Why fund an actual public transportation solution when someone is willing to give you a gimmick for free? Elon Musk’s Boring Company announced on Monday that it will dig the Music City Loop, 10 miles of tunnels to connect Nashville’s downtown, convention center and international airport. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee claims the project will come “at zero cost to taxpayers.” While there would be a financial cost, the opportunity cost of relinquishing the resources and real estate for the project could be robbing the public of a light rail line or anything else with more capacity.
The original Vegas Loop was built in 2021 to shuttle people across the sprawling Las Vegas Convention Center in Tesla Model Y electric crossovers. The Music City Loop for Tennessee’s largest city will serve a major airport that sees over 24 million passengers annually. The tunnel’s right-of-way will be beneath state-owned roads and highways, according to a statement from Governor Lee. This is with the lofty promises that the tunnel will be excavated without any road closures, there will be no major launch pits for machinery, and the Loop will open by 2026. According to WKRN, the Boring Company will lease a parking lot near the Tennessee State Capitol to use as its excavator staging area.
No taxpayer money doesn’t mean there’s no opposition
Final approval for the Music City Loop will be determined on Thursday by the executive subcommittee of Tennessee’s State Building Committee. It’s easy to image that plenty of people find the Music City Loop too good to be true, but they haven’t been able to voice their concerns over the public-private partnership. State Representative Justin Jones was denied entry to the announcement event at Nashville International Airport. While airport officials initially stated that Governor Lee wanted the Democratic legislator kept out, they later stated that Jones simply wasn’t invited. An airport spokesperson said:
“As a major transportation hub and community partner, we are committed to fostering strong relationships with all members of our community. Admission to tonight’s event was granted to invited guests and credentialed media who had RSVP’d in advance.”
I don’t know about you, but excluding elected officials isn’t an ideal way to build a relationship with the community. The Boring Company’s plan will likely route the tunnel under Murfreesboro Pike, a state-owned road often included in plans for a new public transit connection to the airport. If completed, a fleet of Model Ys will always have lower capacity than a similarly-sized fleet of buses. Cost is seemingly always the barrier to improving transit infrastructure. Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell proposed a multi-billion dollar transit overhaul for the city last year, but excluded a light rail line to the airport over cost concerns. Without the will to fund projects, officials are just handing the keys to the opportunist with the thickest checkbook.
