NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Nashville Metro Council leaders say Elon Musk’s Boring Company won’t work with local government on the Music City Loop, a nearly $300 million underground tunnel connecting Downtown Nashville to Nashville International Airport.
The 10-mile privately-funded tunnel has been called one of the most ambitious transportation projects in Tennessee history, but council member At-Large Delishia Porterfield sees something far more concerning.
"I'm looking at a back-room deal that our state did with the company without engaging the people or the local government," said Porterfield.
Controversy began a week before the big reveal when rumors circulated of a tunnel system meant to cut down on traffic. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee confirmed what he called "the coolest announcement that we've made since I've been here."
"Soon, Nashville will be home to the Music City Loop," Lee said.
By the time neighbors were invited to ask questions about the project, there was already a green fence surrounding the property state leaders would lease the Boring Company that same day. Only weeks had passed from the day the project was announced to the first hole in the ground.
"Government does not move that fast, so for this to move so quickly without real community engagement, without having questions answered, without engaging with our local government...it is very frustrating," Porterfield said.
Company Declines Meeting with Council
Porterfield said most of the council had no clue about this project. The Boring Company, meanwhile, wrote in a blog post that they had been in talks with state officials since March 2024.
Porterfield shared emails with NewsChannel 5 Investigates, sent two weeks after the announcement, where council members invited the Boring Company to formally present the project at a committee meeting.
Despite claims of transparency and a willingness for community engagement, Porterfield says the company declined to meet.
"They said they did not have any business before the Metro Council. That they were working with the state and that while they were committed to transparency and community engagement, they would not meet with us," Porterfield said.
Officials with the Boring Company later said they were willing to meet at another time. Porterfield says they responded, asking what day and time works best to meet, only to hear nothing back.
"This is public land. Public land should always be used for the good of the people, so that's very frustrating. There's been a lack of transparency around this project. There's been a lack of community engagement around this project, and this project has failed in other places," Porterfield said.
Pattern of Abandoned Projects
Dr. Warren Sturman is the former vice mayor of Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Juan Matute is the deputy director of transportation studies at UCLA. Both have watched the Boring Company's pattern of promising one thing, having communications fall through, before removing cities from their website.
"There seems to be this idea that this is going to solve some transportation problem and there's a fixation on trying to demonstrate that they're right," Matute said.
Sturman admitted the Boring Company's proposal was intriguing at first, but soon he realized that a tunnel to the beach just wasn't practical.
"Does it actually solve a problem or does it create more of a problem," Sturman said.
Musk's concept for a tunnel originated out of frustration with California traffic in 2016, where he tweeted: "Traffic is driving me nuts…Am going to build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging."
Similar promises were made for a tunnel system in Los Angeles, Chicago, Baltimore and Fort Lauderdale, but except for Las Vegas and test tunnels in Texas, none of the Boring Company's projects in nearly a decade have broken ground.
Video of a hyperloop tunnel proposed by the Boring Company for the city of Chicago was pulled from their website, along with any mention of the projects listed above.
"We pulled the plug before we got to that point…Mode of transportation did not seem to fit the way we thought it was going to," Sturman said.
The Boring Company's reputation of "ghosting" cities is well documented, but Matute says the Nashville plan could work, and it has very little to do with Nashville.
If the Boring Company proves they can bypass local government and environmental regulations by digging below state property and not accepting taxpayer money, they can do the same in any other city as long as they have support from the state.
"I don't think they'll make money on it, but I don't think that's the point. I think doing it is the point," Matute said.
Environmental and Safety Concerns
In California, neighbors sued after learning the Boring Company sought exemptions from the state's environmental review laws. The company later settled and abandoned the project.
"There was just going to be so much delay that they looked elsewhere," Matute said.
If the Boring Company is committed to working with Nashville, Matute said they should understand the need for balance between innovation and regulation.
Musk has advocated for a "dig first, pay penalties later" approach to regulation, arguing that advance permission requirements create unnecessary delays.
"You have to get permission in advance, as opposed to, say, paying a penalty if you do something wrong," Musk said. "We do not need to go through a three- or four-year environmental approval process."
The gamble in Las Vegas wasn't without its issues. A ProPublica report uncovered that the Boring Company violated environmental regulations nearly 800 times over two years, in its only working tunnel open to the public.
Nevada regulators fined the company more than $240,000 for violations, including digging without approval, releasing untreated water onto city streets, and spilling construction materials.
"There are too many unknowns. The environmental impacts on this, the financial impacts and the safety impacts on this. We don't even know," Porterfield said.
Ongoing Uncertainty
The Boring Company requires at least 45 separate permits for the tunnel project, though NewsChannel 5 Investigates found that the Governor's office, Tennessee Department of Economic Development, and Tennessee Department of Transportation had no proposals or permits on file at the time of the announcement.
Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell submitted questions to the Boring Company and received what he described as incomplete answers. The company has posted some responses on its website and begun testing soil samples along the proposed route.
"While I understand that this project is a project that's a partnership with the state, it will have a direct impact on the residents of Nashville and Davidson County, and those are my constituents," Porterfield said.
The Boring Company did not respond to requests for comment, and so far, no meetings with Metro Nashville City Council have been scheduled.
