The entrance to the Boring Co. tunnel loop in Las Vegas. Photo by Stephen Morgan
Elon Musk’s Boring Co. is close to its first field test as its 4-mile, $ 52.5 million tunnel loop opens to the public this week under the vast Las Vegas Convention Center campus.
The first tunnel loop project of its kind will open on June 8th at the same time as a specific industry congress, which will be the first personal congress meeting in the country since the Covid-19 pandemic 15 months ago. Passengers are guided through the subway loop in a fleet of Tesla vehicles.
Hawthorne-based Boring Co. actually completed construction of the tunnel loop two months ago when it was first revealed on a public media tour. But without congress participants, it has mostly been unused since then.
The total construction time was around 18 months, which is a fast turnaround time for a tunnel project of this size.
“We are grateful to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and all local stakeholders for giving us the opportunity to build our first commercial project in one of the most dynamic travel destinations in the world,” said Boring Co. President Steve Davis. in a statement for the media tour. “We are proud to have developed and delivered an exciting transportation solution for the Las Vegas Convention Center.”
The loop consists of two one-way tunnels that are about 12 meters underground and each about 0.8 miles long. The tunnels connect the existing campus of the Convention Center with a new 1.4 million square meter exhibition and congress building, which will also open this week.
There are three passenger stations – one near each end of the existing convention halls and the third under the new hall extension. Passengers can cover the entire distance in about two minutes at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour, about a tenth of the time it would take them to walk.
In size and scope, the Convention Center’s Loop project is similar to the mini-subway system under the US Capitol complex, but with one major difference. The Capitol system works on a fixed rail track with subway cars, not free-flowing passenger cars.
At maximum operation, Boring Co. plans a fleet of 62 Tesla electric vehicles, each capable of carrying five people, with a transport capacity of around 4,400 people per hour.
But with the tunnel loop opening this week, there will be significantly fewer vehicles, and the maximum capacity per vehicle will be limited to three due to Covid social distancing restrictions. And for safety reasons, every Tesla vehicle will have a driver, although initial plans were for the vehicles to be fully automated.
Boring Co. will be under some pressure to bring the system to full operational capacity as soon as possible once the Covid restrictions are lifted.
Under its $ 48.6 million contract with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, Boring Co. will receive up to $ 300,000 each time the contract’s stated goal of 13 hours of 3,960 passengers per hour at major conventions to be promoted is not achieved – with a maximum fine of $ 4.5 million.
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