Editorial: A Fort Lauderdale beach tunnel? It’s wrong, wrong, wrong
Look, we’re not Luddites here at the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board. A few years ago, when there was talk of a space-age hyperloop that could connect South Florida to Central Florida in less time than a plane flight, we were all for the idea.
“Hyperloop’s design is the next best thing to the impossible: instantaneous transport. Its innovation and potential to spin off related technology fits Florida’s tradition of high speed and performance,” we opined back in 2017, though we also cautioned, “The state should not be blinded by the radiance of high technology or the reverence for Elon Musk’s other futuristic successes. If hyperloop progresses in Florida, the state should examine developments with care and objectivity.”
But a funny thing about the proposed Hyperloop One, based on one of Musk’s many transportation proposals: Where is it now? The state is now considering another hyperloop proposal. And it will no doubt study that one very carefully before it too goes nowhere.
We have also been supportive of Mayor Dean Trantalis’ initial tunnel idea as a solution to the problem of commuter trains along the Florida East Coast Railway blocking maritime traffic on the New River.
A tunnel under the New River makes sense. It has been done before, and successfully, as anyone who has driven the Henry E. Kinney Tunnel will tell you.
But … a more-than-two-mile tunnel from downtown to the beach under the Intracoastal and the canal-lined streets of Las Olas Isles? This is not what we cheered on when Trantalis headed to Vegas to meet with officials from Musk’s Boring Co. And in an area that stands to be severely affected by climate change — conservative estimates say our seas will rise two feet by 2060 — it appears to be the wrong solution to the wrong problem at the wrong time.
East-west traffic is a nightmare, but the real issue is not tourists making the trip from downtown to the beach, it’s the commute from the western bedroom communities into downtown.
And even if we decided to build tunnels — hey, maybe tunnels with a hyperloop! — connecting Pines and Weston to downtown, we’re still talking about tunneling through porous limestone that will, in the future, be eroded by saltwater intrusion. (And besides, such an idea would involve county and multiple city governments, so it’s unfair to slag Fort Lauderdale over it.)
That’s not as big as some of the climate-change-related issues the current tunnel proposal faces. What are the Boring Co.’s solutions to issues like flooding due to sea-level rise, saltwater intrusion, etc.? Well, we don’t know exactly, because state law prohibits city officials from discussing or releasing the specifics of the unsolicited bid until after other companies have had a chance to offer competitive bids, and that window won’t close until Aug. 20.
We do have a few scant details from Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner Ben Sorensen, though, who at least confirmed that the Fort Lauderdale proposal will be similar to the existent Boring Co. loop in Las Vegas, meaning you will not actually drive your car through the tunnel. Instead, you will buy a ticket and step into a Tesla that runs on a platform through the tunnel. More Teslas can be added or taken away from the tunnel depending on traffic needs.
“This design uses EVs owned by the Boring Company. Owners of individual cars are not allowed. Any member of the public would buy a ticket and ride in an EV to their destination,” Sorensen tweeted. “Zero emission, public transportation.”
We are certain tourists will get a real kick out of this beach-travel solution. In the meantime, commuters need improved mass transit that meets their needs, and the whole reason the city got involved with the Boring Co. in the first place — preventing blockage of the New River once commuter rail gets going on the Florida East Coast Railway — seems to have fallen by the wayside.
Let’s get back to the projects that matter for the residents of Broward County.
