The San Bernardino County Transportation Authority (SBCTA) Board has given the green light for Ontario Loop negotiations to begin with The Boring Company, the Elon Musk established company dedicated to building tunnels faster and cheaper than traditional methods.
Back in 2014, SBCTA conducted a study with a simple premise: Evaluate options to provide rail access to Ontario International Airport (ONT). Tunneling a connection became the viable option to connect ONT with the Rancho Cucamonga Metrolink station.
SBCTA says The Boring Company was the only company to respond to a recent Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to build the nearly four-mile tunnel. The subterranean transit system would shuttle thousands of passengers per day between the Rancho Cucamonga station and ONT using zero-emission vehicles.
The Boring Company is building the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop, which broke ground in 2019.
“The Ontario Airport Loop project represents an innovative, cost-effective and sustainable approach in meeting the mobility needs of one of the most robust population and economic centers in the United States,” said Curt Hagman, chairman of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors.
SBCTA credits Hagman with the vision of a tunneling project that led the authority to investigate the feasibility of such a project and, ultimately, to issue the RFQ.
SBCTA has projected total costs of the project around $85 million – a fraction of what it would cost to build an above-ground rail or light rail connection.
“Along with the possibility of higher-speed rail service into the Rancho Cucamonga station, the Loop project provides vital transit connectivity between Los Angeles County and San Bernardino County,” said SBCTA President Frank J. Navarro, Mayor of Colton.
He noted that the Rancho Cucamonga station is a hub for Metrolink’s heavily traveled San Bernardino Line, which is about to get another boost with development of the Arrow line between Redlands and the city of San Bernardino.
“This is one of the most important transportation corridors in all of Southern California,” said Metrolink CEO Stephanie Wiggins. “The Ontario Airport Loop creates tremendous opportunities to create convenient access between ONT and Los Angeles County, eastern San Bernardino County and, really, the region as a whole. We’re thrilled to see this project move a step closer and that Metrolink will be a key connection in that effort.”
