Image Credit: The Boring Company via TN.gov; Mike Sparks TN State Legislature / Facebook; @elonmusk / X
The Tennessee Conservative [By Adelia Kirchner] –
State Representative Mike Sparks (R-Smyrna-District 49) has written a letter to Elon Musk, requesting that the “Music City Loop” project be expanded to Murfreesboro.
Governor Bill Lee (R-TN) and Elon Musk’s company leadership announced the privately funded underground transit system in July, giving Musk’s The Boring Company approval to bore an underground tunnel called the “Music City Loop” from downtown Nashville to the Nashville International Airport.
“Whether [Musk] could do a tunnel to Murfreesboro and Smyrna and La Vergne to Nashville, I think it’d be a viable option, and there’s not a better man that’s innovative than Elon Musk,” Sparks has since stated.
The Smyrna lawmaker believes that the tunnels could improve public safety and help save time on the road at no cost to taxpayers.
Sparks notes that somewhere around 180,000 people currently commute on I-24 back and forth between Murfreesboro and Nashville on a daily basis.
He says there have been over 5,000 crashes on that route since 2021 according to the Tennessee Department of Highway Safety.
“I’ve already been hit twice, so it’s going to start happening to other people,” said Sparks. “It’s frustrating for commuters over there. We’ve had two murders over there just this year. I see people driving reckless.”
“I thought, why don’t we just reach out to Elon and say, hey, he’s a smart guy, he’s done great things, and I think Elon can help move Tennessee in the right direction,” Sparks continued.
The representative noted that he dreads the morning drive to Nashville when the state legislature is in session, saying that due to traffic jams on I-24 his route can go from the expected 30 or 35 minute commute to a “four-hour ordeal.”
Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville-District 25) also hopes to see expansion of the Music City Loop.
“The vision for the future is this could go all the way up to Clarksville, Murfreesboro, to Franklin, Brentwood, so there is an opportunity for this to benefit Tennesseans as well as people visiting our city,” said Sexton.
WGNS reports that an underground transit system built by Musk and operated by The Boring Company is already up and running underneath the Las Vegas Convention Center in Nevada.
The transit system currently utilizes human-driven cars at “moderate speeds” despite initial plans of high-speed, driverless vehicles.
Expansion of the “Vegas Loop” is already underway and there are plans for it to get to 68 miles of tunnel with 93 different stations linking the convention center to various hotels, the airport and the Allegiant Stadium.
According to Governor Lee, the first segment of the Music City Loop is expected to open by fall of 2026. He calls the project the “fast lane” to Nashville’s future.
“We’ve been trying to find ways, Metro Nashville has in particular, to develop transit in the city for a long time,” said Lee. “It costs billions and billions of dollars to build out transit systems. We now have an opportunity to have a transit system that costs the taxpayers nothing.”
The Boring Company has already started recruitment efforts for the Nashville project. Initial digging for the Music City Loop began last month and visible progress was reported by September 1st according to WKRN.
About the Author: Adelia Kirchner is a Tennessee resident and reporter for the Tennessee Conservative. Currently the host of Subtle Rampage Podcast, she has also worked for the South Dakota State Legislature and interned for Senator Bill Hagerty’s Office in Nashville, Tennessee. You can reach Adelia at adelia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
2 Responses
Better to leave early and stay off interstate.
How is it being paid for? By whom?