It’s not every day a city gets a free tunnel. But Dallas could soon have those bragging rights, thanks to an announcement from Elon Musk’s Boring Company.
Dallas-based Hoque Global’s $1 billion University Hills development—a 270-acre project near the UNT Dallas campus that could “rewrite perceptions” of Southern Dallas—has been named one of three winners in The Boring Company’s “Tunnel Vision Challenge.”
To win a free tunnel—up to 1 mile long and 12 feet in inner diameter—487 entrants submitted proposals for a tunnel could solve real-world problems in innovative ways. It would need to get people from Point A to Point B, whether it be “a Loop tunnel, a freight tunnel, a pedestrian tunnel, a utility tunnel, a water tunnel, or any other use case where a tunnel would be useful.”
Boring’s Loop tunnels are designed to transport passengers in human-driven (and one day, potentially self-driving) Tesla vehicles, bypassing surface traffic. The narrow, subterranean tunnels speed passengers straight to their destination, with test speeds reaching over 100 miles per hour.
Rendering of Hoque Global’s University Hills development near the UNT Dallas campus in Southern Dallas. [Image: Page]
Two weeks ago, the University Hills project was named one of 16 finalists in the competition. 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.
University Hills’ proposed Loop tunnel would be located at the development and connect to the University of North Texas Dallas DART Station.
Three tunnel winners named
Photo: The Boring Company
Initially, The Boring Company said one winner would be selected from the initial 487 entrants. But today’s announcement posted on X said a “Thrilling Three” projects would actually now be eligible for free tunnels: the University Hills project in Dallas; the NOLA Loop in New Orleans, Louisiana; and the Ravens Loop in Baltimore, Maryland.
Before digging starts on the loop—with Boring’s advanced tunnel boring machine, Prufrock, installing its own structural tunnel lining while it “porpoises” its way down into the earth and back up out the other end—Hoque Global and the city of Dallas have to jump through some hoops.
‘Rigorous diligence process’ comes next
The Boring Co. and University Hills stakeholders will now enter into a “rigorous diligence process” that meetings with elected officials, regulators, community leaders, and business leaders. The process will also incude “geotechnical borings” and a utility and subsurface infrastructure investigation.
That process will be “100% funded” by The Boring Co. 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.
Additionally, The Boring Co. named two other submitted projects it found “so compelling,” the company will “continue to work with the entrants and try to get them built.” Those two additional projects are the Hendersonville Utility Tunnel in Hendersonville, Tennessee, and Morgan’s Wonderland Tunnel in San Antonio, Texas.
Las Vegas Loop has operated since 2021
The Boring Company currently operates the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop, which went into service in 2021 and expanded in 2024 to 2.1 miles with 5 stations. As noted above, it uses Tesla EVs to move passengers through the tunnel. To date, that Loop has transported over 3 million passengers—with a planned expansion aiming to create a larger “Vegas Loop” connecting hotels, the Las Vegas airport, and Allegiant Stadium.
Other Boring Company projects planned or underway include the Music City Loop in Nashville, Tennessee; the Dubai Loop in the United Arab Emirates; and the three project winners announced today.
The Boring Company’s announcement was posted today on X.
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University Hills could ultimately feature a town center, hundreds of single-family homes, around 1,500 apartments, 1.5 million square feet of commercial space, a hotel, a mixed-use stadium, and 50-plus acres of open green space—all near the intersection of I-20 and Lancaster Road and adjacent to UNT at Dallas.
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Hoque Global's $1 billion University Hills development—a 270-acre project near the UNT Dallas campus that could “rewrite perceptions” of Southern Dallas—is one of 16 finalists in The Boring Company's "Tunnel Vision Challenge." The winner gets a free tunnel up to one mile long and 12 feet in inner diameter.
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