Tunnel Project

Initially a collaboration between the Nebraska Family, the Whitaker Family, the Veranda Family, and Bluff City Studios, The Tunnel Project later became a project of the Blough City council, with Lieutenant Merisi assigned to watch over the Project on behalf of the City. The Tunnel began to blur the boundaries between Blough City, Bluff City and Bluffington, and enable travel between the three cities. This project was detrimental to Bluffington Beach's economy, environment and society in general, as many suburbs and housing were demolished to make was for the Tunnel Project. The current leadership of the Tunnel is unknown.

The inside of it is described as ”an endless tunnel with light pulsing down it” with "Hadron Collider vibes". When Dr Bart was briefly imprisoned inside it, it began to change his memories, specifically in relation to the location his memories took place in.

When completed, the Tunnel Project (retitled 'the TriCity Tunnel Authority') made travel between the three cities easier, faster, and more comfortable, but was known to have side effects for unlucky individuals (see: Olivia McGowen).

Construction of the Tunnel Project

Grouse and The Champ saw, or perhaps fell through, the Tunnel when they found themselves in Blough City. While there, they discovered that the Whitaker and Nebraska families were pumping large amounts of water out of the wetlands outside the city to make room for the Tunnel Project.

On the external Blough City end, the Tunnel Project is located outside of the City in the marshland. The Tunnel Project itself is similar in appearance to a mining site, although it's uniqueness makes the location stand out to locals. It is lit by portable lanterns, with the hum of generators giving the quarry it is situated in a constant background hum.

Known Entry Points

Bluffington Beach Marshland Facility

Built underground with the appearance that it was poking through the surface of the marshland, the Tunnel is accessible through this facility via a series of hallways. Designed with an "extremely maximalist" 90s design, the interior signage used bright colours, with people decorating their desks (bobble heads, baseball pennants, superhero memorabilia, sea monkeys, coloured sand inside little bottles). The amount of desk toys signaled rank to others in the office, with the higher ranking team members having more items on their desks.

This facility also contained a Control Track, which is a large room lined with constantly moving magnetic tape (similar in appearance to a cassette tape or VHS tape). This room's purpose was to help people get to their correct destination, “recording” versions of the person onto the tape and “re-inscribing” them onto their bodies once they arrive at their destination. One blueprints, this room is marked with the following warning:

Warning! The track heads need to be cleaned regularly. Allow the automated track head cleaners to perform their tasks. Failing to do so could be detrimental to further experiences of potential passengers through the Tunnel.

The Control Track is maintained by humanoid robots. These robots are similar in appearance to the Michelin man, with a large window-face, a big white bouncy rubber bodies inflated over a cylindrical metal body and a smiley face design on the stomach. They have long arms with end in spinning metal brushes, and a blue and orange unicycle-style wheel at the bottom, similar to Yes Man from Fallout. These are currently maintained by El K Caster.

Currently the entry and office space has been abandoned, and this space is currently used as a hangout spot for local teens (doors taken off their hinges, spray paint on the walls, scattered empty beer bottles, a mattress dragged into one of the rooms.

Expansion Protocol

Shortly after the Tunnel Project was completed (approximately ten years prior to the events of To Be Young Near the Shore), an experiment was begun to see what would happen if people who entered the Tunnel ended up in a different city than they believed they would go to, with the magic and technology of the Tunnel helping to change the world such that they did not recognise or remember their previous destination. They briefly considered making this a public experiment, but those who were informed that they would be relocated were so outraged by the forced change that they began doing it without the knowledge or consent of the test subjects.

Five years after this experiment was started, those involved noticed that Bluff City seemed to be the more successful city of the three, and added a new layer of the experiment: for every ten people travelling through the Tunnel to either Blough or Bluffington, three would end up in Bluff. As a result, Bluff City continued to expand and profit, while Blough and Bluffington suffered from economic downtown, impacting the citizens of Blough and Bluffington.

This experiment also resulted in several accidents over the years (notably Ollie and Britney), as for the experiment to work, the Control Track (detailed above) had to be misaligned.

Known Test Subjects

• Ronny Lee Highsmith Sr and family
  

People Associated With The Tunnel Project

• Nebraska Family
• Whitaker Family
• Veranda Family
• Lieutenant Merisi
• Mr E Masque

Workers on The Tunnel Project

• Ben (seen hitting Elena with a pipe during the fight at the quarry)
• Sven (seen attempting to hit Caitlin during the fight at the quarry)