"This is not a project that has just occurred overnight. This is something that has been worked on for several years with the developer of the Kyle Crossing Development,” City Manager Scott Sellers said at the meeting.
The tunnel was originally planned as a bridge, but the Texas Department of Transportation said it would be unsafe, Sellers said at the meeting. The bridge would have been built over high-voltage electrical lines adjacent to the railroad tracks, according to the report.
The project is estimated to cost $3 million, which will be paid for by Central SouthWest Texas Development, the developers of the Kyle Crossing Phase 2 development. The tunnel will be 12 feet in diameter, but the path will be 10 feet wide. It will also have lights and cameras that will be most likely be monitored by the Kyle Police Department, according to the report.
"The professional services agreement does start the actual permitting with Union Pacific [Corp. railroad], although we’ve had preliminary discussions with them and there is some concern as a railroad should,” Sellers said in the report.
The Boring Company will conduct a geotechnical investigation to analyze the soil and foundation of the proposed tunnel area.