The Boring Company starts work on underground inclusion tunnel at Morgan’s Wonderland

Behind keep-out signs and screened chain-link fencing in a rain-soaked field at Morgan’s Wonderland, massive tunneling equipment kicked into gear on Tuesday. The large crowd seated under a party tent watched as Morgan herself appeared on screen for the livestream of a groundbreaking just several yards away. With the push of a handheld button, The Boring Company’s drilling technology, known as the Prufrock-5, spun into the dirt and rocks. Morgan’s Inclusion Tunnel is planned as a nearly mile-long , first-of-Its-kind, ultra-accessible tunnel, connecting Morgan’s Hotel and Morgan’s Wonderland, with stops at Morgan’s Wonder Care and Morgan’s Multi-Assistance Center (MAC). While the event was virtual, the project launch was more real than traditional groundbreakings where officials in hardhats push golden shovels into the ground for an obligatory photo, said The Boring Company President Steve Davis. “We start today, so when that button gets hit and that cutter head starts going, my next stop is the control center to see how the machine is working, and then we’re gonna dig,” he said. By late 2027, it is expected that the tunneling machine will rise from the earth about a mile from where it started, the subsurface channel completed and connecting facilities on the Morgan’s Wonderland campus. The project’s an example of how the Morgan’s Wonderland team thinks outside the box, founder Gordon Hartman said. “At Morgan’s, we always challenge ourselves, and we never take no for an answer,” he said. “We have taken inclusion in some extraordinary directions over the past 17 years, but today, today we’re taking it underground.” Transit through the tunnel will be provided by an autonomous bidirectional electric shuttle that accommodates people with a broad range of physical, cognitive and sensory disabilities. The shuttles are in design. In March, The Boring Company announced Morgan’s as a third-place winner in a contest sponsored by the tunnel construction firm founded by entrepreneur Elon Musk. Morgan’s founder Gordon Hartman declined to disclose the cost of the project, saying he signed a confidentiality agreement with the company. An anonymous donor provided the funding, he said, and also plans to contribute to other improvements at Morgan’s Wonderland. The Bastrop-based company is the largest tunneling company in America, and the only American large-diameter manufacturer of bore emissions, said company president Steve Davis. “We have many conversations, as you can imagine, and very few of them come to fruition,” Davis said. “The ones that come to fruition are the ones that are the most inspiring, the most useful and led by people who are true leaders and can move fast.” The company has built tunnels in Las Vegas and is currently tunneling in Nashville, he said. Davis added that the company hopes to build a hyperloop tunnel from San Antonio to Austin. “We look for things that can actually be inspiring and useful and change communities, and that sounds like an easy task — it is not,” he said, calling the Morgan’s tunnel a no-brainer. During the afternoon ceremony, Hartman thanked city officials and staff for their support of the project. He also expressed gratitude for CPS Energy for ensuring the electric infrastructure was available to operate a 900,000-pound drilling machine. The tunnel will run about 30 to 40 feet below ground, deep enough to avoid underground utilities, Davis said. Most of the work occurs below ground, so it does not disrupt traffic flow or other activities along its path. As the ground is drilled, concrete forms are inserted behind it to create the actual tunnel. The Prufrock is operated from control centers on the construction site and in Bastrop, Davis said. The completed tunnel will have two stations and two terminals, one at the theme park and the other at Morgan’s Hotel, which is expected to open in March. The hotel’s opening was delayed by three months, Hartman said, after two rooms were outfitted for a test-run and new ideas and changes surfaced from the trial guests. Under construction since 2024, the hotel is expected to open on the 170-acre campus to provide ultra-accessible lodging and a restaurant open to park guests and the public. Tuesday’s event was attended by several city council members, other prominent local leaders, Morgan’s Wonderland employees, longtime park friend Miguel Castro and City Manager Erik Walsh. “We’re fortunate as a community to have this asset behind us, not only for people that live here, but people from all over the country and around the world,” Walsh said. “This is going to be a learning experience, and who knows, maybe it’s not the last time we end up permitting a tunnel here in San Antonio.” The Boring Company is still interested in building the airport-to-downtown tunnel it proposed in 2024 — at no cost to taxpayers, Davis said. The cost to build such a tunnel is much less expensive than, for example, the New York City subway system which Davis said comes in at several billion dollars a mile. “Our costs are under $10 million,” he said. Still, he wondered how the Morgan’s tunnel would be received. “Do you think this is a cool project?” he said to the San Antonio Report as he explained the workings of the equipment. “I never know when I’m in cities if people are going to like it or not.” More from San Antonio Report The Boring Company starts work on underground inclusion tunnel at Morgan’s Wonderland by Shari Biediger ‘They would have never done it’: Musk-backed business court lands in Hinojosa’s hands by Andrea Drusch State finds no evidence of wrongdoing after investigating Judson ISD Board President Monica Ryan by Xochilt Garcia