Elon Musk built his reputation on turning improbable bets into working rockets and electric cars, but his tunneling venture is running into a different kind of gravity. Instead of a frictionless “hyperloop” future, regulators, engineers, and local officials are now cataloging safety lapses, missed deadlines, and basic math problems that make the tunnel dream look fragile. The headline’s “99%” is not a literal forecast from experts, yet the pattern of warnings from people who study transit and oversee worker safety points in the same direction: Musk’s tunnel empire is on a collision course with serious trouble unless it changes course fast.
From Nevada to Tennessee, I see the same story repeating. Cities are sold a sleek vision of Teslas in tubes, then run into allegations of rule breaking, underwhelming performance, and public skepticism. Some transportation specialists who have examined the concept argue that the technology is unlikely to scale at all, and the latest scrutiny from lawmakers suggests the political patience that once insulated Musk’s projects is wearing thin.
From visionary pitch to skeptical experts
At the heart of the tunnel pitch is a simple idea: dig narrow passages under cities and move people in electric cars at high speed, bypassing surface congestion. Elon Musk has presented this as a natural extension of his successes in rockets and cars, and supporters often point out that Elon Musk is not typically associated with failure. Yet the more I look at the record, the more the gap widens between the marketing and what engineers and planners say is feasible. Some transportation experts who have evaluated the concept argue that the tunnels do little to solve congestion because they still rely on individual vehicles rather than high capacity trains, a concern that has surfaced as locals protest new projects highlighted in an Instagram reel.
Those doubts are not just theoretical. Some analysts who follow urban mobility note that the system’s reliance on private cars makes it inherently low capacity compared with subways or light rail. Reporting on expert views has underscored that Some cities think Elon Musk’s tunnel could be the solution to their transportation issues but experts are skeptical, a tension captured in coverage of expert skepticism about whether the tunnels will ever expand beyond a handful of showcase projects. When the people who design transit systems say the physics of capacity are stacked against you, the odds of a smooth outcome start to look very long.
Safety alarms and “cost of doing business” culture in Nevada
The sharpest warnings right now are coming from Nevada, where lawmakers are probing alleged safety violations at underground tunnel projects in Las Vegas. In hearings covered by April Corbin Girnus, legislators described Alleged problems that range from ventilation concerns to worker protections, and one lawmaker said they feared that breaking rules had become normalized for companies digging under the Strip. That critique of “scofflaw vibes” drifting up from the tunnels, as April Corbin Girnus reported, captures a deeper anxiety that the company’s culture treats fines and citations as a manageable line item rather than a red flag, a concern detailed in state coverage.
Those concerns are not limited to rhetoric. Nevada legislators have publicly pressed Elon Musk’s Boring Company over safety and environmental violations tied to construction of the Vegas Loop and related sites, citing specific incidents that have happened during construction and demanding stronger oversight of the Boring Company’s operations. One lawmaker said “I’m concerned that breaking the law and breaking the rules has essentially just become the cost of doing business for companies in this state,” a line that appeared in reporting on Nevada legislators and was echoed in a separate account of NV lawmakers who examine safety violations tied to Musk’s tunnels. That second report, which quoted the same “I’m concerned that breaking the law and breaking the rules has essentially just become the cost of doing business for companies in this state” line, underscored how deeply the phrase has lodged in the political conversation, as seen in regional coverage.
Altered records, audits, and a no‑show at the Vegas Loop hearing
As the safety questions mount, Nevada officials are also digging into how the company’s oversight has been handled. A Nevada legislator has vowed to push for an independent audit of an altered record in an OSHA Boring Co inspection, arguing that only a thorough audit of the company’s tunneling sites can restore public trust. That call, detailed in reporting that tied together Nevada, OSHA, Boring Co and the push for an independent review, shows how far the relationship has shifted from boosterism to suspicion, as described in audit coverage.
At the same time, lawmakers have complained that Boring Co and representatives of the governor’s office failed to appear at a key state meeting on the Vegas Loop, a no‑show one legislator called “disappointing.” In that session, officials referenced a Long history of troubling things and noted that Watts said Boring Co has always been quick to offer tours of the Vegas Loop and highlight positive stories, but slower to answer detailed questions about incidents, according to a report on the Vegas Loop. When a company that depends on public approvals skips oversight meetings while lawmakers are talking about altered inspection records, the risk is not just regulatory penalties but a collapse in political goodwill.
Ambitious promises, thin results, and worker churn
Even if the safety and compliance issues were resolved, the basic performance of the tunnels is underwhelming compared with the hype. A recent overview of Progress and Setbacks The Boring Company noted that the firm hopes to eventually build “hyperloop” tunnels for autonomous vehicles traveling over long distances, but so far many proposed routes have stalled because of funding problems, loss of momentum or failed environmental assessments. That same analysis pointed out that the company has struggled to move beyond short demonstration segments, a pattern that has dogged other futuristic transit ideas and was laid out in detail in a review of progress and setbacks.
The physical output so far is modest. One investigation found that Elon Musk’s Boring Company has drilled a grand total of 2.4 miles of tunnel for public projects, a tiny fraction of what would be needed to transform urban transportation. Part of the issues come from the churn of workers at the Boring Company, which Fortune reports has a high rate of employee turnover, a serious handicap when you are trying to refine complex tunneling techniques, as described in a detailed tally. When a company is still measured in single‑digit miles after years of publicity, the burden of proof shifts to those claiming it can suddenly scale to city‑wide networks.
Money, missed deadlines, and the Nashville stress test
The financial picture is equally fraught. A feature on the company’s internal operations described how Many high-achieving, recent engineering graduates were only making starting salaries of around $70,000 a year, according to people familiar with the payroll. That same report framed Elon Musk’s Boring Co as turning into a $900 million flop, with some of its most visible activity focused on digging tunnels for SpaceX and xAI office connections rather than revenue generating public transit, as laid out in an examination of internal finances. Underpaying elite engineers while chasing capital intensive infrastructure is not a recipe for long term stability.
On the public side, the company has already stumbled on basic procurement. In California, it missed a key proposal deadline on a project that would have connected a Metrolink train station to Ontario International Ai, knocking itself out of the running for a contract it had originally proposed. That lapse, recounted in a Dive Brief that chronicled how the firm failed to submit paperwork in time to stay in the process to win the project, highlighted a surprising lack of discipline for a company that prides itself on execution, as described in coverage of the missed deadline. If you cannot reliably file bids, it is hard to imagine managing multi‑billion‑dollar buildouts.
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