Elon Musk’s Boring Co. has received approval from Nevada’s Clark County for a 50-year franchise agreement to build, operate and maintain a 15-mile, dual-tunnel transit system through downtown Las Vegas, according to Oct. 20 Twitter announcements from both Clark County and the company.
 
The planned tunnel transit system expands upon a pilot project that Hawthorne-based Boring Co. completed earlier this year involving a two-mile dual-tunnel loop under and adjacent to the Las Vegas Convention Center at a cost of $52.5 million. That tunnel transit system uses a fleet of Tesla vehicles to whisk passengers around the massive Convention Center complex at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour.
 
The Convention Center loop has only three stations; the expanded route alignment approved by Clark County commissioners calls for 51 stations through the center of Las Vegas and in adjoining communities.
 
Each station must still be planned out and permitted. No cost estimate was provided for this new project and Boring Co., though news reports indicate the entire cost would come from Boring Co. and other private sources. The company also provided no timeline for when construction would begin.
 
According to the Clark County Twitter announcement, the expanded route will go under the Las Vegas Strip and extend to the University of Nevada Las Vegas and to Allegiant Stadium, which hosts the newly relocated Las Vegas Raiders National Football League team. The route also comes close to McCarran International Airport.
 
On its website, Boring Co. has a map showing a trio of additional proposed tunnel loops besides the main Vegas Loop. One of these is a loop extending to the terminals at McCarran International Airport; another loop would extend off the central Las Vegas Strip to include more hotels such as Caesar’s Palace Resort and Casino. The third loop is the now-operating Las Vegas Convention Center route.
 
While the Las Vegas Loop route itself is about 15 miles, because of the dual tunnels, it involves the excavation and construction of 29 miles of tunnel. And like the Las Vegas Convention Center loop, this larger project also calls for the use of a fleet of Tesla vehicles. On its website, Boring Co. lists fares for one-way trips on the loop ranging from $5 to $10.
 
Boring Co. in its tweet thanked the Clark County commissioners: “Vegas Loop is expanding — 29 miles and 51 stations! Thanks to the Clark County team for the great partnership and to the Commissioners for unanimous approval.”
 
The next step for Boring Co. is to get approval from the city of Las Vegas for the portion of the tunnels that would go underneath that city. Then the more detailed permitting process would begin for the stations.