Nashville mayor queries Boring Company about tunnel plan

The Tennessee Building Commission approved a no-cost lease for Elon Musk’s Boring Company to use a state-owned parking lot near the Capitol to launch its tunneling project. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

The state parking lot at 637 Rosa Parks across fromCapitol Hill Baptist Church was already fenced in.

Photograph by John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout ©2025

Metro Nashville’s mayor is asking a litany of questions about the proposed “Music City Loop,” focusing primarily on emergency service responses and the impact on city transportation plans.

Mayor Freddie O’Connell sent the list of inquiries dealing with planning and permitting, construction and maintenance phases to the Boring Company, according to information released to Metro Council members Tuesday by Director of Legislative Affairs Dave Rosenberg.

“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,” O’Connell said in a statement to the Lookout after it sent the letter last week.

Gov. Bill Lee and Boring Company President and CEO Steve Davis unveiled plans last week to build a tunnel from downtown Nashville to Nashville International Airport but gave few details about the project. The state will make a long-term lease agreement for right of way underneath state highways in return for Boring constructing the project, according to a state senator.

An email from Rosenberg, says O’Connell and staff first heard “informal chatter” last spring about Boring considering building a tunnel on the East Bank but, similarly to other ideas that come to the mayor, it came and went without “follow-up or signs of a serious proposal.”

Rosenberg said the most information O’Connell’s administration received about the tunnel plan came at last week’s announcement at the airport. 

Lee said after the event that he and O’Connell meet regularly to discuss issues and have had “really productive conversations” about the tunnel project.

Lawmaker: State will lease underground property for tunnel

Still, the mayor posed more than 60 questions to Boring, mainly about emergency responses and permitting throughout the life of the project.

The letter asks questions about the estimated cost, ownership, liability, maintenance and insurance, as well as whether the expense of planning, design and construction would be borne completely by the Boring Company. Officials declined to give a projected price for the project.

The mayor points out existing storm and sewer tunnels at Lafayette and Lewis streets and Lafayette and 7th Avenue South are 50 feet and 38 feet below the ground and could conflict with the tunnel. He also says the proposed tunnel route and depth along Lafayette and Murfreesboro Road could conflict with a future sewer tunnel.

O’Connell’s letter asks how emergency vehicle access to the tunnel would be maintained during and after construction. It points out Las Vegas has a contract with the Boring Company for the city fire department to operate all-terrain vehicles inside a 2.2-mile tunnel there to transport rescue equipment to the scene of incidents.

The mayor’s letter also points out differences between the Nashville Fire Department and State Fire Marshal’s Office in permitting such a project for safety, plan review and inspections. It adds that since Nashville Fire Department would provide emergency response, it would make sense for the agency to have authority over life safety permitting requirements. 

“It is important to review the applicable jurisdiction and code requirements to ensure proper compliance,” the mayor’s letter states.

O’Connell’s letter asks about the location for emergency access points and whether tunnels will be built with wireless repeaters or radio frequency extenders for 911 calls. In addition, it raises the question of ventilation for smoke and gas in case a vehicle battery ignites in the tunnel.

The tunnel is expected to have Tesla vehicles owned by Elon Musk, who also owns the Boring Company, to ferry riders back and forth from downtown Nashville to the airport and possibly other points, such as the Music City Center and locations along Broadway.

The mayor asks how the tunnel will mesh with a transportation center to be built at the airport in the next two to three years to increase the bus volume for WeGo Public Transit. He also questions how tunnel planning will coordinate with a Murfreesboro Road All Access Corridor included in a new transportation improvement plan.

O’Connell’s letter says the Las Vegas loop prohibits pedestrians in the “incredibly-narrow” tunnel with signs and a plastic bar and asks how Nashville can make sure pedestrians don’t enter the tunnel. The letter says the Vegas tunnel has only 3 inches between vehicle doors and the wall.

It also raises questions about unhoused people finding their way into the tunnel and how that would be handled.

Other questions focus on whether potential land leases and sales at the airport would have to go through the Metro Council and whether Boring would pay franchise fees to the state or the airport.

“Who will operate the tunnel? Does their financial pro forma show a surplus/profit? If not, who covers the deficit?” the mayor’s letter asks. 

State officials last week approved a no-cost lease for a state-owned parking lot near the Capitol where tunneling is supposed to begin. General Services Commissioner Jeff Holmes said the state pulled a line of credit on Boring in case it can’t finish the project or operate it.

Other basic questions ask what an environmental review will entail and whether community input will be allowed in design and construction phases, in addition to which entity will review construction plans for the road and utilities and who will be responsible for moving utilities to make way for the tunnel.

The letter says the Las Vegas tunnel isn’t built to drain flooding and rainwater and that 8 inches of water shuts down operations. “How will rainfall/floodwater be mitigated in an area like Nashville, prone to flooding?”
Nashville Mayor’s questions for Boring Company