(Pictured above: Boring Co. construction equipment staged at Las Vegas Convention Center)
Ray Smith
Exhibit City News
The Boring Company’s proposal to build an underground transportation loop for the Las Vegas Convention Center was originally met with skepticism from officials of the Las Vegas Monorail, but now the two entities could form a partnership to build the $55 million project.
The tunnel would run almost a mile under the existing monorail route, transporting convention attendees to exhibit halls across the expansive Las Vegas Convention Center.
Monorail officials were concerned about engineering safety in areas where the two transportation systems would intersect and asked for more oversight of Boring Company’s project.
“The proposed underground people mover system intersects our existing system route, and it appears the presented tunnel alignment interferes with our existing columns for the Las Vegas Monorail system and creates significant concern regarding both vertical and lateral loads,” Curtis Myles, CEO of Las Vegas Monorail, wrote in a June letter to Clark County planners.
Representatives from the two companies have since been in contact with each other, discussing transportation needs in the convention center area, according to media reports.
“They came here a few weeks ago,” Myles told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in September.
Boring Co. officials declined to comment on a possible business alliance with the Las Vegas Monorail. The company, owned by Elon Musk, estimates 12,000 to 15,000 passengers can be transported through the tunnels every hour.
Long-term plans could include extending the underground loop to the resort corridor, possibly going to Allegiant Stadium, McCarran International Airport and other destinations.
With population growth of the Las Vegas Valley and continued rise in visitors each year, having multiple transportation modes will be important, Myles says in the Review-Journal interview.
“You’re going to need everything,” he says. “If the town is going to continue to rely on tourism and I don’t think that is changing anytime soon … there isn’t one thing … It will be everything that continues to make things move forward.
“You’ve gotta do everything and know that not everything you do is actually going to happen.”
Monorail secures funding
In related news, Las Vegas Monorail Company announced on Oct. 10 that it has secured $33.6 million in long-term financing needed to help fund construction of a new station at Sands Avenue and to replace a short-term loan.
The new station will provide a direct connection to the Sands Expo Center, The Venetian and The Palazzo Resorts, and to the MSG Sphere, the 18,000-seat entertainment venue currently under construction. The transaction is part of the company’s expansion program, which will also include a later expansion to the Mandalay Bay Resort with proximity to Allegiant Stadium.
“The completion of this initial financing is an important and necessary step in our expansion strategy for this system, which already provides substantial mobility benefits along our busy resort corridor,” says Las Vegas Monorail Company President & CEO Curtis Myles. “With two new stations, we will multiply those benefits for our customers, resort partners, sponsors and our community.”
The Sands Avenue station is projected to be completed and open in conjunction with the Sphere project opening.
Last month the Las Vegas Monorail Company announced a new sponsorship program led by Pharris Media to promote its “green” advertising initiative. With the addition of the Sands Avenue station, the expanded eight-station system will be connected to some 30,000 hotel rooms and more than 8 million square feet of convention space by the time it is completed.
The new Monorail station funded through this transaction expands the creative opportunities to showcase sustainability-centered sponsorship programs. The Las Vegas Monorail system has carried more than 87 million riders since opening, providing additional mobility and capacity in one of the most popular and congested visitor corridors in the world.
Its fully electric, zero emissions vehicles eliminate more than 27 tons of emissions annually, and about 462 tons since opening. In addition, the mobility the system provides eliminates 2.1 million vehicle miles from Las Vegas roadways each year—totaling more than 29 million vehicle miles since the system began operation.
