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2 major casinos want in on Elon Musk's Las Vegas project — potentially kickstarting the Boring Company's bid to connect the entire Strip

Jun 17, 2020, 01:28 IST
Business Insider
Elon Musk's Boring Company completed two tunnels at Las Vegas Convention Center in May.Las Vegas Convention Center
  • Last month, Elon Musk's tunneling company hit a major milestone on its first project at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
  • Now, two casinos say they want tunnels too.
  • The new orders could be a catalyst for the Boring Company's plan to connect all of the city's casinos with its airport and more.
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Las Vegas' monorail has another novelty transportation project hoping to steal its thunder.

As it nears completion of its convention center people mover, Elon Musk's Boring Company now has two casinos on board for new tunnels connecting them to the event space. Wynn Resorts and Resorts World, which is set to open in 2021, say they've submitted plans to the city to connect their hotels to the ongoing roject.

The Verge, which first reported on the project, published land use applications for the new tunnels, which paint a picture of Tesla vehicles swiftly whisking passengers from the casino to the convention center. What was previously a 30 minute walk, will now take just a few minutes to travel 1.5 miles (before factoring in wait times).

Here's the map, as tweeted by a local politician:

In May, the Boring Company officially completed digging two tunnels at the convention center, a significant milestone on its first paying project. Still, the thesis behind them — coined as "individualized mass transit" by Musk — has been criticised by actual transportation planners as total novelty. After all, a car takes up the same amount of space underground as on the street.

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A Tesla emerging from the Boring Company's Hawthorne Tunnel during a demonstration for press.Robyn Beck/Pool via REUTERS
That's not to say the tunnels aren't cool — or that escaping the oppressive desert heat won't be lauded by Vegas holiday-makers.

"I think public transport is painful. It sucks," Musk said at a Tesla event in 2017. "Why do you want to get on something with a lot of other people, that doesn't leave where you want it to leave, doesn't start where you want it to start, doesn't end where you want it to end? And it doesn't go all the time."

Boring Company
But then again, if there's anywhere a novelty form of transportation can work, it's Las Vegas. The city is one of the few remaining places where a futuristic Alweg monorail still exists, carrying carrying more than 13,000 people every day.

Eventually, the Boring Company wants to connect its tunnels to the entire strip and airport too — giving Las Vegas' own public transit network a true run for its money.

"Convention guests would no longer have to worry about long walks or gridlock traffic around the convention center," Resorts World said in its press release. "They could take the transportation system to Resorts World Las Vegas for lunch, meetings, or personal appointments, and be back to their conference or expo in minutes."

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