A collaboration between the NFL's Baltimore Ravens and an Elon Musk company to potentially create an underground loop system designed to reduce traffic jams in Maryland's largest city ended before it began.
The Ravens organization said this week it elected to withdraw from a project with the Boring Co., Musk's Texas-based group focused on underground transit systems. The company's projects include a transportation system at the convention center in Las Vegas, where customers are transported to their destinations via electric vehicles.
Known as Ravens Loop, the theoretical project was one of three chosen earlier this week by Musk's company, which had asked for proposals at the beginning of the year for a 1-mile tunnel idea — for freight, pedestrian or utility use — that it said it would build "for free."
"While we appreciate being selected, the concept is only in the exploratory phase and following discussions with public partners, we have determined we will not continue with the process at this time," Ravens spokesperson Chad Steele said via email.
The team plays its home games at M&T Bank Stadium, located west of the city's Inner Harbor. Transportation options to and from the venue include driving and the Light RailLink.
On Tuesday, the Boring Co., named after a specialized tunneling machine, said it selected the Ravens Loop, the NOLA Loop in New Orleans and the University Hills Loop in Dallas as winners of its nationwide Tunnel Vision Challenge proposal process.
The Maryland Department of Transportation told CoStar News it was not involved in the proposal or project, and the mayor's office agreed with the choice to backtrack on the idea.
"We appreciate that the Ravens are always dreaming big about how to deliver wins for Baltimore. They have been great partners to the City and our region, and we support their decision to withdraw their application," Tracy King, a spokesperson for the city's mayor's office, said via email.
Boring Co. pondered Wednesday on social media whether it should select a replacement city to potentially receive its full financial support for a loop.
But Boring did not respond to emailed requests for comment on what the Baltimore proposal included and if there were other groups involved in its submission. The other selected projects' stakeholders are expected to enter into rigorous diligence processes, and Musk's group said, depending on feasibility, it would fund and build some or all of them.