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Urban Transport

The Boring Company wins approval to expand tunnel network across Vegas

By Nick Lavars
October 20, 2021
The Boring Company wins approval to expand tunnel network across Vegas
A Tesla exits The Boring Company's test tunnel in LA
A Tesla exits The Boring Company's test tunnel in LA
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A Tesla exits The Boring Company's test tunnel in LA
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A Tesla exits The Boring Company's test tunnel in LA

Having finally begun moving the first passengers through its Las Vegas tunnels back in June, The Boring Company has now received initial approval to expand the system across the city. Local officials have today ticked off the startup's plans to build out the subterranean transport network, which could amount to as many as 51 stations.

The Boring Company's current tunnel system consists of a pair of one-way tubes running beneath the Las Vegas Convention Center, which opened earlier this year to shuttle visitors between stations at either end of the facility. This takes place aboard electric Teslas steered through the tunnels by human drivers at speeds of up to 40 mph (64 km/h).

But expanding the tunnel system outwards to connect with other casinos and other locations around Las Vegas has always been part of the firm's plans. Clark County officials today approved an agreement with The Boring Company to "establish and maintain" a transportation system beneath the Las Vegas strip, which it says will include the 51 stations and 29 miles of tunnels.

Among the destinations include big name casinos such as Mandalay Bay, the MGM Grand and Caesars Palace, along with T Mobile Arena, Allegiant Stadium and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. While the county has approved the proposed route, each of the 51 stations will require its own land use permit before construction begins, as reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, while the company will also need a separate franchise agreement with Las Vegas.

The Boring Company's final product is quite different to the one envisioned by founder Elon Musk around five years ago. This involved elevators lowering vehicles from street level down onto special tracks, and whizzing them through tunnels without a driver at speeds of up to 150 mph (240 km/h).

Driving people through short tunnels in regular Teslas at relatively slow speeds is a far cry from this, but The Boring Company says its Vegas Loop will still have the capacity to move more than 51,000 passengers per hour when, or if, it is completed.

Source: The Boring Company/Twitter

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Urban TransportThe Boring CompanyTunnelTeslaElon Musk
6 comments
Nick Lavars
Nick Lavars
Nick has been writing and editing at New Atlas for over six years, where he has covered everything from distant space probes to self-driving cars to oddball animal science. He previously spent time at The Conversation, Mashable and The Santiago Times, earning a Masters degree in communications from Melbourne’s RMIT University along the way.

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6 comments
niio
This project is doomed for the same reason that the Vegas monorail failed: cab drivers prevented it from serving the airport.
FB36
The Boring Company had started to build a tunnel in Los Angeles, years ago, but a bunch of residents derailed the project by suing & forcing environmental studies (which would take many years)!
The question is why people cannot derail all infrastructure projects in other cities the same way?
Is it really because nobody wants to do it or laws are not favorable for them?
So if anybody wonders why Los Angeles cannot build an extensive subway network (like NYC etc) that is why!!!
paul314
Individually driven cars might be the slowest possible way of moving people through those tunnels. Even a pair of conveyor belts (as between so many airport terminals) could move about 40,000 people each way at any given time (so about 300,000 people an hour taking single-stop trips.)
Robert Craigs
This system is ludicrous. → Almost anything else would likely be more cost effective. Subways, underground LRTs, or even above ground cable cars hanging from towers with stops like bus stops with stairs up to a platform.
JACKofALLTRADES47
NIMBY’s
NOT IN MY BACK YARD
Anal people who can never ever think out side of the box 📦
THEY ALSO Predicted the Wright brothers would never fly but 20 years later)( THE SAME EXPERTS
WERE BUYING TICKETS
ON AIRPLANE’s SOOO
THEY COULD GET SOME PLACE FASTER
Jay Temkar
They should put train in that tunnel then only it will succeed. Train would require 1 driver and will carry far more people then these cars would ever do. With current setup it is just one more traffic lane (but with huge cost)