Opposition Mounts Against Idea of Boring tunnel for Gigafactory Commute

Opposition is being formulated against any proposed Boring company tunnel Our Town Reno previously wrote about as a possible solution currently being discussed at high levels of Nevada's government to ease the traffic congestion to and from the gigafactory in Storey County.

“I am deeply concerned by the hundreds of environmental and safety violations that the Boring Company has racked up in its work in Las Vegas - including chemicals burns, crushing injuries, and dumping hazardous materials into our water systems,” District 25 Assembly member Selena La Rue Hatch wrote us in an email this week.

“I simply do not want that for Washoe County. Further, I do not believe that these tunnels, which are more a vanity project than anything, will actually serve the need for mass transit in that area.

That is why I sponsored AB 256 last session, which starts the process to create a light rail system in Washoe and Clark. Light rail out to TRIC would solve the traffic congestion issue, while also minimizing our environmental impact and reducing both costs for consumers and vehicle emissions.”

“We will oppose this project at every stage of review and use every tool available to ensure it does not move forward,” Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter Director Olivia Tanager wrote on X, commenting on a retweeted post which indicated “The Boring Company is working with a Nevada state-affiliated group to study a tunnel project that would go under the nine-mile stretch of highway from Reno to Tesla’s Nevada Gigafactory, which could help alleviate traffic, according to documents.”

On our earlier story posted on our ourtownreno subreddit a commenter called shichiaikan wrote “Vast majority of people here have been on the side of high speed rail for like 20 years. Absolutely can't do Boring, the terrain here and underground water would make it nearly impossible... at best it'd be a shit ton more expensive than a light rail system.”

Documents being circulated by EDAWN and the governor’s office indicate the Elon Musk founded Boring Company is considering the future possibility of a tunnel project that would go under a nine mile stretch of highway from the Reno/Sparks area to Tesla’s Storey County gigafactory.

A Fortune magazine article reports EDAWN even paid Boring $50,000 in October to draw up designs and do a feasibility study for alleviating what is often times terrible traffic for employees at the gigafactory.

This possibility was previously mentioned by the Nevada Department of Transportation.

A tiny Boring tunnel where passengers are being chauffeured in Teslas around the Convention Center and the Westgate, Encore and Resorts World is already operational in Las Vegas, but approval to make it longer is still pending.

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