Elon Musk’s The Boring Company wants to double the size of its underground tunnel system in (or I guess under) Las Vegas.
As reported by TechCrunch, The Boring Company has filed with the city of Las Vegas to extend its tunnel system to cover a distance of 65 miles beneath the city. If approved and completed, the new network would transport riders to even more “casinos, retail zones, the University of Nevada Las Vegas campus and, for the first time, even residential areas.” In order to achieve this, the network would feature a total of 69 different stations and an unknown (but definitely exponentially greater) number of Tesla vehicles across the city.
The only project completed in Las Vegas so far is the LVCC Loop system which consists of 1.7 miles featuring two tunnels and three stations connecting the old and new Las Vegas Convention Center exhibit halls to each other.
The LVCC Loop system — a three-station transportation system consisting of 1.7 miles of tunnel — was built in approximately one year (using the now-legacy Godot Tunnel Boring Machine). LVCC Loop’s cost was approximately $47M (firm fixed pricing) for the two tunnels and three stations (two surface and one subsurface). Tunneling occurred during large conventions (>100,000 attendees pre-COVID) with zero road closures and zero attendee disturbances.
LVCC Loop connects the LVCC New Exhibit Hall with the existing campus (North/Central/South Halls), and reduces a 45 minute cross-campus walk time to approximately 2 minutes.
However, The Boring Company has already been approved for the original version of the Vegas Loop, a 29-mile tunnel network connecting 51 stations across the city. That plan is currently under construction.
Vegas Loop will include LVCC Loop and any future service extensions including resorts along the Strip, Harry Reid International Airport, Allegiant Stadium, downtown Las Vegas. During typical peak hours, driving from the Las Vegas Convention Center to Mandalay Bay, for example, can take up to 30 minutes. The same trip on Vegas Loop will take approximately 3 minutes.
The company is obviously looking to build out that network even further with its application to expand the plans to 65 miles of tunnels and stations. The news comes as Tesla, another one of Musk’s companies, rolled out its latest update, which included its new “Drive on Sunshine” feature.
