Boring Co. Plans to Double Vegas Loop Stations by Year-End. What That Could Mean for Nashville.

The Boring Company's first operating Loop network is about to get much bigger.

The company says its Vegas Loop currently operates through 14 stations. By the end of the year, it expects that number to double to 28.

But perhaps the more interesting number is the one that barely changes.

The Boring Company's latest system statistics show the Vegas Loop growing from 14 tunnels today to just 15 by the end of 2026, even as the station count jumps by 14.

For Nashville, where The Boring Company says more than 40 Music City Loop stations are already in various stages of planning and design, the expansion provides one of the clearest real-world examples yet of how a much larger Loop network could ultimately take shape.

More stations without a tunnel for every stop

The Vegas Loop began as a relatively simple transportation system beneath the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Its original three-station network consisted of 1.7 miles of tunnel and opened in 2021. The convention center system later expanded to five stations and 2.1 miles.

That system is now evolving into something much closer to the citywide transportation network The Boring Company has described for Nashville.

According to TBC's current Vegas Loop dashboard, the system has 14 tunnels, 14 stations, 12 emergency-egress locations, six cross-passages and nine knockout shafts. By the end of the year, the company projects 15 tunnels, 28 stations, 14 emergency-egress locations, six cross-passages and 10 knockout shafts.

The largest change comes in a category The Boring Company calls "annex stations," which is projected to increase from four to 15. Surface stations are expected to increase from eight to 11, while the number of subsurface stations remains at two.

The company does not provide a detailed explanation of the "annex" classification on the project page, but the numbers demonstrate an important feature of Loop's design: adding destinations does not necessarily require building a separate mainline tunnel for every new station.

That distinction could become particularly important in Nashville.

The Boring Company says more than 40 Music City Loop stations are being planned or designed with property owners, even though the company's state agreement authorizes approximately 25 miles of tunnel within Tennessee right-of-way. Most of those station locations have not yet been publicly identified.

A major new section is about to open

The next phase of the Vegas system is also beginning to look considerably more like a transportation network than the original convention center shuttle.

A little more than two miles of dual tunnels beneath Paradise Road are expected to begin opening in stages in the coming weeks, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The new segment runs between the Westgate area and a Boring Company property at 4744 Paradise Road near UNLV. Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority President and CEO Steve Hill told the newspaper earlier this month that the first tunnel could open by the end of September or in October, with both targeted to be operating ahead of the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix in November.

The Boring Company's current station list identifies Virgin, Hughes Center, 4744 Paradise, Renaissance Hotel, Hyatt Place, Stirling Club and The Collective as opening soon, along with seven additional locations.

That is another potentially useful comparison for Nashville. Instead of constructing a single tunnel directly between two major destinations, the Vegas system is increasingly using a main tunnel corridor to serve multiple nearby properties and destinations.

Nashville could eventually follow a similar pattern, although The Boring Company has not publicly released enough station designs or agreements to determine exactly how its 40-plus planned stations will connect to the main Music City Loop corridors.

Vegas is also testing a different kind of airport connection

The Las Vegas expansion offers another notable comparison with Nashville: the airport.

Nashville International Airport is one of the central destinations of the Music City Loop, and BNA has already approved an agreement with The Boring Company covering a passenger station, tunnels, portals and associated roadway connections. Design and permitting for that station are underway.

Las Vegas is taking a somewhat different path.

The Boring Company currently provides airport trips that combine underground Loop travel with above-ground driving. Nevada regulators have allowed Vegas Loop trips to incorporate up to four miles of surface streets as long as the trip also includes travel through a Loop tunnel.

The company's website lists Harry Reid International Airport Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 among active destinations and advertises a 4.9-mile trip between the airport and the Las Vegas Convention Center at about five minutes for $14.

Meanwhile, airport officials and The Boring Company have also been discussing a future tunnel connection directly into the airport footprint.

That combination is worth watching in Nashville because it demonstrates that a Loop station network does not necessarily have to consist exclusively of identical underground facilities. A mature network can include different station types, surface connections and branches feeding into common tunnels.

Vegas Loop is becoming much larger than its original system

The scale of the eventual Las Vegas network is also continuing to grow.

Clark County and the City of Las Vegas have approved a planned Vegas Loop covering 68 miles and 123 stations, according to The Boring Company.

There is no announced completion date for the full network, and individual expansions remain dependent on permits and construction.

The company says the operating network has already carried more than 4 million passengers, with current trips generally lasting between two and eight minutes.

That makes Las Vegas increasingly important to understanding what is being built in Nashville.

What it could mean for Nashville

The Music City Loop and Vegas Loop will not necessarily develop in the same way. Different streets, property owners, public agencies, airport requirements and geography will shape Nashville's system.

But Vegas is now answering questions that were largely theoretical when the Music City Loop was first announced.

How can dozens of stations connect to a comparatively limited number of main tunnels? What happens when private hotels, residential buildings and entertainment destinations begin connecting to the system? Can airport passengers use a combination of tunnel and surface travel before a permanent underground airport connection is complete? And what additional infrastructure is required as a Loop grows from a few stations into a larger network?

Las Vegas is beginning to provide real examples.

For Nashville, perhaps the most notable lesson so far is simply this: the number of stations does not have to grow at the same rate as the number of tunnels.

That matters when evaluating The Boring Company's claim that more than 40 Music City Loop stations are already somewhere in the planning or design process.

Only a handful of those Nashville locations are currently public. But if Vegas is any indication, a Loop network can become considerably denser around its existing tunnel corridors as individual properties connect to the system.

And with Vegas preparing to double its station count before the end of the year, Nashville may soon have a much larger operating example to watch.