Reports have indicated that Elon Musk’s tunneling startup, The Boring Company, has purchased a new piece of land in Las Vegas. The site is expected to play a role in the expansion of the Vegas Loop, a series of tunnels that would allow commuters to travel to and from key locations around Sin City.
As noted in a report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, a firm affiliated with The Boring Company, Object Dash, bought a 1.8-acre piece of land situated across the street from the Thomas & Mack Center, an arena located on the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) campus. Clark County records indicate that the Boring Company’s acquisition cost $7.2 million.
The Review-Journal noted that the recently purchased site would be used to help connect the UNLV to the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC). The LVCC currently hosts a working Boring Company Loop system, which is comprised of 1.7 miles of tunnels that connect the LVCC West Hall with the main campus. The LVCC Loop, while strongly criticized by Elon Musk skeptics, has been in service since April 2021.
Over the years, The Boring Company’s LVCC Loop has played a key role in transporting commuters during conventions that are held in the LVCC. So far, the system has demonstrated a peak capacity of over 4,500 passengers per hour and about 32,000 passengers per day.
While this capacity is notably lower than that of a subway system, The Boring Company was able to complete the LVCC Loop — which is comprised of two one-way tunnels, two surface-level stations, and one subsurface station — for just about $47 million.
This was just a fraction of the projected cost of an above-ground transit system that was short-listed for the LVCC together with The Boring Company’s Loop. The above-ground transit system was proposed by the Austria-based Doppelmayr Garaventa Group, and it was initially estimated to cost about $215 million to complete.
Las Vegas would ultimately decide on The Boring Company’s Loop proposal for the LVCC, which was then estimated to cost just $52.5 million to build. Today, work is underway to build the greater Vegas Loop system, which is expected to comprise 68 miles of tunnels across 93 stations in Las Vegas. The Vegas Loop will allow commuters to travel to key locations, such as casinos on the Strip, Allegiant Stadium, downtown Las Vegas, and even Harry Reid International Airport.
Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to simon@teslarati.com to give us a heads up.