Tennessee Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) said The Boring Company’s Music City Loop underground transit system a “win-win all the way around,” praising the privately funded project as a major solution to the city’s growing traffic congestion.
During a sit down interview Thursday on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Johnson defended the tunnel system being developed by The Boring Company and criticized leftist opposition to the project.
“It’s a win-win all the way around,” Johnson said. “Even if you don’t wanna use it — and you wanna continue to drive your car on a traditional highway — you’re getting thousands of cars off the road.”
The Music City Loop project is expected to connect downtown Nashville, the Music City Center, Lower Broadway, West End Avenue, and Nashville International Airport through nearly 13 miles of underground tunnels.
According to The Boring Company’s website, passengers would ride in Tesla vehicles through a zero-emission tunnel network with no intermediate stops, cutting travel time between the airport and downtown to approximately 10 minutes.
Johnson emphasized that the project represents a rare opportunity for Tennessee to expand transportation infrastructure without taxpayer expense.
“We have a private company that has chosen Tennessee, specifically Nashville, as the second city in the world, to come in and spend hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars, probably ultimately billions of dollars, to strengthen our transit, our transportation network,” Johnson said.
When asked what the project would cost taxpayers, Johnson responded, “Absolutely zero. Zero dollars.”
The Boring Company has stated the project will be “100 percent privately funded,” with stations and operations financed by private investment rather than public funds.
Johnson also highlighted legislation he sponsored to establish a regulatory framework for the project, which has since been signed into law by Governor Bill Lee.
“We created an authority,” he explained. “I’ve sponsored legislation to create a regulatory scheme, if you will, that they can utilize to make it efficient, to make it safe, deal with all the environmental concerns, safety concerns, and all the permitting and so forth.”
Johnson went on to criticize Democrats who opposed the legislation.
“Their Elon Derangement Syndrome is such that they would oppose that, when if it was a taxpayer-funded, gonna cost taxpayers billions of dollars to build some type of a subway system or transit system, they would be all for it,” he said.
Johnson ultimately described the project as a practical response to Nashville’s worsening congestion and booming tourism industry.
“You can fly into Nashville, walk right out the front door, turn to the right… get in a Tesla, utilize the subterranean tunnel system, pop you out at the Music City Center in eight minutes,” Johnson said.
According to The Boring Company, the airport alignment would run from near the State Capitol along Rosa L. Parks Boulevard and Lafayette Street before continuing southeast toward the airport along Murfreesboro Pike and Donelson Pike. Another alignment would extend west from Lower Broadway along West End Avenue toward Interstate 440.
Johnson said active tunneling is already underway beneath the city.
“There’s a machine now,” he said. “It is tunneling under Lafayette and will go out Murfreesboro Road, and it is boring through the limestone as we speak.”
Though no official opening date has been announced, Johnson said he hopes part of the system could be operational within “the next year to 18 months.”
Johnson also pointed to Las Vegas, which is home to The Boring Company’s existing tunnel transit system known as the LVCC Loop system, as proof the concept works.
“I flew out, got a behind-the-scenes tour. I’ve ridden in it,” Johnson said. “It is incredible.”
He described the experience as fast and efficient, with passengers boarding Teslas directly from hotels before entering brightly lit underground tunnels.
Johnson said Tennessee’s stable political and regulatory environment helped attract the project to Nashville.
“Consistency and predictability in government and regulation,” he said. “We are outgrowing our infrastructure. We recognize that.”
He added that the Music City Loop could eventually expand far beyond downtown Nashville, including a route to Knoxville.
“Long term they say you could have a tunnel from here to Knoxville,” Johnson said. “You wanna go to a UT game? You go out and get in a Tesla.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X.
Photo “State Sen. Jack Johnson” by State Sen. Jack Johnson and “Music City Loop Map” by Music City Loop.
