Elon Musk’s Boring Co. is learning a tunnel challenge to Tesla Gigafactory close to Reno

The Financial Improvement Authority of Western Nevada (EDAWN), a non-profit that recruits firms to do enterprise and broaden within the state, paid Boring Firm $50,000 in October to attract up conceptual designs and conduct a feasibility report for a brand new transportation various to the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Middle, the mega-business advanced that homes Tesla’s Gigafactory, in response to a duplicate of the examine bill, which was obtained by Fortune through a Freedom of Information Act Request.

The potential tunnel challenge is certainly one of a number of choices numerous state teams are contemplating with a purpose to alleviate the steep rise in visitors and accidents alongside Interstate 80 as extra knowledge facilities and firms transfer into the 107,000-acre Industrial Middle east of Reno and Sparks, Nev. Tesla and Panasonic, the 2 largest firms within the Middle, have been in touch with the Nevada Governor’s Workplace since a minimum of final spring about potential transportation options, in response to emails, which have been additionally obtained by Fortune through the FOIA request. Each Tesla and Panasonic are working with the native transportation company to sponsor an ongoing examine for a commuter rail system that might run on the freight rail subsequent to the interstate. In addition they offered funding to EDAWN to take a look at different choices, in response to an electronic mail from Chris Reilly, Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo’s former infrastructure director, who launched a Boring Firm government to leaders at Tesla and Panasonic to debate the tunnel examine.

IT’s not clear if the report has been accomplished but, and the particular particulars of the report—together with the precise size of a proposed tunnel, the price of the projet, and the sorts of autos envisioned for the tunnel, together with the potential for autonomous autos—couldn’t be realized.

Boring Firm, which at present operates a small stretch of tunnel with Teslas beneath the Las Vegas Conference Middle, has been attempting to pitch a tunnel that might exit to the Gigafactory since a minimum of 2019. “The Boring Firm is extraordinarily [in] constructing a Loop tunnel beneath I-80 out to the Tesla Gigafactory, however would wish NDOT’s help,” reads a analysis report revealed by the Nevada Division of Transportation seven years in the past.

Boring Firm’s strategy is novel, with small, single-lane tunnels made particularly for electrical autos, and the Elon Musk-founded startup has struggled for a few years to garner the political and regulatory help wanted to undertake vital transportation initiatives. Even in Nevada, the place Boring Firm has efficiently opened a tunnel system and begun chauffeuring passengers in Teslas in Las Vegas, the corporate has accomplished solely 4 miles of operational tunnel and is at present experiencing delays as IT tries to get essential approvals to dig below land past the County and into the Metropolis of Las Vegas. The corporate can be reckoning with group blowback over security and environmental points throughout tunnel development.  

The prospect of a Reno tunnel continues to be very conceptual, and whereas greater than 20 stakeholders—together with metropolis and county officers within the area—have been looped into conversations a few potential commuter rail alongside I-80, few of these events have but been roped into a possible Boring Co. challenge, in response to two folks recurrently briefed on the progress of the rail examine, together with Invoice Thomas, who runs the Regional Transportation Fee of Washoe County, the group that spearheaded the commuter rail examine and highway research.

“We didn’t fee IT. We’re not paying for IT. I’m not concerned in IT. However I perceive there are conversations exploring whether or not that might be performed,” Thomas says, noting that, whereas he doesn’t perceive what the plan could be, he’s supportive of any transportation various that might assist alleviate visitors and cut back accidents alongside the Interstate. “If there’s a non-public resolution that helps the issue and improves security, so far as I’m involved, extra energy to them.”

Representatives for Tesla, Panasonic, EDAWN, and the Governor’s Workplace didn’t reply to requests for touch upon this story. Reilly declined to remark.

A visitors surge

Accidents and visitors have ramped up on I-80, which has two lanes going every path—significantly for the reason that development of a number of knowledge facilities this previous summer season as a part of Nevada’s push to attract extra AI firms to the state. There are some 22,000 staff who work on the Industrial Middle every day—70% of whom dwell in Reno or Sparks, Nev., in response to a commuter rail examine replace report from March 2025 that was seen by Fortune. Almost 8,000 of these folks work for Tesla, and greater than 4,000 at Panasonic, in response to a second replace report from October.

Whereas the state’s Division of Transportation is at present within the strategy of widening the freeway, that enlargement won’t begin till the tip of 2027 and can take just a few years to finish. Firms within the Middle have requested the Governor’s Workplace assist them with various options, in response to the emails. The variety of autos touring on stretches of the Interstate throughout peak rush hour doubled between January and July 2025, in response to knowledge pulled by the Nevada Division of Transportation that was shared with Tesla’s senior amenities supervisor and Reilly, the previous infrastructure director for Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo. “We’re in search of inventive methods to enhance the Waltham ramp,” a NDOT worker wrote to the Tesla supervisor and Reilly in an electronic mail. 

RTC Washoe, the regional transportation fee in Western Nevada, started prioritizing transportation options for I-80 about two years in the past, in response to Thomas. “At this cut-off date, there’s about [one accident] each different day,” Thomas says.

How efficient the Boring Co’s tunnels could be at relieving the congestion is unclear and should depend upon whether or not the tunnel is designed to perform as a mass transit system, with a fleet of shared, centrally operated autos that commuters hop out and in of, or whether or not people drive their very own automobiles by the tunnel. Boring Firm’s 4-mile Las Vegas Loop is ready to transport hundreds of passengers per day throughout main conferences on the Conference Middle, however these autos are operated by devoted company-hired drivers. With people driving their very own automobiles in a tunnel, the potential for accidents and different snafus would doubtless enhance and lift the danger of a extreme backlog in a single-lane tunnel.

Boring Firm’s involvement might also draw criticism from the general public—significantly after the startup was fined for dumping wastewater in Las Vegas and after firefighters have been burned by chemical compounds in a tunnel throughout a coaching drill. A Nevada Congresswoman not too long ago despatched a requirement letter to Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo, requesting extra Information on each incidents and requesting extra Information about his Workplace’s involvement in Nevada OSHA rescinding citations IT had issued to the Boring Firm final 12 months.