Officials with the state of Tennessee and Elon Musk's The Boring Company announced details Monday related to a tunnel to connect downtown Nashville and the Nashville International Airport.
A release notes a possible fall 2026 opening, but Steve Davis, president and CEO of The Boring Company, said at an announcement event Monday afternoon that the tunnel could be operational in about two years. Davis joined Gov. Bill Lee, Metropolitan Airport Authority CEO Doug Kreulen and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy for the announcement at the recently opened Hilton BNA Nashville Airport Terminal.
The tunnel will be called the Music City Loop and — according to Lee and other officials at Monday's event — will be undertaken with no cost to taxpayers. It will connect BNA to the Music City Center and allow users to travel from the airport to the convention facility in eight minutes. The first phase would involve a 10-mile tunnel.
The tunnel is expected to take cues from The Boring Company's Las Vegas Convention Center Loop, which allows fleets of Musk's Tesla electric vehicles to transport passengers. The Boring Company has not announced a price tag, start date or estimated number of daily users, but intends to begin construction immediately following the approvals process.
Notably absent from the event, Mayor Freddie O'Connell issued the following statement: "We are aware of the state's conversations with the Boring Company, and we have a number of operational questions to understand the potential impacts on Metro and Nashvillians."
State Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) was not allowed into the announcement event, which required RSVPs.
Boring Company CEO Steve Davis at the Music City Loop announcement at the Hilton BNA Nashville Airport Terminal
Discussions between the two parties commenced a few months ago, with subsequent reports spurring discussion among urban placemaking and planning experts. Eric Hoke, design director at the Civic Design Center, shared his thoughts on a potential tunnel with Scene sister publication the Nashville Post in June.
The Music City Loop will feature all-electric, zero-emissions vehicles, with the system owned and operated by The Boring Company. The system, according to The Boring Company, will meet or exceed the National Fire Protection Association fire and life standard.
“The Boring Company is excited to bring our world-class tunneling and transportation capabilities to Tennessee,” Davis says in the release. “We are appreciative and grateful for the continued support and collaboration from the State of Tennessee, and local Nashville community and business leaders.”
In 2017 and 2018, then-Mayor Megan Barry and her administration crafted a comprehensive $5.4 billion mass transit plan, which included a tunnel transportation system that failed to materialize after voters rejected the plan via a referendum.
This article was first published by our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
