Wednesday, July 19, 2023 | 3:36 p.m.
The Las Vegas City Council voted unanimously to allow the expansion of the Vegas Loop underground transit system within the city limits.
The expansion would allow Elon Musk’s Boring Company to add tunnels and stations near places such as the Smith Center for the Performing Arts, Palace Station, Las Vegas Boulevard and Main Street, according to documents provided to council members.
“We’re super excited about the possibilities and the future and what this means in terms of providing another mode of transportation,” Councilwoman Olivia Diaz said.
Mayor Pro Tem Brian Knudsen said Las Vegas is “constantly reinventing itself” and that the Vegas Loop will improve public transit.
“A private company, I think, is ultimately how Las Vegas seems to be going forward … not with public transit but with some modified version of a public-private transit option,” said Knudsen, who also sits on the board of the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada.
Some station sites have been identified, while the location of a number of “civic stations,” which the city would get to pick, are yet to be determined.
Potential locations include the Medical District, Symphony Park and the Mob Museum, said Stephanie Allen, a representative for the Boring Company.
Allen said at a meeting with the Planning Commission last month that the company’s goal is to begin operations in Las Vegas this year.
The underground tunnel system already transports people around the Las Vegas Convention Center in electric vehicles, with a link to Resorts World. It only operates during conventions, Allen said.
Some 1.2 million passengers have been through the existing loop system, with up to 4,500 in an hour and 32,000 in a day, Allen said.
Additional stations at the Westgate and Encore are in the works. The company’s digging machines can tunnel at a rate of more than a mile a week.
In May, Clark County commissioners approved 18 stations for the Vegas Loop.
UNLV in March also received approval from the Board of Regents to complete the sale of a 1.3-acre parcel near the Thomas & Mack Center to the Boring Company for a station on campus.
The UNLV station is expected to be finished by late this year.
