Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced plans for an underground tunnel that will connect key locations in Nashville. Spearheading the project will be Elon Musk's Boring Company. CBS News correspondent Nicole Valdes has more.

Nashville

Tennessee officials have announced that Elon Musk's Boring Company will begin construction on a 10-mile underground tunnel, known as the Music City Loop, in Nashville. The tunnel will connect Nashville International Airport to downtown, aiming to significantly reduce travel times and alleviate traffic congestion using Tesla vehicles for high-speed, zero-emission transit.

The project is expected to be privately funded, with no direct cost to taxpayers or road closures during construction. However, some local leaders have raised concerns about the lack of public input and the proposed use of state-owned land for the construction hub. A public meeting is scheduled to address these issues and gather community feedback.

Elon Musk's Boring Company to begin building Nashville tunnel

Let's take a live look at Nashville, where Tennessee Governor Bill Lee says an underground tunnel will soon connect key locations throughout the city. The governor today announced plans to break ground on the so-called Music City Loop this fall. Now spearheading the project is Elon Musk's Boring Company, the same group that built the Vegas Loop. The high-speed underground transit system will stretch 10 miles, connecting Nashville International Airport to downtown. Let's bring in CBS News correspondent Nicole Valdez, who is live for us in Nashville. Nicole, what is Musk's company hoping to accomplish with this project? Hey Liz, well the idea is really to create a new way to get from downtown Nashville over to the airport. It's actually a place that has had some pretty incredible traffic issues in the past, and it's why we're seeing state leaders, including Governor Bill Lee, call this project transformative and a game-changer. Nashville would only be the second city to have a project like this and an underground tunnel like this, the first of course being Las Vegas, where we've seen their initial project spearheaded there. The 10-mile underground tunnel here in Nashville would mirror that same concept from Elon Musk's The Boring Company. It was launched there several years ago. It's really supposed to be an option to not only have a zero-emission high-speed private transit system sitting beneath the streets of cities like Vegas and Nashville, but it would use Tesla vehicles to move people back and forth, cutting down what can be sometimes a 30-minute drive to an 8 or 10-minute ride. Now users would actually pay to ride in a Tesla that connects both of those places, so it's not as if anyone who owns a Tesla can simply drive their own vehicle through this tunnel. What we actually saw earlier this week during this announcement was Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy joined the governor in announcing the project. He touted that the construction would be privately funded, so no cost to taxpayers, and they wouldn't see any impacts or road closures during the construction because again this is something that's being built underground, but there's definitely still been a lot of conversation around this project. Here's what the governor said in part about how this is all supposed to work earlier this week. We don't have to do it with interruptions above the ground. We don't have to have road closures and bridge closures and all that comes with building an above ground transit system, so but we're going to make sure that it's done safely. Now again, the goal really to try and alleviate traffic in some of the cities that they're eyeing for this project. Again, cutting down a drive time from 30 minutes to 8 to 10 minutes sounds like every driver's dream Liz. Sounds like a dream Nicole, but there are critics of this project. What are their big concerns? Well, several in fact, including several state democratic leaders here who have raised concerns with really some of the conversation or lack thereof surrounding this project. Some of them say that so far there really hasn't been a lot of public input for the project, despite the fact that yes, they're aware that the construction behind this will be privately funded. There are other things that do impact taxpayers, one of those being where this company is going to install its central construction hub. Right now the state is looking to essentially give the company a parking lot that the state owns to start the construction and potentially the building there. In fact, they plan on having a public meeting tomorrow, in fact, to discuss some of the permits behind giving this company that section of state-owned land there. So there are some local democratic leaders who are asking those who have concerns or questions about this project to show up at that public hearing tomorrow to voice those for really the first time. Nicole Valdez live for us in Nashville. Thanks so much, Nicole.

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