Boring Company’s Vegas Loop looks to reach the Strat
Elon Musk’s Boring Company is planning another Vegas Loop station that would link to the Las Vegas Convention Center.
The underground transportation system that utilizes Tesla model vehicles in a point-to-point system could soon reach the Strat.
Last month The Boring Company applied with Clark County for a commercial building permit tied to the Strat station. The price of the project is valued at $2.4 million, according to county records.
The hope is that the Strat is one of the next Vegas Loop lines to come on board soon, according to Steve Hill, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority president and CEO.
Work is underway on a link to the Westgate and to Encore that is also planned to run to and from the convention center.
The first Encore tunnel linking the resort and the convention center is scheduled to open within the first few months of 2024.
A trip in the 2,325-foot tunnel from the resort to the Central Hall of the convention center, where Boring Company’s underground station is located, is expected to take one minute.
The Encore station is being constructed at the same time as the Westgate station. When the two are open, there will be three offshoot tunnels with the Resorts World station, which opened last summer.
Crews will go back in and add one more tunnel for each of the three resorts, to allow for simultaneous trips between the resorts and the convention center at the same time.
“We’d also like to complete the second tunnel at Resorts World, because that matters,” Hill said. “Then the second tunnel to build to Westgate and then hopefully next summer we can build a second tunnel to Wynn (Encore). We don’t really want these two directional single tunnels, but you’ve got to build the first one to build the second one. We want to build them both.”
Despite the multiple offshoots to nearby resorts, work on the Vegas Loop hasn’t yet started to stretch down the resort corridor. At full buildout, 81 stations would be located up and down the Strip, in downtown Las Vegas and at other points of interest including Allegiant Stadium, UNLV and the Oakland Athletics’ planned ballpark. Once complete, the system will include 68 total miles of tunnels.
Boring Company has been securing various permits and agreements with the city of Las Vegas and Clark County related to the full system. There is no time frame for when work outside of the convention center connections will begin, Hill said.
“It depends on when they can get their permits, and they’re working on that,” Hill said. “There’s work that has to be done and they’re working through that. But they’ve obviously had two machines in the ground for the last number of months and they’re moving forward with it.”
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X. Send questions and comments to roadwarrior@reviewjournal.com.