Urbanism+

www.15minutenews.com

Jakarta overtakes Tokyo as worlds most populous city, accord...

The rankings were changed after the UN used new criteria to give a more accurate picture of the rapid urbanisation drivi...

electrek.co

Elon Musk’s Boring Company has work crew in Nashville walk off job over unpaid bills and safety

The Boring Company, Elon Musk’s tunneling startup, is reportedly facing significant issues with its new project in Nashville, Tennessee. A key subcontractor has walked off the job, alleging that the company has failed to pay for work completed on the “Music City Loop,” claiming they have received only 5% of what they are owed. We have been following The Boring Company’s expansion efforts closely. After the relative success of the Las Vegas Loop and several projects that failed to materialize, it looked like the company was winding down until a new proposal in Nashville gained some momentum. However, a new report from the Nashville Banner indicates that the project is hitting a major wall. Shane Trucking and Excavating, a local contractor hired to handle preliminary work for the tunnel project, pulled its workers off the site this Monday. William Shane, the owner of the company, told the Banner that The Boring Company has “ghosted” them and failed to pay invoices totaling in the six figures. According to Shane, the payment terms were initially set for every 15 days, then unilaterally switched to 60 days. Now, he claims it has been over 120 days since they broke ground, and his company has received only a fraction of the payment due. “We were really skeptical from the beginning, and then since then, things pretty much just went downhill,” Shane said. The contractor was reportedly responsible for preparing the launch pad for “Prufrock,” The Boring Company’s proprietary tunnel boring machine (TBM). We previously reported on Prufrock’s capabilities, with the company claiming it can dig tunnels significantly faster than conventional machines, supposedly porpoising directly from the surface to avoid digging expensive launch pits. If the launch pad isn’t finished because the excavator wasn’t paid, Prufrock isn’t digging anywhere. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of payment issues involving Musk-led companies. Tesla has been known to not pay its bills, leading to small companies going bankrupt. As The Boring Company was stiffing Shane on the bills, the company tried to poach workers from its own contractor and lied about it: “One of their head guys texts two of my welders, offering them a job for $45 an hour from his work phone,” Shane described, noting that the same TBC employee denied sending the texts when confronted with screenshots. “That’s actually a breach of contract.” On top of the missed payments, Shane alleges serious safety concerns. They made several official complaints to OSHA: “Where we’re digging, we’re so far down, there should be concrete and different structures like that to hold the slope back from falling on you while you’re working. Where most people use concrete, they currently have — I’m not even kidding — they currently have wood. They had us install wood 2x12s.” The Boring Company Vice President David Buss blamed missed payments on “invoicing errors” in a statement to the Banner: “It does look like we had some invoicing errors on that. It was, you know, unfortunately, too common of a thing, but I assured them that we are going to make sure that invoices are wired tomorrow.” He also said that he would look into the poaching allegations, but added that he is not aware of any OSHA complaints. The “Music City Loop” was pitched as a solution to connect downtown Nashville to the airport, a route that is notoriously congested. The Boring Company claims it can complete the project without public money, but there are some obvious issues with its financing. I’ve been willing to give them the benefit of the doubt on the “Loop” concept. While it falls short of the original “autonomous pods” vision or the “Hyperloop” speed dreams, the system in Las Vegas does work to move people, even if it is just Teslas in tunnels driven by humans. There’s just no evidence that it would be more efficient than any other public transit system. When Musk launched The Boring Company’s first test tunnel in LA, I asked him if he had any simulations showing his “loop” system to be more efficient. He said that they were working on that. That was 7 years ago. Therefore, while The Boring Company appears to have achieved marginal improvements in tunnel boring, mainly when it comes to smaller tunnels; it has yet to show clear evidence that its Loop system is a better solution than any other public transit system. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

www.coloradopolitics.com

Colorado Sen. Faith Winter, 45, killed in car accident

State Sen. Faith Winter, D-Westminster, was killed in a car accident Wednesday evening on I-25. The accident took place near the intersection of I-25 and Dry Creek Ave., according to the Arapahoe Coun...

www.wfaa.com

Yet another DART member city is considering backing out of its partnership

Addison joins several North Texas cities in putting its partnership with the public transit agency into question.

youtu.be

EPISODE 318 MICHEL DURAND WOOD: Dear Winnipeg Goes Global

YouTube video by Active Towns

www.politico.com

20 states sue the Trump administration over cuts to homeless permanent housing funding

A coalition of attorneys general and governors filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration's new conditions and cuts to a Department of Housing and Urban Development permanent housing program.

www.youtube.com

How This Small City Tripled Its Cycling In Just 11 Years

YouTube video by Oh The Urbanity!

www.bhnet.org

Canadian Mental Health Association staff saw two sides of Brandi Clarke, inquest hears

Employees of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) painted two different pictures of Brandi Clarke on the second day of the inquest into the P.E.I. woman’s death at the non-profit’s transitional housing program.  Clarke died in 2023 from diabetic ketoacidosis — when someone’s blood turns acidic due to a lack of insulin.  On the first day of the inquest, jurors heard Clarke had a history of being hospitalized and not taking her medications for both her Type 1 diabetes and her psychotic symptoms, which her psychiatrist believed stemmed from schizophrenia.  In 2021, Clarke started attending a day program for people

www.adn.com

Opinion: Stop blaming pedestrians and start fixing streets

Anchorage’s pedestrian death toll isn’t about reflective vests or fences — it’s about dangerous driving, weak enforcement and leaders who prioritize convenience over human life.

arxiv.org

Fly-by transit: A novel door-to-door shared mobility with minimal stops

This paper introduces fly-by transit (FBT), a novel mobility system that employs modular mini-electric vehicles (mini-EVs) to provide door-to-door shared mobility with minimal stops. Unlike existing m...

www.youtube.com

This Is What a UK Road Legal E-Scooter Looks Like!

YouTube video by Everything Electric TECH

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Top 10 US Cities That Are Becoming More City-Like

YouTube video by Ray Delahanty | CityNerd

www.theguardian.com

How ambitious ‘forest city’ plan for England could become a reality

Cross-party coalition behind proposals hope eco-friendly scheme for million people could begin before end of decade