elon musk and his boring company receive city council thumbs up to expand vegas loop

tunnel expansion of elon musk’s boring company is underway

From his recent Twitter overhaul to the first real model of the Cybertruck being built, things are looking up for Elon Musk, whose Boring Company has recently received approval from the City Council of Las Vegas to expand its public underground tunnel, Vegas Loop. The submitted application of the Boring Company was discussed and given the green light in the recent city council meeting on July 19th, 2023, as listed on the administration’s agenda. The report states that the Las Vegas City Council gave its consent to the expansion of Vegas Loop through downtown Las Vegas, which would be funded and constructed by the Boring Company.

The approval team believes that this will help the company accomplish its plan of creating a 68-mile system for the Las Vegas Valley. While the stations in the downtown area are not yet finalized as of publishing the story, the proposed ones include downtown Las Vegas hotels, Area 15, and four civic stations. For the vehicles that would be used for the expansion, the passengers are expected to be transported in Tesla Model X and Ys, and the underground tunnel, once the expansion is completed, is targeting over 57,000 transported passengers per hour with its 51 medium-sized stations that would also be increased.

images by Boring Company (unless stated)

A brief overview of the boring company’s vegas loop

The premise of the Vegas Loop by Elon Musk’s Boring Company is that it is an express public transportation system that resembles an underground highway more than a subway system. The company makes a comparison by saying that if a subway line had 100 stops, a train would typically stop at each station, so the trip between Stop 1 and Stop 100 would be long. ‘In contrast, Loop passengers travel directly to their destination, anywhere between Stop 1 to Stop 100, without stopping at the intermediate stations,’ says the Boring Company team. ‘Also, the express system allows Loop vehicles to travel faster than conventional subway cars, up to 150 mph versus up to 65 mph.’

If the Vegas Loop realizes its expansion, then the underground tunnel would ‘free up traffic capacity that can be used to continue supporting downtown (re)development. This will help the city and other developers avoid costly roadway widening,’ the City Council pens in the report. The released announcement also says that through the connectivity to and from major destinations that the Vegas Loop would target, the resort corridor would be ‘greatly enhanced,’ and an additional form of transportation to and from the city center would be created with ‘no public funding’ since the underground tunnel is privately funded by the Boring Company.

the plan is to create a 68-mile system for the las vegas valley

Full or partial approval of the vegas loop expansion?

While it was the City Council of Las Vegas itself that announced the expansion of Elon Musk and his Boring Company’s Vegas Loop expansion, the release report enumerates a number of permits that the design team must secure, giving the impression that there are still hoops to go through before the City Council and city leaders give their full consent to lengthen the underground tunnel.

These include the Special Use Permit (approved in 2020); a Monorail Agreement (approved in 2022); approval of design development studies such as the Fire and Life Safety Plan, Geotechnical Report, and Drainage Analysis; and approval of final design and construction plans and permits. After these, the design team may move forward with the construction and operational testing phase, which will be followed by the issuance of the Certificate of Operation before the Vegas Loop operation and service can begin.

Currently, the Vegas Loop is a 2.2-mile tunnel transportation system with four surface stations and one subsurface station, but the Boring Company is targeting a 50+ mile tunnel network with more than 60 stations, including Harry Reid Airport, Allegiant Stadium, UNLV, and downtown Las Vegas. ‘The Boring Company pays all standard plan check, permit, and inspection fees. We estimate this to be one to two million dollars in fees,’ states the City Council report. News about the completion date of the expansion is still yet to be announced.

the passengers are expected to be transported in Tesla Model X and Ys | video stills by City of Las Vegas via Youtube