12/1/25 MUSIC CITY LOOP BLOG POST 

TBC is excited to share the second official Music City Loop blog post. The team is making progress on project planning, design and permitting, and moving closer to active tunnel construction. In this bimonthly blog post, TBC highlights major progress, key milestones, the current status of project permitting, and the  engagement taking place with the Nashville community.

On 11/24/25, TBC and leaders in the Nashville community provided a comprehensive (1 hour and 40 minutes) project update via X Spaces linked here. 

What Has Happened Since the October 1 Blog Post?

Construction: Since the October 1 update, the following has occurred:

  1. Launch Pit Completion: Controlled blasting successfully brought the TBM launch shaft to its final depth, marking the completion of excavation and shoring activities. TBC coordinated closely with the Tennessee Department of General Services, TDOT, NDOT, and the Office of the State Architect to ensure the blasting operation ran smoothly.

  2. TBM Arrival & Installation: Prufrock-MB1, the first Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) in Nashville, arrived from Bastrop, has been fully assembled onsite, was lowered into the launch shaft, and is undergoing final system checks.  From a technical standpoint, Prufrock-MB1 will be ready to launch on December 15.

  3. Vertical Cassette Installed: The conveyor system (spoil removal system), including the Vertical Cassette, is now fully installed and undergoing calibration. It can be seen here in this X post.

Design/Permitting:

TBC continues to refine its engineering plans, incorporating multiple rounds of feedback with city, state, and federal agencies. As noted previously, Music City Loop requires 45 separate permits and approvals. To date, 27 have been secured, and 10 are currently under review, reflecting strong and continued progress. The remaining 8 permits relate to the additional launch sites that will be part of completing the Broadway and Airport alignments. Highlights include:

  1. Expansion Opportunities: TBC recently announced the planned Broadway expansion. The proposed alignment would extend southwest from Lower Broadway, continue along West End Avenue past Centennial Park and Vanderbilt, and terminate near 440. TBC continues to evaluate additional expansion opportunities, identifying routes most useful to the Nashville community.

 
 

2. Geotechnical and Utility Investigation: TBC has completed extensive subsurface investigation along the alignment, including 17 exploratory core borings, 7 MASW surveys, and the review of 174 historical borings and 7 private geotechnical reports. Utility verification has also been performed along the alignment, with continued mapping and field confirmation underway as the project progresses.

3. TDOT Tunnel Permit & Lease Agreement: TBC continues close coordination with TDOT to refine permit terms, conditions, and multiple rounds of technical review for tunnel construction and operations. Work is also progressing on the tunnel lease agreement required for operations beneath state right-of-way.

It is difficult to estimate exactly when tunneling will begin, with a best guess being in January.

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA):

As part of TBC’s commitment to building the cleanest, safest, and least disruptive transportation system, an independent Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was completed for Music City Loop—along with a separate review by an independent third-party evaluator of the EIA. The assessment examined potential impacts across all major environmental resource categories and found positive impacts in many categories and no meaningful impacts across all others. The categories examined include: noise and vibration, air quality and greenhouse gas emissions, hazardous and regulated materials, land use and zoning, aquatic resources, rare and protected species, cultural resources, geology, transportation and traffic, visual impacts, utilities, and potential effects on sensitive populations. Tunneling is the only construction method we are aware of where one can build major infrastructure across a city without closing road lanes and without discernible noise or vibration; and the final transportation system is zero-emissions with the most energy-efficient (as measured by kW-hr per passenger mile) available. The EIA and the additional third party review will both be published on the Music City Loop website no later than December 15.

Safety:

Music City Loop safety is—and will remain—the uncompromising top priority. This applies to both construction and operations.  There were several inaccurate articles suggesting otherwise, so to correct the record:

  • The articles suggested missing Personal Protective Equipment onsite.  A video audit of the previous 2 weeks showed approximate 240 site entries.  Of those, TBC employees wore PPE 100% of the time. There were 8 times when PPE was not worn — each involved contractors whose behavior was immediately remedied by removing them from the site.

  • The articles suggested inadequate wooden shoring onsite.  The shoring system is actually a combination of 20,000+ pounds of steel soldier piles embedded into the rock, lagging (wood), and concrete.  The implemented soldier piles and lagging are an industry standard underground shoring method, and were designed with high margins by Tennessee licensed structural engineers.

  • There have been zero safety incidents, zero injuries, and zero issues, reflecting the effectiveness of ongoing training, monitoring, and safety protocols.

Tunneling is a high-risk construction activity, and TBC is focused fully on safety. This is one reason TBC is so intent on perfecting the world’s first ZPIT (Zero-People-In-Tunnel) large-diameter boring machines.  TBC’s newest machine (Prufrock-5) requires only 3 people in the tunnel, but the true safety and technical win is true ZPIT.

In parallel, emergency preparedness remains critically important. TBC has met with the Nashville Fire Department to share project information and discuss emergency response planning during construction. In addition, the Tennessee Mine Rescue Association is a key partner for emergency preparedness; their Tunnel Rescue Team has provided a fully equipped emergency response trailer and is coordinating upcoming emergency response training and drills with TBC.

Community Engagement:

Music City Loop is grateful for the way Nashville has welcomed the project into the community. Through hundreds of conversations with residents, business owners, students, and civic leaders, the team has gained valuable insight into what matters most and how this project can help support solutions the city is striving toward.

  1. Meeting with Community Leaders: Collaboration with government partners remains strong. TBC holds weekly meetings with commissioners and staff from eight state departments, has met in person with at least ten Metro departments and their leadership, and has conducted direct meetings with > 20 members of Metro Council, representing more than half of the Council. The team remains eager to meet with anyone interested in learning more about Music City Loop.

  2. Hiring and Workforce Development: Efforts continue to expand, with new full-time roles and internship opportunities being added as the project grows. Engagement with local universities remains active and ongoing.

  3. Community Organizations and Volunteering: Engaged with more than 130 community, university, nonprofit, and professional organizations and participated in over 50 in-person volunteer events. Presentations have been given to thousands of Nashvillians to date!

  4. Public Inquiries: Responded to more than 100 inquiries submitted to nashville@boringcompany.com - keep the messages coming! Every message helps us better understand community priorities and build a system that reflects Nashville’s needs.

  5. Inaugural TBC X Spaces: As mentioned above, on Monday, 11/24, TBC hosted its first live X Spaces conversation to discuss many of the updates highlighted in this blog post, covering progress on Music City Loop as well as broader company developments and vision. The team answered live questions from listeners and provided additional transparency into our work, process, and next steps.

Where TBC is Focusing:

TBC has made a lot of progress since the last October 1, 2025 blog post. As mentioned previously, building subsurface transportation systems is not easy, and there have been many challenges/learnings addressed over the last two months. Nashville continues to be committed to taking on the inevitable challenges head-on.

For full transparency, a few key items are being tracked closely in order to avoid potential project delays:

  1. Tunnel Permit Approvals: The proposed project crosses beneath critical TDOT and CSX structures. TBC is continuing to work closely with these groups on the relevant approvals to unlock tunneling.

  2. Airport Agreement: Significant progress has been made to finalize station/tunnel alignment details and agreement terms (very appreciative of the Airport’s quick responses), with additional work to be done to get approval.

  3. Tunnel Lease Agreement: For operating Music City Loop beneath TN right-of-way, a lease agreement with TDOT that requires federal approval is required; review of this agreement is continuing to progress with TDOT and FHWA.

  4. Station Agreements: Community interest in stations has continued to be overwhelmingly positive. More than 30 station locations are now in various stages of design, each being developed collaboratively with property owners with a focus on safety, ridership, vehicle flow, and intuitive pedestrian access.

Thank You, Nashville

The more we learn about Nashville, and the more time we spend with its state and local partners, the more exciting Music City Loop becomes. Your willingness to engage, ask questions, and help shape this project is invaluable. If there is anything we can improve or any information you’d like to see, please reach out anytime at nashville@boringcompany.com.