The Boring Company, Elon Musk's company that develops transportation networks based on underground tunnels, just won approval from local officials in Las Vegas. It will be able to proceed with the construction of a network of vehicle tunnels under the gambling capital of the world.
The “Vegas Loop”, practically a subway for cars, will allow passengers to get into a Tesla and cut through “surface” traffic. Within minutes, users can reach hotel casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, the city's new soccer stadium, the Las Vegas Convention Center and the international airport.
The Boring Company already operates a scale version of this system. It is located beneath the Las Vegas Convention Center, opened earlier this year and includes two 1,2-kilometer (0,8-mile) tunnels. But in December 2020, Musk's startup proposed a massive citywide expansion of a subway network of tunnels, and on Wednesday the request was granted.
Metro network for cars
The approved system includes 46 kilometers (29 miles) of tunnels and 51 stations. The plan estimates that up to 57.000 passengers per hour will be able to pass through this network, which will be built with entirely private funds. Boring Company will finance the main tunnels and then will ask companies who want to be reached by the service to finance their "little piece" of the metro.
The objectives of this project are different, and have also changed over time. Initially The Boring Company imagined "attaching" magnetic sleds to normal cars. In a second phase he imagined passenger capsules. Today, in fact, these are Tesla cars racing in a tunnel, driven by human drivers (another of the ambitions is that these cars drive alone through the underground tunnel network).
Obstacles overcome
Given that the recipe for "drilling" the subsoil to allow cars to pass through is not yet a universal panacea (Musk failed to do so in Chicago), it must be said that Las Vegas had foresight. Initially it did not seem feasible to expand the tunnels under the casinos, due to technical and legal reasons. Now, thanks to progress in the approach to tunnels, The Boring Company renews its ambitions. On the website you can read all the satisfaction for this new achievement:
To solve the soul-destroying traffic problem, roads must become 3D, which means flying cars or tunnels are needed. Unlike flying cars, tunnels are weatherproof, out of sight, and won't fall on your head. Tunnels minimize the use of valuable surface area and do not conflict with existing transportation systems. An extensive subway network of tunnels can relieve congestion in any city; no matter how large a city becomes, more levels of tunnels can be added.
Costs? “surface”
Whether for the need to amortise, or for the youth of technology, The Boring Company has price estimates between the public bus and the taxi. A journey of approximately 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the airport to the Convention Center will take approximately five minutes. Currently, by car it takes double that, 11 minutes if you're lucky, but in case of traffic it exceeds 30. By public transport it doesn't take less than 40 minutes. The cost? 8 euros ($10). A 6-kilometer (3,6-mile) car subway ride from the Convention Center to the soccer stadium will take four minutes: by car no less than 15, by public transportation as much as an hour. It will cost around 5 euros ($6).
How about? Would you use these tunnels?
