Elon Musk Looks to Nashville for Boring Company Project

Elon Musk’s Boring Company is looking to lease a state-owned lot in downtown Nashville as a launchpad for its proposed tunnel connecting the city’s core to the airport, a high-profile infrastructure bet that would mark the firm’s first major move in Tennessee.

The company has requested access to 0.8 acres at 637 Rosa Parks Boulevard, near the state capitol, according to documents from the Tennessee State Building Commission reported by the Nashville Business Journal. The site would serve as a staging area for tunnel boring machinery and related construction activity on what’s been dubbed the “Music City Loop.”

A commission agenda for a July 31 meeting described the parking lot as underutilized state land designated as surplus for the term of the lease, which would run through March 2027.

The lease would come at no cost to Boring because of “benefits it will accrue to the state” if the tunnel is completed and operational. The agreement includes provisions for termination if the company fails to make progress.

The proposed tunnel, unveiled publicly Monday, would offer an eight-minute commute between downtown and Nashville International Airport. State officials confirmed the project will be privately funded, with no taxpayer dollars involved. Neither the full route nor cost estimates have been released, though Axios has reported that the tunnel will follow Murfreesboro Pike.

Steve Davis, Boring’s president and CEO, said the company sees Nashville as a long-term play, hinting at potential expansions beyond the downtown-airport corridor. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is also backing the project, framing it as a transformative private investment in state infrastructure.

While the plan has garnered buzz, it’s still early-stage. Boring has completed only one commercial project to date, a limited tunnel system in Las Vegas. Prior efforts in other cities, including Chicago, fizzled after initial announcements. Questions remain about how the Music City Loop would be funded, permitted and engineered, particularly in a city with rising land values and legacy infrastructure underground.

— Judah Duke