Source: Office of Tennessee Governor Bill Lee - Feb. 25, 2026
The Wait for Final Approval Is Over
The Music City Loop has crossed the regulatory threshold that project watchers have been waiting for since last summer. On February 25, the Tennessee Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration approved The Boring Company’s lease application and enhanced grading permit for use of state-owned property along Tennessee’s highway system.
With those approvals in hand, the state says construction can move forward immediately. For the first time, the project has both a commissioned tunnel boring machine sitting in its launch site and the legal authority needed to begin excavation beneath the permitted state right-of-way.
Months of Technical Review
The approval follows a technical review process that lasted more than seven months. The work involved TDOT, federal transportation officials and other state agencies because the planned tunnels follow corridors beneath state-controlled roads and property.
The permits cover two major pieces of the publicly described network: the airport alignment linking downtown with Nashville International Airport and the Broadway-West End alignment extending from the downtown entertainment district toward Midtown and Interstate 440.
From Proposal to Construction
Until now, the Music City Loop story in Nashville has largely been about plans, preliminary engineering, environmental review, geotechnical borings, site preparation and the arrival of tunneling equipment. The February 25 approval changes that status in a fundamental way.
The Boring Company can now begin creating the permanent underground infrastructure itself. Prufrock-MB1 has already completed commissioning at Lot 16 near the State Capitol, making the tunnel face - rather than the permit desk - the next major obstacle.
What the State Says the Loop Will Do
The state’s announcement describes the Music City Loop as an all-electric, privately funded transportation system that will connect downtown Nashville with BNA while also creating a corridor between Lower Broadway and West End Avenue. The Governor’s Office said the downtown-to-airport trip is expected to take about eight minutes under the project’s then-current plans.
State officials also reiterated that The Boring Company will fund construction and operation of the system rather than relying on state or local taxpayer dollars. Government’s role remains substantial, however, because public agencies control the rights-of-way, permits, safety oversight and property agreements needed to build the network.
An Aggressive Timeline
At the time of the approval, the state said the first segment of the system was expected to be operational by the end of 2026. That is an ambitious target for a project that is only now moving into active tunneling, and the construction schedule will depend on boring performance, station work, additional approvals and commissioning of the finished system.
For Nashville, the larger significance is immediate: the Music City Loop is no longer waiting for permission to dig. The next chapter will be measured in feet of tunnel, not just pages of plans.
Disclaimer
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