In May, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority approved a $48.7 million contract for The Boring Company (TBC) to design and build a short underground transit system at the city’s Convention Center, using Tesla electric vehicles running through narrow tunnels. — TechCrunch
The Boring Company (TBC) has submitted construction drawings for their new tunnel system in Las Vegas. The plan is to "construct one pedestrian tunnel, two 0.8-mile vehicle tunnels and three underground stations, as well as modify and test seven-seater Tesla cars to carry up to 16 people," reports TechCrunch.
The Las Vegas Monorail has expressed concerns regarding the new project. According to Monorail CEO Curtis Myles, "the proposed underground people mover system intersects our existing system route, and it appears the presented tunnel alignment interferes with our existing columns for the Las Vegas Monorail system and creates significant concern regarding both vertical and lateral loads."
After some back and forth, TBC must now have "regular coordination" with the Monorail and the city's Public Works department. In the end, TBC will become a direct competitor to the Monorail.
3 Comments
"In the end, TBC will become a direct competitor to the Monorail."
hahahahaha, just like a horse and buggy is in direct competition with a bus.
TBC has zero technical innovation in their tunneling package--they do it fast and cheap by making smaller tunnels, and they run individual cars which imposes absurd capacity restrictions and headways compared to the monorail. TBC is a marketing stunt to drum up cash for Tesla, nothing more.
You have to wonder how much in kickbacks the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority got from Musk for turning off their brains and writing a check for $50m.
the convention tunnel will be a novelty not meant for useful transport. That said the monorail has pretty much been useless (does not go to airport, far from strip, expensive tickets). I am a little suspicious that the Monorail finds a potential issue with their competitor.
Musk is taking his show to China. In US any kind of urban construction is mired in politics - his LA tunnels were blocks by "community organizers" who had no specific complaint. I would not be surprised if China goes all out on this (they move very very quickly on infrastructure and try new things).
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