Las Vegas city officials have approved The Boring Company’s request to expand its planned network of underground tunnels. The Las Vegas Loop will now feature a total of 69 stations and 105 km, or 104 kilometers, of tunnels.
The Boring Company tweeted the news yesterday evening, following a meeting with the Clarke County Zoning Commission yesterday morning. The Las Vegas Loop was set to feature a combined 55 km, or 55 kilometers, of tunnels and had stations that predominantly ran along the Las Vegas Strip. The Boring Company then asked in March to expand the Las Vegas loop, with the newly approved expansion adding 18 new stations and about 40 km, 40 kilometers, of additional tunnels, according to a tweet from the county’s official account yesterday.
Vegas Loop is expanding – 65 miles and 69 stations! Thanks to @ClarkCountyNV for the great partnership. https://t.co/1vMU7Ha0mn
— The Boring Company (@boringcompany) May 4, 2023
Attorney Stephanie Allen, representing the Boring Company, told county commissioners at yesterday’s meeting that the Las Vegas loop currently has 3 km constructed with 5 operational stops — four at the Las Vegas Convention Centre and one at Resorts World. Allen further told commissioners that 1 million passengers have ridden through the network so far, with peak ridership in one day reaching over 32,000.
“The more opportunities we have on this map, the more opportunities for success with this system,” Allen said during the meeting.
Las Vegas Executive Director of Infrastructure Mike Janssen did not immediately return Gizmodo’s request for comment on the project.
Musk’s been overly optimistic about creating a “Hyperloop” tunnel system that will apparently be “immune to surface weather conditions.” He first made his pitch back in 2013 and it’s been a rather slow rollout. The Boring Company unveiled the planned Vegas Loop project in October 2021 — originally slated to be only 47 kilometres long. The company’s agreement with Las Vegas is long-lasting but nonexclusive, meaning any other monorail from any other transportation body can be built in Las Vegas for the next 50 years.
The Boring Company opened a pilot tunnel at the Las Vegas Convention Centre that made a 25-minute walk across the campus a 2-minute ride. While that efficiency is impressive, riders who tested the tunnel at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2022 were left unimpressed. Electrek reported that vehicles only cruised at 56 km per hour, instead of the roaring 241 km per hour that the company has touted. Further, videos and tweets compiled by Mashable and originally posted by those using the tunnels at the trade show depicted a claustrophobic (and absolutely anxiety-inducing) traffic jam in the narrow tunnel.