Nevada’s Clark County Commissioners this week approved plans for The Boring Company’s 29-mile Vegas Loop system. The 50-year franchise agreement marks a major milestone for Elon Musk’s tunnel construction company, which can now move on to the permitting process.
“Expanding and moving forward with plans for the ‘Vegas Loop,” according to a Clark County Nevada tweet. “Commissioners just approved an agreement with [The Boring Company] to establish and maintain a transportation system that will go under the Las Vegas Strip.” It’s also expected to run beneath Allegiant Stadium and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
“The company’s plans also call for an emphasis on the use of local contractors and local workers,” a follow-up tweet said. “Boring also envisions expanding the line to other areas of the Las Vegas Valley.” The entire system, as reported by the Las Vegas Review-JournalLas Vegas Review-Journal, is privately funded.
It’s not exactly smooth sailing from here, though. As noted by the newspaper, Clark County’s approval covers only alignment for the proposed route. The company must acquire separate land use permits for each of the loop’s 51 intended stops. It will also need another franchise agreement with Las Vegas for the portion stretching underneath the city.
Boring plans to build the system in phases, according to company president Steve Davis. That way, individual stations can come online “immediately” upon completion. Once construction begins in earnest, the firm expects up to 10 stations to open within the first six months, followed by another 15 to 20 each year until work wraps up. At full capacity, the Vegas Loop should carry some 57,000 passengers per hour.
Like an express train or bus, vehicles operate directly between stations, skipping stops along the way and reducing traffic backup. “If you have to stop at every one [of the 51 proposed stations], that’s a very, very long trip,” Davis told the Review-Journal. Instead, passengers can walk into a station, board a vehicle, and go directly to their destination.
Boring has three years to complete construction, or have at least a portion of the system operational in the county’s rights-of-way.
