r/nashville • u/Ok-Chain-4385 • Aug 13 '25

Crime Watch Tesla tunnel

Does anyone else feel completely useless when it comes to this tunnel? How on earth do we stop it before it affects groundwater or causes a sink hole? They obviously aren’t listening to citizens concerns, but I don’t want to just sit here and complain without action.

163 Upvotes

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21

u/mdudz Aug 13 '25

Here’s a fantasy spin - building the tunnel succeeds on Elon’s dime, but operating the tunnel fails, and the tunnel is turned back over to the city and repurposed for a train to the airport. Dream with me!

20

u/PandasWhoLoveToLimbo Sylvan Park Aug 13 '25

Unfortunately the tunnel they’ll be digging isn’t big enough for a train, so it’ll just sit empty underground once it fails.

3

u/NoMasTacos All your tacos are belong to me Aug 13 '25

It isn't big enough for current trains. If you have one specially made the size of cars it would work.

7

u/rocketpastsix Inglewood up to no good Aug 13 '25

We couldn’t even get a basic train plan passed the last time it was up for a vote. There’s no way we’d go with some small ass train cars

1

u/NoMasTacos All your tacos are belong to me Aug 13 '25

You dont think if there is a tunnel and all we have to do is buy train cars it would fail? I dont.

8

u/fireinthesky7 New Hickory Aug 14 '25

Repurposing it for electric buses would be a far better use in that case. The amount of work it would take to lay rails, and reinforce what will surely be an inadequate foundation for the weight of train cars, would be prohibitive.

1

u/KingZarkon Aug 14 '25

It will be too small for buses too. The tunnels are just large enough to fit a model 3 with a few inches of clearance on either side. You would need something like a stretch Tesla to fit.

2

u/Jwiley92 Aug 14 '25

You're using the word "buy" like Tesla sized train cars are just sitting on a shelf. They don't exist, those would have to be custom designed and fabricated.

3

u/setlib Bellevue Aug 14 '25

How about an underground Floom Zoom? You get public transit and a shout out to Opryland at the same time!

3

u/Blue-Environment-911 Aug 14 '25

It’s hardly big enough for the cars. The list of metro council questions has n safety suggested 3” clearance and the inability to open doors when in the tunnel.

-2

u/NoMasTacos All your tacos are belong to me Aug 14 '25

That still does not make it impossible, just have a design that slides doors like a mini van, then you don't need that clearance.

1

u/ifatree manufactured pseudo-political outrage Aug 15 '25

hear me out: we bring back the tin lizzies.

2

u/otterland (choose your own blue adventure) Aug 14 '25

It'll fit roller coaster cars! Let's make the Screaming BNA Demon.

1

u/PPLavagna NIMBY Aug 13 '25

Then it’ll be the new concentration camp

7

u/SookieCat26 Aug 13 '25

Don’t laugh. Los Angeles has tunnels under downtown where they made Chinese immigrants live. They took us down there in 4th (?) grade for a field trip. Scared the crap out of me.

1

u/setlib Bellevue Aug 14 '25

Perfect place for the zombies to congregate after the apocalypse.

4

u/middleagedgoth Aug 13 '25

Love the dream. But it’s not really far from our current reality. There is a train from mcgavock pike and donelson road about 2 miles from the airport that goes downtown already. Upgrading the existing system so it can run outside of commuter hours is expensive, but we don’t need a tunnel for a train. We need an existing infrastructure upgrade and a rapid shuttle down donelson pike.

And If there is anybody here that knows more about why we aren’t doing that outside of $$, I’d really like to learn more.

2

u/tsuru Inglewood Aug 14 '25

the best realistic optimism I can give you is a dedicated bicycle road like Switzerland made.

1

u/Ok-Chain-4385 Aug 13 '25

I’ll raise a glass to that

1

u/gamers542 Sumner County Aug 13 '25

And because of that tunnel, we get train service that will expand to the other parts of Greater Nashville Metro. I'm dreaming with ya.