KEY POINTS

  • The tunnel is being built 40 feet underground
  • A trip across the 200-acre Las Vegan Convention Center Campus is to take about a minute
  • The $52.5 million project will include two tunnels and three passenger stations

Elon Musk’s Boring Co. and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority announced Friday excavation of the Vegas Loop’s first tunnel has been completed.

“Breakthrough!” the Boring Co. chortled on Twitter.

“Excavation is complete for the first of two tunnels,” the convention authority said.

Work on the tunnel, which will transport convention-goers in autonomous electric vehicles at high speed across the Las Vegas Convention Center’s 200-acre campus, began Nov. 15 and is part of a $1.52 billion expansion and renovation. Walking from one end of the convention center to the other is about 2 miles. The facility hosts more than 42 million convention attendees annually.

The loop system will stretch 1.14 miles and cost $52.5 million. The system is expected to reduce disruption to pedestrian and vehicle traffic, and will have the capacity to carry as many as 11,000 passengers an hour.

A free, cross-campus trip will take about 1 minute. Tesla Model 3 and Model X vehicles are to be used, and the Model 3 chassis is to be altered so it can carry as many as 16 passengers. Three passenger stations complete the system.

The tunnel is being built 40 feet underground. The machine now will be disassembled and moved to a second site so work on a second tunnel can begin. The system is expected to open next January in time for the Consumer Electronics Show.

The Vegas loop is the Boring Co.’s first commercial project. Other projects are under consideration in Los Angeles and Chicago.

“This marks an important milestone in the future of transportation. Las Vegas is proud to lead the way as the first and only destination to offer an underground transportation solution for moving visitors throughout our convention center,” visitors bureau CEO and President Steve Hill said in a press release.

Discussions are underway to expand the loop to the Las Vegas strip and McCarron Airport.

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