Elon Musk will be bringing another company to Tennessee, and this one is heading for Nashville.
The Boring Company, which Musk created eight years ago, is bringing an underground, high-speed tunnel to Nashville called the Music City Loop. The loop will connect downtown to the Nashville International Airport.
"Nashville was selected by The Boring Company for its rapid growth, strong economic potential and dedication to embracing smart, forward-looking infrastructure," state officials said in a statement. "The Music City Loop will remove thousands of vehicles from surface roads each day, easing traffic congestion while creating numerous job opportunities for Tennesseans."
Here's what to know about Musk's company and his presence in Tennessee.
What is The Boring Co.?
The Boring Company is a construction company founded by Musk in 2017 with a specific goal in mind: tunnels.
Musk started his company with the goal of solving traffic by creating safe, low-cost transportation in major cities via tunnels through metropolitan areas.
“To solve the problem of soul-destroying traffic, transportation networks need to match our 3D cities,” the company website states. “Tunneling enables an economical layered transportation network that can be expanded over time.”
Has The Boring Co. done anything?
According to its website, the company has five projects listed as complete and in use, with one project partially completed. Only three of the completed projects are open to the public, with a fee.
The Las Vegas Convention Center Loop is a 2.1-mile tunnel, as of a 2024 expansion from the original 1.7 miles, which cost $47 million. The loop is complete and operational.
The Resorts World Connector, which opened in 2022, serves as a connector between Resorts World on the Las Vegas Strip and all other Vegas Loop stations. The connector is complete and operational.
The Westgate Connector opened in 2024 and connects the Westgate Resort to all other Vegas Loop stations. The connector is complete and operational.
The Vegas Loop is a partially completed project, with some tunnels already completed and others currently under construction. The longest distance for travel via completed tunnels is 7.7 miles. Further construction of 68 miles of tunnel and 104 entrance stations has been approved.
The Boring Co. controversy
In recent years, it has become apparent that employee conditions at The Boring Co. are subpar, and at times, life-threatening.
Fortune reported that working conditions for construction employees on Musk's tunnels were life-threatening.
Over six months in 2023, The Boring Co. reported 36 injuries across its job sites to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, according to a report from Fortune. They ranged from heat exhaustion, knee or head contusions, or an elbow or hand being crushed.
A 2023 investigation into The Boring Co. by OSHA found that employees were exposed to potentially serious injuries or even death. Following the investigation, the company was fined over $112,000 by Nevada OSHA. According to the report, the investigation was prompted by an anonymous tip alleging that 15 to 20 employees had been burned with accelerant chemicals in the tunnels.
Because the projects are privately operated and receive no federal funding, they are exempt from the kinds of exhaustive governmental vetting and environmental analyses demanded by the other cities that Boring pitched. Such reviews assess whether a proposal is the best option and inform the public of potential impacts to traffic and the environment.
Musk in Memphis
With Musk no longer acting in his leadership position with DOGE, he has redirected his efforts to his companies, Tesla, SpaceX and xAI, which is located in Memphis. Since moving to the city in the summer of 2024, Musk and his company have faced heavy opposition from residents and some city leaders.
In June 2024, the Greater Memphis Chamber announced that xAI, Musk's artificial intelligence company, was moving to the Bluff City.
The supercomputer, named Colossus, went live in September 2024 as a 100,000-chip supercomputer with 100,000 graphics processing units. It has since doubled to 200,000 GPUs, and plans are in place to eventually expand to one million GPUs.
In September, Musk's company filed to expand and build an $80 million wastewater treatment plant near the supercomputer.
On March 7, the Greater Memphis Chamber announced that xAI had acquired a one-million-square-foot facility in Southwest Memphis. The acquisition is expected to help xAI continue its planned expansion of its Colossus supercomputer at 3231 Paul R. Lowry Road.
On April 9, the environmental advocacy group Southern Environmental Law Center claimed that xAI was operating 35 turbines at its Paul R. Lowry Road facility. The organization claimed the use and number of turbines violated the Clean Air Act.
The Greater Memphis Chamber hosted a virtual Q&A on April 23 regarding the ongoing expansion of Elon Musk's xAI facility in Memphis.
Throughout the spring, elected officials, including state Rep. Justin J. Pearson and environmental advocacy groups such as Memphis Community Against Pollution and the Southern Environmental Law Center, have been critical of the Greater Memphis Chamber and xAI, citing concerns about transparency and potential water and air pollution.
On May 6, the Greater Memphis Chamber announced that xAI will begin removing turbines at its Paul R. Lowry Road facility. The news release did not specify how many turbines would be removed.
In June, Pearson hosted a press conference at Springfield Baptist Church in Southaven regarding air pollution concerns caused by xAI in Shelby County and north Mississippi communities. Pearson was joined by leaders and elected officials from the state of Mississippi.
On June 26, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) held a public hearing regarding the operations permit for xAI's Colossus Water Recycling Plant.
The Shelby County Health Department approved a construction and operations permit for 15 gas turbines at xAI's site on July 2.
Most recently, Musk announced that Colossus 2 will have 550,000 GPUs and is expected to "start going online in a few weeks."
Jordan Green covers trending news for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Elon Musk continues TN ventures with Boring Company. What to know
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