Tennessee cities among finalists in contest for mile-long Boring Company tunnel

Three Tennessee cities are among 16 finalists vying to be selected by The Boring Company for a mile-long tunnel constructed on the company’s dime.

The company announced its Tunnel Vision Challenge in January, calling for proposals for tunnels that solve problems. The Boring Company will select a winner and build the tunnel “free of charge,” according to its website.

Tunnel submissions could be for freight, pedestrians, water, utilities, or Loop — a transportation tunnel used exclusively by Tesla vehicles to transport passengers for a fee.

The company received 487 entries and will announce a winner on March 23, according to a post on its X account.

The Boring Company and X are both owned by billionaire Elon Musk, who is also the largest stockholder in Tesla. 

Tennessee finalists include the Vol Loop, a proposed Loop project in Knoxville; the Mountain Mile Loop, a proposed Loop project in Gatlinburg; and a proposed utility tunnel in Hendersonville.

The announcement of the finalists comes as The Boring Company begins drilling on one of its newest projects — the Music City Loop — near the state capitol in Nashville.

Entries for the Tunnel Vision Challenge will be judged on usefulness, community and stakeholder support, and technical, economic and regulatory feasibility, the company’s website states. Participants were required to submit data to support projected benefits and list owners of land and right-of-way along their proposed routes. 

The website states that the company could cancel or modify the contest at its discretion, including modifying the contest to select more than one winner or no winner at all.

Other finalists include:

• Ketchikan Airport Connector, a Loop tunnel in Ketchikan, Alaska
• Fort Smith Tunnel, a utility tunnel in Fort Smith, Arkansas
• Ball Arena Tunnel, a pedestrian tunnel in Denver, Colorado
• Kansas City Chiefs Tunnel, a pedestrian tunnel in Kansas City, Kansas
• NOLA Loop, a Loop tunnel in New Orleans, Louisiana
• Ravens Loop, a Loop tunnel in Baltimore, Maryland
• Buffalo Bills Tunnel, a pedestrian tunnel in Orchard Park, New York
• The Canal Underline, a pedestrian tunnel in Panama City, Panama
• Bastrop Pedestrian Tunnel in Bastrop, Texas
• Magnolia Loop, a Loop tunnel in Waco, Texas
• Morgan’s Wonderland Tunnel, a pedestrian tunnel in San Antonio, Texas
• University Hills Loop, a Loop tunnel in Dallas, Texas
• The Woodlands Loop, a Loop tunnel in The Woodlands, Texas

Bastrop, a town near Austin, is home to several Musk businesses, including The Boring Company, X, SpaceX and Starlink.

Music City Loop

The Boring Company announced plans for the Music City Loop in partnership with state officials in 2025. The project includes a 9.5-mile tunnel running from the state capitol to the Nashville International Airport, and another roughly 3-mile line connecting West End to Midtown along Broadway. 

The tunnels are expected to take at least two years to complete. 

While The Boring Company has seen support from Gov. Bill Lee and some state lawmakers, the Nashville community has been more skeptical. 

Several Metro Nashville Council members and community members spoke in opposition to the project at public meetings in February and early March. The routes will be built along roads owned by the state, allowing the company to secure building permission from the state’s transportation department, avoiding Metro Nashville regulations.

Tennessee governor: State will provide right of way for Musk’s Boring tunnel

The Boring Company is paying for the tunnel’s construction costs as a “long-term investment” to be repaid by rider fares, Vice President David Buss said at a Monday community meeting near Nashville’s Bordeaux neighborhood. The state granted the project a no-cost lease to launch construction in a state-owned parking lot near the capitol, and is not charging the company to tunnel under state roads.

State lawmakers are considering a bill that would create a Subterranean Transportation Infrastructure Coordination Authority with $5 million in state funding, an 11-member board and 20-person staff to issue permits and set regulations for such projects. Lawmakers are also considering a bill that would steer property taxes from The Boring Company and other subterranean transit companies to the state comptroller’s office, meaning that revenue would not be collected by Davidson County. 

The Boring Company, founded by Musk in 2017, has proposed more than a dozen Loop projects similar to the Nashville tunnel, with 10 failing to come to fruition. Boring broke ground on the Las Vegas Loop, an estimated 68-mile tunnel, in 2020 and has completed about four miles. In February, the company began construction on a Loop in Dubai. 

The Las Vegas project has been plagued by allegations of environmental and safety violations and Boring has challenged fines from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, including fines for firefighters who reportedly sustained chemical burns during a rescue training exercise. Nevada OSHA dropped the fines for this incident in November.