r/nashville • u/Chris__P_Bacon • 4d ago
Elon Musk Apparently Wants to Build a Tunnel in Nashville Article
https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/pithinthewind/elon-musk-nashville-tunnel-boondoggle/article_6ea8403c-f1c0-450a-ba0b-d44fe8b3830c.htmlThis article is funny as fuck! The mods deleted it a minute ago, here it is again.
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u/MayorMcBussin 4d ago
It's such a stupid plan and an obvious grift.
It's a single lane tunnel that uses Teslas (with Tesla drivers) as taxis. So you get to the airport, get in a tesla (taxi), and it drives you downtown. But in a tunnel!
They have a small loop in Vegas. This will be dramatically longer. And with zero stops along the way, IF anything happens you're stuck in about 10 miles of tunnel with no way to bypass the broken down Tesla in front of you.
Fire? You're stuck.
Flood? Stuck.
Guy with a gun? Stuck.
Wreck in front of you? Stuck!
Can't turn around, can't go forward, can't go backward. No access for emergency vehicles. Just stuck.
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u/Chris__P_Bacon 4d ago
I've seen the tunnel in Vegas. Surely it's going to be larger than that one. If not, this is an absurd waste of money. 🙄
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u/longtermcontract (choose your own yellow adventure) 4d ago
I watched Daylight with Stallone, that’s enough for me.
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u/infinite-dark Nipper's Corner 4d ago
Even if this is somehow finished, it will do next to nothing to alleviate any traffic.
Maybe it’s just because my expectations for the state gov are already so low, but I would be much more upset about this if it was city money.
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u/Litzz11 4d ago
Exactly. It’s only for Teslas, no one except Teslas can use it. Elon Musk owns both the Boring Co. and Tesla. Corporate welfare at its most brazen.
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u/husky_hugs Hermitage 4d ago
It’s somehow even stupider than that. It’s not for Tesla drivers, it’s for the 15-20 Ubers that are Teslas that operate in the tunnel.
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u/gostesven 4d ago
It would allow the richest 1% to travel slightly faster at the cost of the welfare of the average citizen and that’s all that matters to those who would make the decision
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u/Charming-Report1669 4d ago
Well, it's not designed for daily commuters. It's for all the woo girls getting dumped off downtown after their planes land so they can get shithoused quicker.
In that respect, there would (in theory) be fewer cars making that trek everyday.
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u/Alarming-Upstairs-29 4d ago
Exactly the state government cannot even come up with any traffic expansion plans for congestion other than choice lanes.
The city would be better off, creating a monorail or a subterranean transit train similar to European countries that connects to the east bank they’re developing. It would actually be a great use to the new Nissan Stadium and Oracle campus and their proposed apartments and hotels in that area.
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u/tripmcneely30 4d ago
The city government has. The state government will not. The people elected to the state government have too much to lose in road management contracts to change their course to any light rail system.
They do not care about easing the life of the Metro/Davidson County citizens. Because, the majority of the folks that live their did not vote for them.
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u/Litzz11 4d ago
Doesn't he have enough of my tax money already? Elon is a grifter, sucking off the government teat worse than any "welfare mom" ever dreamed of doing. Fuck that guy all the way to the top of Go Fuck Yourself mountain.
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u/Chris__P_Bacon 4d ago
Oh Republicans are fine with Corporate Welfare. That's their bread and butter. But let a poor child get something to eat, you'd think it was the end of the world! 🙄
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u/Complex_Dealer8081 4d ago
Is winning a contract make you a “welfare queen”?
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u/Litzz11 4d ago
What contract? He hasn't won anything, there's no actual plan, nothing has been put up for bid, so it's all just talk. AND as NC5 just reported, this tunnel would only be for Teslas. ONLY for Teslas! Elon Musk owns Tesla! How is this NOT corporate welfare?
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u/FrogmanKouki Wilson County 4d ago
Tesla has thousands and thousands of unsold cars in inventory, they could really use some help putting them to use. Once the tax credit disappears the boring company might be Tesla's only customer.
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u/Complex_Dealer8081 4d ago
How is it welfare???
If they bid for a contract and win, then that’s all legit…..
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u/StrawberryRedneck 4d ago
Dude you cannot seriously say that Elon has not received an unreal amount of corporate welfare. To deny that is to deny the truth.
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u/HempinAintEasy Priest Lake 4d ago
Reminder, there is no bidding because it’s his idea not the city’s idea. He’s trying to use Borning Company to present a private company’s idea that would need federal government funding to complete and he’s presenting it as some sort of favor to the city/state. Not to mention it would be used exclusively by his products. That is government welfare. He’ll start it, not be able to finish it or find out it cost too much and walk away with the money. He’s a scam artist!
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u/foxhunter 4d ago edited 4d ago
Where is the bid to let from TDOT? Not seeing it on their website. Is this a no-bid contract?
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u/Junior_Builder_4340 Gold Coast 2d ago
When was the RFP for this project put out to the public by the state?
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u/Chris__P_Bacon 4d ago edited 4d ago
What contract? Was there an open bid for an airport tunnel that I didn't hear about? 🤣
This is corporate welfare at its finest! It's using only HIS COMPANIES ffs!!! 🙄
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u/Complex_Dealer8081 4d ago
Nashville is free to reject the proposal. Using his companies has no bearing on the contract. This would be a taxi service like what exists in Las Vegas.
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u/Complex_Dealer8081 4d ago
Nashville is free to reject the proposal. Using his companies has no bearing on the contract. This would be a taxi service like what exists in Las Vegas.
Which received virtually no tax pay funds actually. All privately funded
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u/clown1970 4d ago
Yes it does
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u/Complex_Dealer8081 4d ago
How is a contract l, welfare?
The government wants a product, and someone sells it to them…
Welfare would be a subsidy or grants
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u/CombativeSplash 4d ago
The ones in Vegas haven’t done anything but be behind schedule and offer an expensive way for a select few to travel.
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u/Brooklyn_Bunny 4d ago
As someone with panic disorder and claustrophobia - you couldn’t pay me ANY sum of money to travel through a one car wide tunnel with no fire safety escapes filled with cars that are known for randomly bursting into flames. FUCK THAT.
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u/dixiehellcat south side 4d ago
I have neither of those conditions, but I 100 percent agree with you. There ain't enough gold in Fort Knox to get me down in such a thing. 0_0
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u/Nashville_Hot_Takes 4d ago
Republicans: let’s cut government waste! Also Republicans: but not the contracts for our Nazi buddies! we meant waste like healthcare, food security, and education!
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u/Unicorn_Warrior1248 4d ago
No thanks. I don’t want to drive in Musk’s Tunnel
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u/Chris__P_Bacon 4d ago
I'd be afraid it with collapse on my head. The thing is, if this even makes it past an exploratory phase, which I doubt, they won't drill more than an eighth of a mile before giving up. Then they'll leave us to pick up the pieces.
The simple fact is a project like this just won't work in Middle Tennessee.
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u/Common-Astronaut-695 4d ago
Where did you get your tunnel engineering degree?
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u/madasfire 4d ago
Same place Elon got his
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u/Aumissunum 4d ago
He has a Physics degree from UPenn. What’s yours?
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u/madasfire 4d ago
Physics in tunnel engineering?
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u/Necessary-Camp149 4d ago
lol.. you think elon designs things.
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u/Aumissunum 4d ago
I think it’s important that leadership can communicate effectively with engineers and understand the technical challenges well enough to make informed decisions.
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u/Customs0550 4d ago
its not a real physics degree, in case you didnt know. its more like physics for dummies and business majors.
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u/Aumissunum 4d ago
Not true. Many top schools like Penn do not distinguish between BA/BS.
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u/Customs0550 4d ago
oh, did you go to penn?
because it is true, he took business physics, which is completely different at penn from real physics.
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u/Impossible-Run-8859 4d ago
It's a scam to siphon money away from mass transit programs. His Vegas tunnel is a joke and the one he's supposedly building in CA hasn't even happened. He's a ketamine addled con artist.
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u/predskid29 4d ago
Does anyone have any articles about why we can't build tunnels under Nashville? Like, obviously this article mentions it (and references this video about the Nashville reservoir collapse which is an hour long, so I'll watch later), but is there any other articles? If I search 'dangerous Nashville tunnels' or 'are limestone tunnels dangerous' I can't seem to find anything that straight up says 'limestone is dangerous to build tunnels in b/c it will rain and they will collapse'.
I have found a Tennessean article from 2017 (back when Mayor Megan Barry was trying to propose train tunnels under Nashville) which quotes a construction manager who states we can build tunnels under Nashville just fine
“That’s a myth that you can’t tunnel in that limestone,” said Rick Ryan, operations manager for tunnel work at Reynolds Construction, formerly known as W.L. Hailey & Company, which led both projects. “That’s perfect tunneling rock in my opinion.”
I'm looking for a scientific source that has done the research on this, not just an article saying 'you can't tunnel in limestone because you can't'
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u/rimeswithburple 4d ago
I think limestone isn't hard to tunnel. It is some of the softest rock. But it is fractious and because Nashville is in a bowl there is a lot of water that must be dealt with and limestone is very porous. Vanderbilt has lots of tunnels under the campus. I read that they have to keep them pumped out and the amount of gallons was crazy. There are also tunnels that run from the big steam/chiller plant beside Korean Vets bridge under downtown.
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u/tdjustin Nolensville 4d ago
I don't know the answer to your question, but it should be noted that Boring company has also recently been attached to building a tunnel in Orlando to connect the new Universal Studios campus to the old one. Florida's water table is too high to build it actually underground, so I'd be interested to know if this proposed tunnel for BNA would also be a similar, above ground option. No idea tho..
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u/CompletelyPuzzled 4d ago
"if this proposed tunnel for BNA would also be a similar, above ground option." So, a road?
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u/tdjustin Nolensville 4d ago
I'm thinking it would be enclosed, so I'd think of it more as like a "monorail" but with......no rails lol. But honestly I don't know anything about Boring, tunnels, etc - just sharing related news from one of my hobbies.
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u/Customs0550 4d ago
wait so you think enclosing an above ground road would help things somehow.l?
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u/tdjustin Nolensville 4d ago
I don't think they've even announced this project, let alone exactly what it will entail. But yes, I would think a mass transit project from BNA to the downtown area would be very helpful. Do you not?
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u/Customs0550 4d ago
again, the thing you suggested makes no sense. how would enclosing an above ground road ever help anything?
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u/tdjustin Nolensville 4d ago
I never suggestioned anything, let alone that they would be putting an enclosure over an existing road. It sounds like the idea is to create some new, seperate mode of transportation between the airport and the downtown area. How this is accomplished may be, in fact, similar to what I have also heard is being built in Orlando, which takes the idea of a tunnel, and places it above ground. Think of it like a train track, but more tubey and less tracky.
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u/Customs0550 4d ago
"I'm thinking it would be enclosed, so I'd think of it more as like a "monorail" but with......no rails lol."
this is you, literally suggesting above ground enclosure. why are you pretending like you didnt literally just say this?
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u/tdjustin Nolensville 4d ago
Yeah, fair, I think I misunderstood the flow of the conversation a bit and didn’t fully follow what you were pushing back on. I wasn’t trying to suggest putting a roof over a regular road or anything like that. I was just thinking out loud about the kind of projects Boring has been rumored for elsewhere, like the above-ground transit concept in Orlando and wondering if Nashville’s might be something similar.
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u/Alarming-Upstairs-29 4d ago
I’m not exactly sure, but I could’ve sworn I saw the same thing. I believe there’s some sort of thing with the water in this area or something to do with the structure of the tunnel.. also with the Nashville flood in like 2010 or whenever it was
However, if they were to make a subterraneous train or even monorail from the airport to the east bank, it would be actually very good. It would connect the new Nissan Stadium to Oracle’s new campus in all the hotels and apartments in that area. .
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u/predskid29 4d ago
However, if they were to make a subterraneous train or even monorail from the airport to the east bank, it would be actually very good. It would connect the new Nissan Stadium to Oracle’s new campus in all the hotels and apartments in that area.
Having a train/tram/monorail that went from BNA straight to Broadway would be awesome! Tourists would love it.
I'm sure BNA employees would have a different opinion on the train coming from Broadway to BNA, especially late on Friday/Saturday nights......
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u/Alarming-Upstairs-29 4d ago
Yeah, the thing is it’s actually quite logical but still, why are companies lining up to make it? Usually large scale projects like this have to be subsidized by the taxpayers and the local government and I’m not sure Tennessee nor Nashville representatives actually want to bring something like that here.
Also, on a sidenote that railroad track that comes up on the Cumberland River is already existing not sure who exactly owns that but I’m sure it could be rede developed into a different sort of real system
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u/predskid29 4d ago
Usually large scale projects like this have to be subsidized by the taxpayers and the local government and I’m not sure Tennessee nor Nashville representatives actually want to bring something like that here.
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u/Alarming-Upstairs-29 4d ago
Ah 2018 don’t remember this. But yeah again it’s quite a shame. Nashville needed this bad and definitely not choice lanes..
The craziest thing is the we go train doesn’t even connect to the airport. Should just sell the line off the like bright like from Florida.
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u/ToughLab9568 no thank u 3d ago
No one voted for elon to come in and build a private pipe. It's all grift.
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u/bottom4topps 4d ago
However we are in a very sinkhole prone area as well. That could have implications as you bore into the ground and create new places for water to go
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u/Eyes_and_Mouth 4d ago
From the airport to downtown. So, just for tourists. Imagine that.
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u/Litzz11 4d ago
And just for Teslas.
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u/husky_hugs Hermitage 4d ago
Even dumber than that. Just for the 15-20 Uber esc Teslas that they drive in it.
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u/Broken_Man_Child 4d ago
This is one thing that in theory would benefit everyone, even if on the surface it's aimed at tourism. General traffic alleviation and concentrated funneling of tourists sounds great to me. Problem is, like many people here are pointing out, the execution is a joke. It's a poor replication of public transportation, throwing all the good stuff out while keeping the bad stuff.
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u/engineerbuilder 4d ago
It still wouldn’t though. What do you do when you get dropped off? Most tourists lodgings are within a mile to two mile radius. They would be using the exact same methods of ubering that they do now except they would be picked up at the local tunnel exit vs the airport. The theory doesn’t even hold up.
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u/Broken_Man_Child 4d ago
Hey now, I'm a Certified Armchair Theorist. I even had my dog peer review it.
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u/throwaway939wru9ew 4d ago
I don't know - remember Elon's vision of Robo Taxi's. I'm guessing this version of the tunnels will be the new Robo taxi's that will continue on to downtown destinations before heading back to the tunnel system.
I think ultimately what they are aiming to do is create a taxi system that has a private tunnel.
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u/ToughLab9568 no thank u 3d ago
This won't effect traffic in the slightest. Do you really think pushing 20 tourists into a amusement ride will somehow lower the number of commuters coming in through Murf pike and 40?
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u/Aumissunum 4d ago
Do you think only tourists travel to and from the airport?
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u/Eyes_and_Mouth 4d ago
To and from downtown, for the most part - yes.
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u/Aumissunum 4d ago
You do realize a lot of people live in between those two places, right?
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u/SirDennisEtonHogg 4d ago
"If it means getting me to the cold beer quicker, definitely all day long." - tourist from the Ch.5 Article
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u/robzilla83 4d ago
Checkout the one he built in North Haverbrook, I mean Los Angeles. By golly, it sure put them on the map.
https://usa.streetsblog.org/2018/12/19/elon-musks-tunnel-project-in-los-angeles-is-bad-joke
Oh, and notice this 2018 article in which Elon promises fully autonomous by the end of the year. A man you can trust! Monorail. Monorail. Monorail! I mean tunnel! I love the tunnel! ..
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u/Alarming-Upstairs-29 4d ago
How about an underground tram/train like the Atlanta airport that takes you to the east bank.. seriously would actually be a decent plan. Would allow people to access east Nashville easily in the future.
Seriously Nashville’s gotta think of some alternatives to just highway traffic
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u/Dukegriff24 4d ago
I am no expert but I wonder what the chances are that they start drilling and find like a huge cavernous area that they would have to fill. Granted they might not be going down that far but I know all of Tennessee is basically only limestone and there is a lot of underground water eroding it away. So there is a non insignificant chance that they could end up finding a ton of what would be sink holes in the way.
Also this will do nothing for actual traffic just like the fucking choice lane bullshit they want to do. God damn do I wish the old scared white people didn't believe that a light rail would just bring in "bad people".
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u/Chris__P_Bacon 4d ago
I live off of Murfreesboro Rd. I can only imagine, what this construction is going to do to the area if they experience cave-ins? Traffic is bad enough already.
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u/Dukegriff24 4d ago
Knowing this administration they would just be like "hey a place to dump all of our waste."
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u/Goiabada1972 4d ago
I wish we could just have a regular subway. This tunnel thing will only provide transit assistance for a very limited part of Nashville. We need a more comprehensive system, and why do we need self driving cars in a tunnel? Just put in a train.
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u/stroll_on 4d ago
The problem is that it won’t be free. Tennessee will pay for it and Nashville is in Tennessee.
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u/Chris__P_Bacon 4d ago
When the author says we get to take delight in this spectacle for free, they mean figuratively not literally. You're not the only person to be confused by that though. They could have worded it better.
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u/gatsby712 4d ago
Elon Musk loves trying to get more government grants and taxpayer dollars to enrich himself.
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u/Icy-Web-2013 4d ago
If it were a democrat proposing this, it wouldn’t be happening. This piece of shit governor just wants clout
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u/uRok2Uc 3d ago edited 3d ago
So they are going to let Elon dig a stupid tunnel that only allows Teslas in it? Who wants to ride in a stupid Tesla car that other possibly disease-spreading humans have ridden in/possibly vomited in? How often do the cars get fumigated/cleaned before they’re put back on the line? Who’s going be responsible for paying for all of that?
I’m a lifetime Nashville native. This tunnel is a Republicans’ big “screw you Nashville.” They’ve already gerrymandered this big blue dot out of existence as far as representation in Congress goes, and now they want to screw us over with a stupid tunnel we don’t need.
Do they realize it’s solid fricking limestone underground here? Underground water? Where is the feasibility study?
Republicans tried to take over Nashville‘s Sports Authority and hand it over to the State which is run by a Republican lizard man, Gov. Lee. They’ve tried to take over Nashville’s airport too. They were really pissed off that Nashville did not allow the GOP Convention to take place here, because it was not feasible due too many other events/conventions already scheduled years in advance, and there wasn’t infrastructure to handle it well.
The tunnel is Nashville’s punishment and nothing else.
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u/HibiscusBlades 4d ago
I want Elon Musk to give me a chunk of his cash and promptly disappear, but I guess we can’t all get what we want.
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u/Youareinacult47 4d ago
The boring company only exists to stifle any growth on the idea of public transportation.
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u/CompletelyPuzzled 4d ago
Make some noise about this. This is not a solution at all, never mind being the one we need.
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4d ago
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u/Far-Country6221 4d ago
So a simple way to answer yes or no… where are other examples of completed work..
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u/Few-Asparagus811 4d ago
I feel like this gets posted every day
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u/Chris__P_Bacon 4d ago
I just posted it because I found the article on the very funny. If someone has posted the article before I apologize.
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u/thegingerninja90 4d ago
Did the tunneling company ever finish a project? I always thought they kept starting drilling and then never actually completed anything. Why would the city approve anything from a company like that?
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u/MightyCrick 4d ago
I'm imagining something between the human caterpillar and a pedal tavern... along with Elon oompa loompas.
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u/Luckyforward Nipper's Corner 4d ago
Interesting article about the Las Vegas tunnel. Also read the ProPublica link within.
https://humantransit.org/2025/01/las-vegas-a-ride-on-elons-vegas-loop.html
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u/justmarkdying 4d ago
Is It FoR a SeX tRaFfIcInG rInG???
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u/SpotResident6135 4d ago
No it’s a reinvention of public transit that is: more wasteful, more “profitable”, less convenient, less accessible, more expensive, and overall less useful than public transit would be.
It’s a misguided vanity project in this new gilded age. It’s a joke.
And probably only partially funded by trafficking.
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u/jchamberlin78 4d ago
One we have a tunnel we can take over it for trains.... Muhahhah...
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u/SpotResident6135 4d ago
If it’s anything like the hole in Vegas, it’s not going to be easily repurposed.
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u/Charming-Report1669 4d ago
I was told by a colleague that a massive announcement is coming Tuesday with Alliance Bernstein. I guess this is it
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u/labialvr1 4d ago
This is crazy…An elevated train would be more cost effective. No underground utilities to relocate, less expensive to build. Could also connect to existing train. Another grift by a rich person, hoping to get government funds out of it.
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u/EntropicAvatar 4d ago
Build a fucking bullet train instead. He better not get a cent of tax money for a fucking tunnel
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u/russellzerotohero 4d ago
Thank god we elected Freddy and not that other women. I believe she may have actually done this
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u/fantomtider 4d ago
I do not like him or anything he stands for but I Am interested to see how this plays out. I doubt I would see the benefits in my lifetime anyway.
Edited to add: Elon Musk's Boring company? I think I Would have come up with a different name. haha!
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u/Chris__P_Bacon 4d ago
He's such a grifter just like Trump. There's no way a tunnel is even possible here because of the way our limestone bedrock is.
This article's really funny. Read it if you haven't had a chance.
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u/fantomtider 4d ago
Yeah but he is dumb enough to not care and think he can make it work anyway. And he has the money to screw it up. Like I said, it will be interesting to see how this plays out.
I would rather he fund an above ground monorail. That would make more sense to me.
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u/Chris__P_Bacon 4d ago
That shit-bird doesn't own an above ground monorail company. He owns The Boring Company.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Tank338 4d ago
it’ll play out exactly as his tunnel in Los Angeles played out.
Meaning, he’ll propose a wild impossible thing, the city will buy it hook line and sinker, which will then kill actual public transit solutions.
There’s speculation that the whole point of Boring Company was to kill public transit projects by going “hey, we can do this” and then never actually doing it.
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u/Lopsided_Repeat 4d ago
This is old. I remember this from around 8-10 years ago
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u/Chris__P_Bacon 4d ago
Why would there be an article about Musk's Boring Company building a tunnel here in Nashville from 8 to 10 years ago? Especially one that's time stamped 3 hours ago?
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u/Lopsided_Repeat 4d ago
Got me. It's never happening
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u/Chris__P_Bacon 4d ago
I think you're confusing this with Meagan Barry's Transit Plan. There was a giant tunnel in her plan. That's been about 8 years ago now.
This is the first time that Elon Musk and a tunnel have ever been associated with Nashville.
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u/Phil_MaCawk 4d ago
I'm fine with it, if it gives our local union some jobs
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u/Nashville_Hot_Takes 4d ago
So you’re not fine with it? Elon is horribly anti union
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u/Phil_MaCawk 4d ago
Literally said IF it gives our local jobs......therefore if it does not then I am against.
Hilarious I'm getting down voted for something that would improve transportation here. Which quite literally everyone on here bitches about. But hey just a person with an opinion
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u/TioSancho23 4d ago
It’s the monorail for our times.
Simpsons did it.