Elon Musk’s The Boring Company is gearing up to bring its underground tunnel network to Nashville. The project aims to link downtown Nashville with the city’s international airport through a “loop” system. According to the company, construction will kick off “immediately” after getting the green light, with the first 10-mile stretch potentially up and running as soon as next year, according to the TechCrunch report.
Commenting on the development, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee stated that, this Nashville tunnel network will be “zero cost” to taxpayers, and this project is “entirely privately funded” by The Boring Company along with its partners. Lee further added that once the project is done, “Tesla in Tunnels” will be able to transport passengers from the airport to downtown in approximately eight minutes, as per The Verge.
In the meantime, Nashville Democratic Representative Justin Jones stated that he was forbidden entry at the event announcing the project, stating, “I was denied entry and told I was not on a ‘private list’ for an event involving state authorities hosted in my district.”
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“This project, which requires state approval, is yet another attempt by Bill Lee and his corporate donors to enrich themselves while neglecting public services and real infrastructure needs of working-class people who commute to downtown for work at bars, hotels, and restaurants. Musk’s Boring Company has been known to violate workplace safety laws and damage water quality, which is why other cities have refused or rejected his Tesla Tunnels, and why they are afraid of being questioned,” he added on the Instagram post shared surrounded about this event.
TechCrunch noted that The Boring Company has a history of pitching ambitious tunnel projects in cities like Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, only to later abandon them without much notice.
The Boring Company was founded by Musk in 2017 with a vision to tackle urban traffic by shifting transportation beneath city streets. The idea centers on building efficient, cost-effective tunnels that support high-speed travel, reducing pressure on surface roads. In 2022, it secured $675 million in Series C funding, bringing its estimated valuation to approximately $5.7 billion and signaling strong investor confidence in its long-term potential.
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One of its earliest projects was a 1.14-mile test tunnel in Hawthorne, California, which served as a proving ground for its tunneling technology and the concept behind its loop system. The company gained public attention in 2021 when it debuted the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) Loop which is a 1.7-mile tunnel system that uses Tesla vehicles to transport visitors across the convention campus in under two minutes, cutting down what would otherwise be a lengthy walk. Since then, the system has been expanded to include new tunnels connecting nearby hotels like Resorts World, Westgate, and Encore, with plans to have the full network operational by 2025.
Looking toward the future, The Boring Company has even more ambitious plans. The Vegas Loop, currently under development, aims to stretch across 68 miles and include dozens of stations throughout key areas of the city including the Strip, downtown, the airport, and the stadium. It’s projected to handle as many as 90,000 riders per hour once completed.
Additionally, the company has made its first move beyond the U.S., signing on to build a 17-kilometer tunnel system in Dubai, featuring 11 stations and a target capacity of up to 20,000 passengers per hour.