AL: Elon Musk company building $100 million underground transit system in major Southern city

Tennessee state officials this week announced an ambitious project to create a 10-mile tunnel connecting bustling Nashville International Airport (BNA) to the downtown Nashville area.

The project, called Music City Loop, would speed traffic between the two points to an 8-minute trip, officials said. The tunnel would follow a course roughly along the Murfreesboro Pike.

Enlisted in the project is billionaire Elon Musk’s The Boring Company, which is engaged in a similar project in Las Vegas.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said the project would be carried out at no cost to taxpayers. Estimates have the price tag for the project at more than $100 million.

“By leveraging the innovation of private sector companies like The Boring Company, we’re exploring possibilities we couldn’t achieve on our own as a state,“ Lee said. ”This partnership represents the kind of forward-thinking, fiscally responsible approach that will define the future of transportation in Tennessee.”

The system is described as an all-electric, zero-emissions, high-speed underground transit system. According to The Tennessean, it will use Tesla electric vehicles driven by Loop operators without the use of any semi-autonomous technology.

That means no one, not even Tesla owners, will be able to use their own vehicles in the tunnel. Travelers will have to buy a ticket.

The Boring Company intends to begin construction immediately following the approvals process, with the first segment of the system expected to be operational as early as fall of 2026, according to the governor’s office.

The project is not without its critics. Some Democratic lawmakers say the speed with which the loop project is moving, as well as the paucity of information, has them concerned, according to the Nashville Banner.

“This tunnel is the privatization of public infrastructure — designed to benefit a select few, not the people who actually live and work here,” state Rep. Aftyn Behn was quoted as saying in Axios. “With over 20 million people passing through BNA every year, a low-capacity Tesla tunnel does nothing to solve the congestion crisis.”

Councilman Russ Bradford, told WKRN, “Our city faces pressing challenges: deteriorating roads, under-resourced public transportation, rising housing costs, and widening disparities in opportunity across neighborhoods. Yet instead of addressing these urgent needs, state and airport leadership is asking taxpayers to consider a multi-billion-dollar tunnel designed not for residents, but for the convenience of tourists.”

©2025 Advance Local Media LLC.
Visit al.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.