Boring Co. answers some mayor’s office questions about Music City Loop

About a month after Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s office sent dozens of questions to Boring Co, some answers were published.

In August, the mayor’s office sent a list of nearly 80 questions to the Elon Musk-owned company, addressing everything from safety to project permitting.
In the latest batch of new details about the project, the company notes that it’s pushed back the opening timeline for the underground tunnel connecting Nashville International Airport with downtown.
While many questions from city officials now have detailed answers, several more have only been addressed vaguely — or have gone unanswered entirely.

It’s been a month since Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s office sent a detailed list of questions to Elon Musk’s Boring Company about the Music City Loop project. Now, the company has offered more insight into their plans while leaving some concerns unanswered.

On Sept. 5, Boring Co. representatives updated the Nashville project webpage with more answers to “frequently asked questions” about construction and operations. It includes responses to several of the nearly 80 questions listed in an email from the mayor’s office to Metro Nashville Council members and Vice Mayor Angie Henderson in early August.

Many of those questions remain unanswered — like where exactly emergency access points would be located along the tunnel route and who would be liable in the event someone’s injured in the tunnel.

Here’s a closer look at some of the highlights of the newest batch of information about the project.

Boring Co. delays Music City Loop opening, details ‘aggressive’ timeline

The Boring Company pushed back its opening timeline for the Music City Loop on Sept. 5.

The high-speed tunnel from Nashville International Airport to downtown was originally set to welcome passengers as early as spring 2026. But now, The Boring Co. said to expect a debut in early 2027. Officials said additional paths beyond BNA-to-Music City Center will be available later in 2027. Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center officials are in talks for a Loop stop.

The company released more details on its process for constructing the project this week, coming one month after the last public announcement regarding tunnel progress.

Site preparation at 637 Rosa L. Parks Blvd. — where construction staging for the tunnel-boring machine is taking place in the Tennessee State Capitol parking lot — is ongoing. Official tunnelling will begin before the end of 2025, “pending design completion and permit issuance,” the release said. From there, it will take just over one year to bore the two parallel 9.5-mile tunnels that will make up the first segment of the Music City Loop from downtown to Nashville’s airport.

“The project is currently in the design phase,” Boring Co. wrote in a statement. “This is admittedly an aggressive schedule!”

How safe will The Boring Co.’s Nashville tunnel be?

Many of the mayor’s questions focused on safety, and several have now been answered.

For example, how will emergency responders access the tunnel system? The company said its tunnels are equipped with direct communications to an operations control center staffed 24 hours a day, as well as with LTE cell phone service, secured wifi links and an emergency communications system “tailored for police and fire departments.”

The company also said it works closely with local police and fire departments to undertake “hundreds of joint drills” and ensure they’ll have the access and training needed to respond to an emergency.

As for contingency plans during construction, The Boring Co. said it has 71 documented procedures for events from fires to any number of evacuations due to active threats and disasters. The company said it rehearses these procedures, in part, with full drills that occur every three months, along with weekly operational drills.

More specific safety questions were addressed, from how the company will prevent flooding — through a combination of watertight construction and pumps to drain water from the system — to what happens if a vehicle battery ignites while inside the tunnel. The Boring Co. calls the latter an “unlikely event,” which would be mitigated by a ventilation system that would direct smoke and hazardous gases away from the vehicle.

The company also said it will ensure pedestrians don’t access the tunnel using a combination of secure gates, access-controlled station entrances and “100% camera coverage with no blind spots.”

Some of the O’Connell’s safety questions have gone unanswered, however. The Boring Co. doesn’t appear to address questions about where exactly emergency access points will be located along the tunnel route, or who will be liable if someone is hurt while traveling along the route.

Boring Co. addresses logistics — sometimes vaguely

The Boring Co. said the project is currently in its design phase, but it’s vague about exactly which permits it’ll need to complete work.

“Several permits will be required for Music City Loop,” the company states. “The project will be permitted by the authorities that oversee each portion of the work, and all necessary inspections will be conducted to ensure compliance.”

The company added that it “looks forward to collaborating with the City of Nashville.” Thus far, the project hasn’t needed any approvals from city officials since it aims to develop entirely underneath state-owned property.

Boring Co. also addressed questions about how it plans to navigate existing utilities and relocate them if necessary. It will do “extensive utility review with relevant parties” to avoid any conflicts with existing utilities, and will cover the cost of relocating them if necessary.

A memo to Gov. Bill Lee’s office ahead of the tunnel announcement estimated the overall cost between $200 million and $300 million, but the frequently asked questions page says only that the price tag is expected to be “a few hundred million dollars.”

Austin Hornbostel is the Metro reporter for The Tennessean. Have a question about local government you want an answer to? Reach him at [email protected].

Hadley Hitson covers business news for The Tennessean. She can be reached at [email protected]. To support her work, subscribe to The Tennessean.