Boring Company Municipal Pitches Fail

The pattern shows that The Boring Company has been much better at winning attention than at getting cities all the way to signed, buildable transit projects. Municipal tunnel deals require years of approvals, public buy in, safety review, and financing certainty, and several high profile proposals in Chicago, Ontario, Fort Lauderdale, and San Antonio either stalled, were paused, or were dropped before construction. That leaves Las Vegas as the main proof point, and even there the built system is still far smaller than the approved map.

• Chicago picked The Boring Company in 2018 for the O'Hare express concept, but the plan never advanced after the mayoral transition. Ontario authorized negotiations in 2021, then local officials said in 2022 that the company made a business decision not to continue.
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• Fort Lauderdale approved up to $375,000 for a feasibility study in 2022, then paused the effort in 2023 as commissioners questioned what happened in other cities. In San Antonio, the company was shortlisted and interviewed, but local reporting later described months of no communication and no contract.
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• Las Vegas is the exception because the project moved from a pure city sales pitch to a property by property buildout. Clark County and the City of Las Vegas approved 68 miles of tunnels, but reporting in late 2024 said only a little over 5 miles had been completed.
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The direction of travel is clear. Expansion is likely to depend less on persuading whole cities to approve giant networks up front, and more on the Las Vegas model, where resorts, venues, and other private properties fund individual connections into an existing spine. That structure is simpler to approve, easier to finance, and better matched to how the company has actually gotten projects moving.