The Boring Company completes Las Vegas tunnels ahead of 2021 opening
Elon Musk's tunneling company is still set for primetime early next year.
Done!
With all the coronavirus cancellations and postponements, how about some a project that's still on schedule for a change? The Boring Company, Elon Musk's firm dedicated to tunneling and developing a new kind of transportation, has reportedly completed its Las Vegas tunnels.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority confirmed both tunnels to complete the loop are complete on Thursday. The Boring Company finished the first tunnel this past February and started work on the final tunnel shortly after. When complete, the loop will shuttle passengers between different parts of the Las Vegas Convention Center to an expanded west hall. The campus covers 200 acres, so the authority sought an efficient way to move guests around and spent over $50 million for Musk's company to make the loop a reality.
Work will now pivot to three above-ground stations for riders to enter the loop. Two stations will be at either end of the convention center with a third in the middle of the loop. Overall, the project is 80% complete, according to LVCVA.
The tunnel's vehicles will be based on a Tesla Model 3 or Model X and carry passengers at speeds up to 155 mph 40 feet underground. A modified Model 3 will form the basis of a larger shuttle as well. Walking the distance takes roughly 15 minutes, but a ride on the Boring Company's loop should cut that down to about two minutes.
The hope is to have the service totally operational for CES 2021, but the coronavirus pandemic has made the thought of trade shows almost impossible. Should the technology expo drift later into 2021, LVCVA CEO Steve Hill told the Verge it'll wait to open the service. When it does open, it'll be totally free to use for conference-goers.
First published May 14.
Update, May 15: Adds confirmation from LVCVA.