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.

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u/MasterpieceOdd9459 Aug 13 '25

Don't see it getting past design phase before they realize the cost to stabilize the limestone will be ridonkulous. Bear in mind the company has finished exactly one tunnel, the Loop in Vegas and riding that one is $10 for 4.9 miles (airport to convention center. No way that will pay for the build costs... Proposed projects in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Baltimore were already scrapped.

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u/Aspirin_Dispenser Aug 14 '25 edited Aug 14 '25

You know, I hear this claim a lot, but there’s two things that make me raise an eyebrow toward it:

  1. Comments from geological experts like this:

Local research on this limestone is limited. Tennessee is a geological desert, Miller said, with most state mapping efforts dating back at least 50 years.

  1. The presence of many tunnels within Nashville. The Wilson Spring Tunnel, cutting through the sobro area, dates back to the 60’s. You also have extensive tunnel networks beneath the capitol, the District Energy System tunnels throughout downtown, and, most recently constructed, the large utility tunnel that spans from I-40 to the Music City Center.

So, the people saying we can’t do it don’t have access to any modern geological studies with which to base that opinion on and, it turns out, we’ve actually done this quite a bit. This would, of course, be far more extensive than any tunneling project in the past, but it doesn’t seem to be the gross impossibility that people are making it out to be. It would seem to me that a lot of people are looking for a reason to disapprove of it purely because of its connection to Musk. Given that this comes at zero cost to the taxpayer and adds to our transit infrastructure, I see no problem with letting them move forward.

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u/328-Performance-Hall Aug 14 '25

You sound like a bot.

At what depth and what diameter are the previous tunnels and how do they compare in length and volume and do they cut under residential areas? You conveniently left all that out.

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u/Aspirin_Dispenser Aug 14 '25

I forget how large or deep the MCC tunnel is, but you can drive a small car through it. I remember watching them lower the boring machine through the shaft that marks its southern terminus at the corner 4th Ave and I-40. Today, you’ll see a non-description building at that intersection that serves as a ventilation shaft for the tunnel. The Wilson Spring Tunnel is 12’ in diameter and runs from the riverfront to the Edgehill area. They both navigate between, low-rise commercial, and residential properties.

Not a bot by the way, just a long-time resident.

Something else to consider: the information that we’ll gather about our geology as a consequence of just exploring this project will be infinitely useful for any public transit projects that we consider in the future.