The News: Nashville's Convention Center Authority voted 8-0 to grant The Boring Company an easement along the west side of the Music City Center property, clearing the path for station design to begin.
Why It Matters: This is the third major approval milestone in five weeks for the Music City Loop โ a 100% privately funded underground transit system that will carry passengers in Tesla vehicles from downtown Nashville to the airport in ~8 minutes.
Sources: @boringcompany ยท @SawyerMerritt
Nashville's Music City Loop Clears Key Easement Hurdle โ Station Design Now Underway
The Boring Company's Nashville tunnel project just hit another significant milestone. On March 25, 2026, the Music City Convention Center Authority voted unanimously 8-0 to approve an easement granting TBC access along the west side of the Music City Center property. The teams will now move forward to finalize station design for the proposed Music City Loop stop at the convention center.
This approval isn't just a bureaucratic checkbox. The easement specifically permits TBC to tunnel beneath the west side of the Music City Center along 8th Avenue S โ a critical corridor for the proposed downtown station. Importantly, a separate agreement will still be required before physical station construction at the venue can begin, but today's vote removes a key legal barrier and formally brings Music City Center into the project as a partner.
๐ Key Figures
| Metric | Value | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Easement Vote | 8-0 | Unanimous approval |
| Route Length | ~13 miles | Downtown to BNA Airport |
| Target Travel Time | ~8 minutes | Downtown to Nashville airport |
| Tunnel Depth | ~30 ft | Below street level |
| Airport Revenue (40-yr deal) | ~$34M | Guaranteed to MNAA; fees start at $300K/yr |
| Taxpayer Cost | $0 | 100% privately funded by TBC |
| Projected Operational | End of 2026 | First segment target |
A Rapid Approval Timeline
What's striking about the Music City Loop is the speed at which it's accumulating institutional approvals. In just over five weeks, three major bodies have signed off:
โ Approval Timeline
Also on March 24, the "Subterranean Transportation Infrastructure Coordination Act" advanced in Tennessee's House Government Operations Committee โ a proposed law that would create state entities to oversee underground transit projects. The legislative groundwork is being laid in parallel with the physical groundwork.
What the Loop Actually Is
For those less familiar: the Music City Loop is a proposed underground tunnel network connecting downtown Nashville โ including lower Broadway and West End โ to Nashville International Airport (BNA). The system will use a fleet of dedicated Tesla vehicles (initially Model Y and Model X) operating in 12-foot-diameter tunnels roughly 30 feet below street level. The target travel time from downtown to the airport is approximately 8 minutes.
Critically, the project carries zero financial burden for Tennessee taxpayers. It is 100% privately funded by The Boring Company. The airport, meanwhile, stands to collect approximately $34 million in guaranteed revenue over the 40-year licensing term, with annual fees starting at $300,000 and escalating 3% per year.
The project was officially announced by Governor Bill Lee and The Boring Company on July 28, 2025. Less than eight months later, TBC has secured federal, state, airport, and now convention center approvals โ a pace that would be remarkable for any infrastructure project, let alone one involving underground tunneling in a dense urban core.
๐ญ The BASENOR Take
| Timeline | Announced July 2025 โ Three major approvals by March 2026 โ First segment target: end of 2026 |
| Impact Level | High โ Sets a replicable approval blueprint for future Loop cities |
| Confidence | Strong โ Three unanimous votes across federal, state, and local bodies is a rare clean sweep |
The pace of approvals here is the real story. Infrastructure projects of this scale typically spend years in environmental review and permitting limbo. The Music City Loop has moved from announcement to shovel-ready status in under eight months, with every vote coming back unanimous. That's not luck โ it's a combination of the zero-taxpayer-cost structure removing political risk, and TBC's increasingly polished approach to municipal partnerships.
The convention center easement is particularly strategic. Music City Center sits at the heart of Nashville's convention and entertainment district. A Loop station there doesn't just serve airport travelers โ it positions the system as everyday urban transit for one of the city's most trafficked corridors. That changes the ridership calculus significantly.
The next formal milestone to watch: the separate station construction agreement between TBC and the Convention Center Authority. The easement clears the legal right-of-way; the station agreement will define what actually gets built. Given the momentum, there's little reason to expect that vote to go differently. If TBC maintains this trajectory, the first segment could realistically be operational before year's end โ which would make Nashville the second U.S. city after Las Vegas to have a functioning Boring Company Loop system.
