For nearly a decade, Elon Musk has been focused on and off on building underground Tesla tunnels. The CEO’s Boring Company said it is ready to start digging in Tennessee, Bloomberg reported.
In July 2017, Musk claimed that the Boring Company received “verbal” approval from the government to build a “Hyperloop” connecting New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., but the project never materialized.
Bloomberg reports that the Boring Company “died a silo” and “assembled a machine” in Nashville to begin tunneling—a local official’s comments about the alleged move that raised the concept of condemnation versus faint praise to unprecedented heights.
According to Bloomberg, Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell said in an interview: “If this happens, the ideal situation is: it is basically harmless and no one dies.”
In just 13 words, O’Connell expressed doubts that the tunnel would “happen” and outlined the best outcome of “no fatalities.”
However, Bloomberg spoke with planning experts about “two roughly 10-mile-long tunnels” that the Boring Company claims will transport people between parts of Nashville and the airport.
Overall, the outlet observed that the entire planned project “confuses people in the tunneling industry” and is inconsistent with basic mathematics. It cited the impossible speeds Tesla would need to go to in order to operate within the parameters Musk described.
Most people readily understand that the latter is impossible. However, Tennessee’s unique underground topography is not necessarily accessible to ordinary people.
Lok Home has been building tunnels for decades and leads tunnel boring machine manufacturer The Robbins Co, according to Bloomberg. Familiar with the state’s rocky subsurface and propensity for sinkholes, he was among those confused.
“This is just a fly-by-night project and there’s a 99 percent chance they’re going to end up in real trouble and bring a lot of chaos to the city,” Holm warned.
The outlet noted that “many Nashville officials” agreed with Holm. Worryingly, lawmakers pressed the Boring Company for basic details about emergencies such as “fires” and “floods” but received only “inadequate” responses, if any.
Bloomberg claims that the Music City Hyperloop “has all the hallmarks of a Musk-related company.” It prioritizes flashy announcements and speed over safe, realistic progress, and the observations are fair enough.
Last November, the Boring Company was fined nearly $500,000 after Nevada officials discovered it was illegally drilling and discharging wastewater. The operations are part of another equally controversial Tesla “Hyperloop” in Las Vegas.
Two months ago, Musk’s tunneling company faced criticism in Texas after it was awarded a contract for a flood control plan. Critics argue that the Boring Company is incapable of providing such critical infrastructure.
Ultimately, Bloomberg determined that “a unanimous voice from the civil construction and transportation sectors” believed Musk’s Nashville Hyperloop promise was impossible. The outlet warned it would not serve as a reliable form of public transport.
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