Elon Musk’s Boring Company has begun construction on a planned tunnel between downtown Nashville and the airport. Last Tuesday afternoon, the company dug underground at its worksite on Rosa Parks Boulevard for a future utility pole.

At the same time, the company sampled the city’s rock.

That is not typical.

Companies and government agencies usually do geological studies at least a year, or multiple years, before breaking ground on large construction projects in Middle Tennessee for planning purposes. Careful planning is particularly important in Nashville due to its karst terrain, which is a limestone maze of cracks, caves and underground streams.

For example, if a company discovers a cave in the path of construction, it can design measures to help prevent disasters, such as sinkholes,

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