Nashville Teams with Elon Musk to Build Tesla Tunnel to Airport

Nashville announces partnership with Elon Musk’s Boring Company for an underground transit tunnel.

• Project aims to connect downtown Nashville directly to Nashville International Airport (BNA).

• Proposed 10-mile Tesla tunnel expected to reduce travel time from 30 minutes to under 10 minutes.

• Tunnel seeks to ease heavy traffic on the busy I-40 corridor.

• Boring Company will conduct detailed feasibility studies before construction begins.

• Project cost may approach hundreds of millions of dollars, based on similar ventures in other cities.

• Nashville officials anticipate economic and tourism benefits from efficient transit solution.

• Critics question capacity, scalability, and long-term viability based on past projects.

• Next step: Nashville awaits feasibility results before formal approval.

• City officials see the project as key to managing growing traffic and boosting local appeal.

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Elon Musk
Podcast. This is a show where we discuss
the critical crossroads that shape SpaceX, Tesla X, The
Boring Company, and Neurolink. I'm your host, Will Walden.
Could Nashville's chronic traffic problems finally have a
solution? Through a Tesla tunnel beneath

(00:23):
the city, the city government announced a new partnership with
Elon Musk's Boring Company to build an underground tunnel
connecting downtown Nashville, TN directly to Nashville
International Airport BNA. If you're flying in or out.
The move is Nashville's newest effort to ease congestion,
provide efficient airport transit, and modernize the

(00:45):
city's transportation infrastructure.
Now this initial proposal, there's a test the power transit
system with little ferry passengers in Teslas through a
10 mile tunnel, significantly shortening the journey from
downtown to the airport. While typical drives can take

(01:05):
more than an hour or half an hour in heavy traffic, Musk's
Boring Company expects their tunnel to reduce the trip to
under 10 minutes. Now, this route will use Tesla's
autonomous EVs to streamline thepassenger experience and reduce
surface level congestion. Now, Nashville officials state

(01:25):
this initiative aims to alleviate the notoriously heavy
traffic along the I-40 corridor between downtown and the
airport, where frequent backups frustrate travelers and locals
on a daily basis. And with Nashville's population
and tourism steadily increasing,city planners view innovative
transportation solutions like this tunnel as necessary to

(01:45):
maintain manageable traffic conditions.
Now, the agreement between Nashville and The Boring Company
requires the firm to perform an extensive feasibility study,
first assessing local geologicalconditions, potential routes and
economic factors before tunneling begins.
This preliminary evaluation willguide city planners and
engineers to pinpoint the safestand most efficient path for the

(02:08):
proposed underground route. Now, while Nashville officials
have not yet released specific cost estimates for the tunnel,
similar projects from The BoringCompany elsewhere indicate the
price tag could reach hundreds of millions of dollars.
Now in Las Vegas, the company's underground loop connecting
various points across the city costs about $50 million per

(02:29):
mile. Now, Nashville's proposed tunnel
had about 10 miles in length mayapproach or exceed 1/2 billion
dollar investment. However, city leaders assert
that the financial benefits could justify the steep price,
pointing out potential economic gains from reduced traffic
congestion, improved accessibility and also increased

(02:50):
tourism. Nobody wants to be stuck in
traffic while they're going to do some fun things in Nashville.
Officials anticipate that swift and reliable transit from
downtown Nashville directly to BNA Airport could further
enhance the city's reputation asan attractive business and also
a tourism destination. The Boring Company's past
projects provide insights into how the Nashville Tunnel could

(03:11):
function in Las Vegas. Elon Musk's firm operates
electric vehicle loops beneath the city, transporting
passengers between convention centers and hotels.
Now, the success of the Las Vegas project has encouraged
other cities to explore similar transit options, with Fort
Lauderdale, FL, also recently agreeing to pursue a tunnel
linking its downtown area directly to the beach.

(03:34):
Which is pretty cool now. Despite general optimism, Musk's
tunneling ventures have encountered public skepticism
and occasional setbacks. Critics have questioned the
actual capacity and cost effectiveness of those tunnels,
noting that the relatively smallpassenger vehicles may struggle
to move large crowds during peaktravel periods.
Initially, early projects such as the cancel Chicago O'Hare

(03:56):
Airport Tunnel raised concerns about reliability, scalability,
and long term maintenance costs.Nashville city planners counter
these criticisms by emphasizing that traditional traffic
mitigation solutions have proveninadequate in recent years.
Public transit, buses and rail infrastructure alone if not
successfully reduced congestion,prompting local officials to

(04:17):
consider innovative alternativeslike a boring tunnel with
Tesla's. They believe that the Boring
Company, if implemented successfully, could set a
positive precedent for modern urban transportation across the
country. They're going to be one of the
first adopters, and of course there's going to be some
hurdles, but they'll get over them.
So there's a The next phase is coming up.

(04:40):
Nashville officials and Boring Company engineers initiating
detailed analysis and planning, preparing technical details,
route alignment and preliminary cost assessments.
And once this process finishes, City Council will evaluate the
results, reviews the feasibilityfindings, and make formal
decisions on proceeding with theproject.

(05:02):
No, Nashville is doing somethingreally interesting here because
there aren't many tunnels that are being built currently under
cities that go from the city to the airport.
Tesla and the porn company are doing a bunch of them recently
and they're getting more contracts across the country and
looking to get contracts all over the world actually right

(05:24):
now. We're going to have more
information about that for you in the future.
There's a couple overseas project that they're working on.
Should be pretty interesting. There's feasibility studies
happening and this is all kind of hush hush right now.
I have some insiders that have been telling me some things and
it's going to be pretty cool if they pull it off.
Nashville is one of those hubs that a lot of people go to for

(05:47):
the entertainment, for the music, etcetera.
But then they fly out of Nashville and they go someplace
else. So when they are downtown and
they're being entertained, of course they have to get back to
their airport hotel. So why do you want to call an
Uber when you can just jump inside of a Tesla, go through a
tube, whisk off back to your hotel near the airport next

(06:10):
morning, grab a Tesla robo taxi in the future, and then get to
your airport destination or takethe shuttle.
That's cool too. So hopefully this works out and
Elon Musk's tunnel system in Nashville is a big hit.
Hey, thank you so much for listening today.
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(06:31):
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(06:56):
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