow Tom’s lead and keep your personal feeling about Elon Musk to yoursel[f].
Second…you people that [worship] Elon Musk . . . really need to get a life and a new hobby[, but a]pparently you are entitled to to your opinions. . . .”
Third, https://washingtonian.com/2026/02/12/how-elon-musks-sci-fi-hyperloop-failed/
ugh, I really will keep my distance with anything Musk is involved in.
Musk seems to have worked his way back inside of the halls of power after being exiled earlier last year, so is this announcement more about Comcast trying to curry favor with the federal government rather than actually building a real solution? I can’t think of any mergers afoot that involve Comcast, but who knows.
Good point.
With the shallow water table, maybe it’s a flooded tunnel. And the transportation system is a Jurassic Park River Adventure boat.
That could be the plot for the next Jurassic movie!
While its not clear to me yet what all the options were, it’s a shame that this choice abandons the Endless Summer resorts.
I wonder if someone in Universal wants to make the case for a monorail, and way to justify the outrageous bill is to show senior executives the even-more-outrageous bill for a tunnel system.
You can take the rest of the week off, Bricker — you earned it with the Simpsons pic in the headline.
This situation is so precisely like that monorail episode, except substitute SCTUD and Elon Musk in for Lyle Lanley and Springfield. The Boring Company has taken the futuristic vision of a “hyperloop” travel system and milked it for all it was worth to convince cash-strapped municipalities that an obvious boondoggle could actually be a godsend. The Vegas Loop is their only “success” but it’s got so many underlying problems (pun squarely intended). https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2026-02-08/musks-vegas-loop-tunnel-system-faces-scrutiny-over-safety-environmental-concerns
Take it from Chicagoans, who were lured in by Musk’s pitch when he was still viewed with awe and reverance by a majority of citizens across all political persuasions. We were gonna get cheap express transport from the Loop to O’Hare airport, all paid for by Musk. I was even personally very excited for it! Promises, promises, all based on nothing. And we’re far from the only ones — we just kind of lucked out that the project died before anything major was done or paid for. https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/14/17464612/boring-company-chicago-elon-musk-cost-estimate
Now, if Universal actually built a monorail (maybe directly from a re-imagined Springfield U.S.A. to a new “Capital City U.S.A.” themed area at Epic Universe), THAT would be incredible. Just as long as they made room in the fire extinguisher cabinet for a family of possums (I’d call the big one “Bitey”).
Grift. If you’re going to pay the high costs to tunnel underground (in Florida, no less?!?!), you may as well put an actually high-capacity mode of transit in those tunnels, not cars. That’s the problem I’ve always had with the Boring Company, aside from its connection to one of the worst human beings currently alive. Elevated light rail, or something like that, would be far more cost-effective and higher capacity.
But you can’t turn Teslas into light rail cars. That’s the genius of the grift — the tunnel is the cheap printer and the cars are the expensive printer cartridges.
I hope at least some of the Teslas in the tunnels have the “I bought this before Elon went crazy” bumper stickers.
True. It’s just moving the cars underground, it’s not a mass transportation solution for the area at all. It’s also a way to lock the local government into purchasing a ton of Teslas, and then they’re beholden to this private company that has an iffy record…to put it mildly.
My favorite part of this article is the picture of scuba Mickey amidst the discussions of tunnels in Florida. Cracked me up!!
Love it too! I didn’t even notice it at first. Well played Tom.
The fact that American cities would continue to look to solutions like a private underground car tunnel instead of good public transit is just one more reason this country is an embarrassment on the world stage. This is not a serious proposal, and only 3 million guests in the Vegas tunnels in abysmal. It maxes out at 4,500 people per hour…which is just two Pirates of the Caribbeans worth of people.
Love it, PotC/hr is a great metric!
That’s an unfair comparison – Pirates is far more reliable than the average Tesla.
@Samay and to paraphrase Jurassic Park, if the Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, it doesn’t kill the passengers.
Apparently Doppelmayr didn’t even know they could do an RFQ for this until it was too late. That would have been the best solution and it’s already proven successful down the road.
My biggest problem with the boring company isn’t that they (presumably) intend to build tunnels; it’s that they seem to prefer using cars as the means of transporting people. But even self-driving cars don’t solve the problem of traffic congestion or efficiency. What Universal needs is a means of transporting large quantities of people efficiently between both campuses in a way that bypasses the surface traffic. Whether that’s below or above ground is a less important question than what kind of vehicles they use, and clearly trains (or busses with their own right of way) would be the ideal solution.
I wonder what the odds were of musk being the first new and successful car company were. Or that Space X would rescue astronauts from the space station – or that that company would be a success at all.
Eric what have you accomplished
an above ground tunnel sounds great! Make it a plastic tube half filled with water and let folks travel on inflatable rafts,. call it the AquaShingle!
I’m in my mid forties and have seen this sort of “Everyone agrees that it’s hard, time consuming, and expensive to do X, but someone who hasn’t really done X before says they can do it quickly and easily!” thing before. I share your skepticism that any company can do tunnels in a populated area of Florida in a way that isn’t prohibitively expensive and with a looooong time frame. Will be very interested to see what Universal actually announces (or, more likely, what we all watch them build via bioreconstruct photos). Thanks for your thoughtful commentary Tom.
The only reason such schemes work in Asia is that they have buckets of cash and if not communist, have previously been under communist rule (or benign-ish) dictatorships. So small issues like working hours, employee safety, planning consent etc. are never considered. Culturally, the people just have a get it done (or else) mentality. Here in the UK EVERYTHING is late, over budget and often half of what was promised. This sounds like one of those ideas that are designed to test appetites and do-ability so a previously opposed idea is all of a sudden viewed in a more positive light.
Pic of clown car inclusion is appreciated
I hope the tunnel collapses with him inside it
Stay classy, Eric.
I apologize for my previous comment. It was glib. I should have said: I support your right to express a political opinion. But wishing the death of someone else for their political views definitely crosses a line. And I bet you are better than that.
initial thought reading headline- “who cares if it’s a boring company” not realizing that’s it’s actual name