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Transportation Businesses

The Boring Company's Las Vegas Tunnel Is Nearly 50 Percent Complete (teslarati.com) 140

Posted by BeauHD from the plenty-of-progress dept.
According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, Elon Musk's Boring Company is now about 50% complete with its underground tunnel. It's about six football fields in length. Teslarati reports: The Boring Company officially started tunneling for the people mover after a ceremonial groundbreaking event on November 15. In just two months, the project is nearly halfway completed. The company's Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) has been 40 feet underground for months and is working to drill two, one-mile-long tunnels. Boring Company began shipping portions of the TBM to the site in Las Vegas in September. Since then, the project has really started to take shape.

The project cost the Boring Company $52.5 million and is expected to connect the Las Vegas Convention Center to popular Las Vegas hot spots. Downtown Las Vegas, the Strip, and McCarran International Airport will all be destination options for riders. The mover is expected to transport an estimated 4,400 people per hour. The Las Vegas project is just one of five projects the Boring Company has listed on its website. A Livestream of the Boring Company's Las Vegas Tunnel Project is available for viewing here.
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The Boring Company's Las Vegas Tunnel Is Nearly 50 Percent Complete More

The Boring Company's Las Vegas Tunnel Is Nearly 50 Percent Complete

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  • What about the monorail

    • Re:What about the monorail?? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Ryzilynt ( 3492885 ) on Thursday January 16, 2020 @08:48PM (#59628282)

      Monorails are so 20th century , i.e. yesterday. Your grandpa rode a monorail, YOU will travel a tunnel like a chic new world GOD!

      Know it, own it, love it.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gl4ss ( 559668 )

        metros are 1800's though.

        dunno about the 52 mil cost. that does sound cheap? like cheaper than any metro project ever cheap? does that include the stations and auxiliary stuff like that?

        monorails are kinda cool though, they just don't have any real advantages.. there's a few places with monorails though. kuala lumpur being one, but having been in it I don't see how it's any better than a light two rail raised railway would be.

        • Re:What about the monorail?? (Score:5, Informative)

          by Miamicanes ( 730264 ) on Friday January 17, 2020 @01:53AM (#59628702)

          The main historical advantage of monorails was decreased visual bulk... instead of a wide, hulking track leaving the street below in permanent shadows & darkness, you had two slender beams that didn't block sunlight. The problem is, newly-constructed transit systems in the US are required to have (among other things) a 3 foot wide pedestrian walkway along the guideway to provide an emergency Means of Egress. So, monorails like the one in Las Vegas NOW have steel walkways hanging between the guideway tracks, almost completely neutralizing any point of building them as a monorail to begin with (as opposed to some other form of elevated fixed-guideway transit).

          Example:

          Las Vegas, showing walkway -- https://www.gettyimages.com/de... [gettyimages.com]

          WDW, no walkway -- https://cdn1.parksmedia.wdprap... [disney.com]

          • "The main historical advantage of monorails was decreased visual bulk."

            If your apartment window is only a couple of yards away, 'visual' is the least of your problems.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by DrXym ( 126579 )
            Tsk curse governments and their pesky regulations intended to save lives. It'll be interesting to see how the Boring company intends address the issue of people needing to escape in an emergency, especially when / if they start producing tunnels with cars travelling along them.

          • Re:What about the monorail?? (Score:4, Insightful)

            by bluescrn ( 2120492 ) on Friday January 17, 2020 @06:45AM (#59628946)
            Another reminder of what bullshit the Hyperloop idea is - the issue of emergency egress from a vacuum tube... Although it seems likely that at hyperloop speeds, there'd be no 'emergencies', just 'disasters'.
            • Just one of which knocks out the entire loop.
            • I imagine egress from a pressurised container into a vacuum will happen pretty quickly, problem solved, egress achieved.
              What? You want to survive the egress? Picky picky picky.

            • A vacuum-tube maglev doesn't need TOTAL vacuum, it just needs enough of one to reduce the impact of going hypersonic.

              Partial vacuums aren't GOOD for human health, but brief exposure to it almost certainly won't kill you, or even cause permanent injury. We aren't THAT fragile, especially if you're only talking about a minute or two at most while the section is re-pressurizing to atmospheric levels.

              If you're involved in a wreck that's so bad, you can't grab an emergency oxygen-supplementation mask, 30-60 seco

          • The main historical advantage of monorails was decreased visual bulk... instead of a wide, hulking track leaving the street below in permanent shadows & darkness, you had two slender beams that didn't block sunlight.

            You're confusing sloppy, cheesy, technologically simpleton and cheap modern el trollies with something from an early 20th century world's fair.

          • > The problem is, newly-constructed transit systems in the US are required to have

            Do we know how many deaths have occurred at WDW due to the lack of a walkway?

            How about their bus system?

            Sounds like unelected government making the perfect the enemy of the good.

            • Another cool design that present US standards make effectively impossible to build here is "Aerobus". It's a "hanging monorail" system that could be built like an upside-down suspension bridge... you'd put a big column every few blocks, string thick cables between them, then use smaller cables hanging from them to suspend the guideway itself. It wasn't fast enough (around 25-35mph max, from what I recall) to be a PRIMARY mass transit system, and had comfort (but not safety) issues with swaying in high winds

        • "monorails are kinda cool though, they just don't have any real advantages.. there's a few places with monorails though. kuala lumpur being one, but having been in it I don't see how it's any better than a light two rail raised railway would be."

          In Germany, they have an old one where even an elephant fell out of it.

          https://www.faz.net/aktuell/ge... [faz.net]

    • Have you ever rode that thing? It bumps, rattles, shakes; anything would be an upgrade.

    • Re:What about the monorail?? (Score:4, Funny)

      by Burdell ( 228580 ) on Thursday January 16, 2020 @08:54PM (#59628306)

      I hear those things are awfully loud...

    • Re:What about the monorail?? (Score:4, Informative)

      by Cyberax ( 705495 ) on Thursday January 16, 2020 @09:01PM (#59628314)
      Las Vegas monorail is basically a boondongle. It usually doesn't go anywhere near the hotels' entrances, so you have to walk for 5-10 minutes each way if you want to get on it. It's also slow and cramped if it's to handle the traffic from the airport.

      • Re:What about the monorail?? (Score:5, Funny)

        by BrainJunkie ( 6219718 ) on Thursday January 16, 2020 @10:00PM (#59628390)
        Are you serious? A 5 minute walk? Like actual walking with your legs across the ground for 5 full minutes?

        I am with you man, that is absolutely insane. The idea that a person would need to walk 5 minutes is a global atrocity someone should hang for this.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Cyberax ( 705495 )
          Try that with a couple of suitcases while it's 40C outside. Not fun.

        • Sounds like somebody who has never actually tried to use the monorail in Vegas to get around.

          It runs more or less *behind* the strip and it is at least perceptually kind of far from Las Vegas Boulevard and seems like it adds a lot of walking distance, especially if you're headed somewhere on the west side of the strip. It doesn't help that you go through casinos to get to it, which adds another serpentine amount of distance.

          And part of the problem really is that most of the Vegas casino properties are mass

          • The fatal problem with the LV monorail was temerity and design by competing interests. It does not go to the airport, or otherwise be too convenient, to prevent it from interfering with the taxi and bus services - so designed to fail. Lack of imagination also failed to realize that the monorail needed to be a center of attention - an attraction like an amusement park ride that brought it into the heart of the casino environment. Instead of hiding it behind the casinos, it should run through them, etc.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Megane ( 129182 )

          Like actual walking with your legs across the ground for 5 full minutes?

          More like actual walking with your legs across a casino floor for 5 full minutes. And that's the point of putting the monorail stations in the back of hotels, same as candy at a grocery checkout aisle. The real problem is that the monorail doesn't go to the airport, and probably won't because of the layout of the airport, but mostly because it would make the taxi drivers unhappy. If these tunnels ever reach the airport, that would be more important than just being out of the sun.

      • Not *exactly* a boondoggle. It is set up so that you need to walk the entire length of the casino to get to it.

        I do agree that its pretty useless. though.

      • I didn't mind the walk to the monorail. What I did mind is the wait. The last time I rode it was to CES a few years ago. I got to the closest loading point and had to wait for the "train" to come by at least 3 times before I was able to get on. We initially tried the monorail because it was suggested. After the first day we just decided to walk. It was kind of nice to take a walk on uncrowded sidewalks (not many folk out in the morning and the weather was nice and cool). This was especially true cons

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by clodney ( 778910 )

      The monorail in Vegas has been a flop. I think there were political fights involved in it, but the monorail is on the very back side of all the hotels it connects, meaning it is often literally a 10 minute walk from the front door of a casino to the monorail station. And I recall ticket prices being high enough that it was cheaper for 2 people to take a cab or an Uber down the strip.

      It seemed like a good idea when it was being built, but the cost and placement of the stations made it unattractive.

  • 6 football fields (Score:5, Funny)

    by rmdingler ( 1955220 ) on Thursday January 16, 2020 @08:45PM (#59628278) Journal

    Presumably American football, or 600 yards, which is approximately 548.6 meters... which is about the height, Olympic pool-wise, of the CN tower or the Ostankino Tower.

    Six Canadian National Towers has yet to gain mainstream acceptance as a universal measuring stick for those opposed to more traditional forms of measurement.

    • If it isn't in furlongs per fortnight or hogsheads to the stone, it's no real unit of measurement anymore.

      With apologies to the true Scotsman.

    • Well, remember everything is discounted in Canada, so a Canadian meter is about 70 cm in the rest of the world...

      • This is where you're getting confused: a "meter" merely measures things. Meters are rarely a metre long.

        • You damn Brits think you know how to spell English words correctly... You put "u" in color, and add an extra "i" to aluminum, for starters... Good thing we Yanks split off from ya, we had to in order to fix your English errors!

          • Re: (Score:3)

            by jabuzz ( 182671 )
            Er no it's metre in American English as well as English you num skull. Just to prove the point try getting Google Translate to mètre which is the original French name for the unit from French to English and get back to me on what you get. We can demonstrate that Google translate uses American English spellings over English ones by getting it to translate couleur from French to English and see that we color rather than colour.

            • meter /mdr/
              noun
              the fundamental unit of length in the metric system, equal to 100 centimeters or approximately 39.37 inches.
              "sit two meters away from the TV screen"

              "The metre (Commonwealth spelling and BIPM spelling) or meter (American spelling) (from the French unit mètre, from the Greek noun , "measure") is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). "

            • See definition 3 [merriam-webster.com]. Merriam Webster for the win.

              Oh, and it's 'numbskull [merriam-webster.com]' you numbskull. Pick up a dictionary, will ya? And not one of them English jobbers. Next thing you know, you'll be calling someone a "git" and saying they wore the wrong "colour" "pyjamas" while getting on the "aeroplane".

    • Re:6 football fields (Score:4, Funny)

      by Arthur, KBE ( 6444066 ) on Thursday January 16, 2020 @09:16PM (#59628344)
      Or 5x the length of the exterior of the Library of Congress.
    • A football field (American) is 120 yards, a football field (Rugby) is 120 meters, and a football field (Soccer) is 120 meters. Although originally both Soccer and Rugby were also 120 yards. What amuses me is how angry people get when you use the name "Soccer" instead of the more generic term "football," even though it really ought to be called "meterball" since they don't measure the field in feet anymore.

      • it really ought to be called "meterball" since they don't measure the field in feet anymore.

        Perhaps you somehow never noticed this, but I'm fairly certain that in the game in question, you generally kick the ball with your foot.

        Foot-ball.

        • Perhaps you somehow never noticed this, but I'm fairly certain that in the game in question, you generally kick the ball with your foot.

          In Soccer, yes, but American Football? The ball is mostly thrown or carried. Also, in Rugby Football the ball is mostly carried and thrown.

          For American football, we should use the name: "Hand-egg" .

          • The term football refers to the fact that the players are not riding a horse while playing and thus afoot.

          • Perhaps you somehow never noticed this, but I'm fairly certain that in the game in question, you generally kick the ball with your foot.

            In Soccer, yes, but American Football? The ball is mostly thrown or carried. Also, in Rugby Football the ball is mostly carried and thrown.

            For American football, we should use the name: "Hand-egg" .

            For American football you should go back to it's orginal name. Gridiron.

      • The playable length of an American football field is 100 yards. People dont generally consider the end zones when describing the length of the field.

      • A football field (American) is 120 yards, a football field (Rugby) is 120 meters, and a football field (Soccer) is 120 meters.

        I like how you call three different games football and two of them are played primarily with hands. Also Rugby is just Rugby, not some kind of football.

    • How many Library of Congress is that?

    • Presumably American football, or 600 yards, which is approximately 548.6 meters... which is about the height, Olympic pool-wise, of the CN tower or the Ostankino Tower.

      Six Canadian National Towers has yet to gain mainstream acceptance as a universal measuring stick for those opposed to more traditional forms of measurement.

      Those are far more meaningless to me, but once they start telling us how many Rhode Islands it is, then I'll know they are making progress.

    • Well,
      we could abbreviate it to SCNT ... how many meters was that again? ... Ah, forget it ...

  • The project consists of two tunnels.
    It's "about 50% complete".
    Does that mean one of the tunnels just broke through, or is about to?
    TFA doesn't say...

    • That would seem to be the natural conclusion - especially since I think TBC only owns one "production" boring machine, and moving it back and forth between two tunnels would seem to be a major headache for no good reason.

    • "The project consists of two tunnels.
      It's "about 50% complete".
      Does that mean one of the tunnels just broke through, or is about to?
      TFA doesn't say..."

      I'd say 'you must be new here' but your uid says otherwise, so I won't.

    • The project consists of two tunnels. It's "about 50% complete". Does that mean one of the tunnels just broke through, or is about to? TFA doesn't say...

      They've managed to dig half a hole?

  • Just 600 yards? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by LynnwoodRooster ( 966895 ) on Thursday January 16, 2020 @09:07PM (#59628324) Journal
    That's about 10 yards a day... Seems pretty slow to me, given that 17 to 70 yards a day [quora.com] the typical average. Given that the huge unit used in Seattle [newatlas.com] moved along at 10+ yards a day (when it was running), and was moving and order of magnitude more dirt than the LV units, they seem exceedingly slow...
    • Assuming they worked every day of the week and didn't take time off for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Years... then yes you would be correct. Now, please enlighten us as to the geological differences or similarities so we can tell if a direct distance per day comparison is even remotely applicable.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Immerman ( 2627577 )

      Check your math: 2 tunnels * 1 mile * 50% * (1760 yards/mile) / 52 days = 34yards / day

      • Also, your quora link says 17-20 yards/day is the typical average, with speeds reaching 67 yards/day on a good day.

      • Re:Just 600 yards? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Friday January 17, 2020 @04:21AM (#59628818) Homepage Journal

        Basically the Boring Company made a normal tunnel in average time and everyone is going batshit over it because it's Elon Musk.

        Note how they have quietly dropped plans for their high speed car transporter tunnels after it was pointed out how completely unfeasible they are. If anything the story here is that they failed and had to go back to digging a normal tunnel using normal methods because their pie-in-the-sky 1960s future city ideas were half baked from the start.

        • In almost half the average time, (18.5/34 = 54.4%) using early prototype modifications of mostly-stock hardware.

          Loop, etc. are unlikely to be relevant unless and until at least their first-generation boring machine is completed, which is supposed to reduce that to under 7% of average times (I'll bliee it when I see it) If they can pull it off for a similar per-hour cost, *especially* if they can deliver a rough-finished tunnel while importing minimal additional material, then Loop may start actually being

    • Re:Just 600 yards? (Score:4, Informative)

      by caseih ( 160668 ) on Friday January 17, 2020 @12:07AM (#59628598)

      Digging anything in Las Vegas takes a long time. The soil is similar to concrete. Called caliche. https://www.lasvegasadvisor.co... [lasvegasadvisor.com]

  • Waste of money (Score:4, Insightful)

    by mvdwege ( 243851 ) <mvdwege@mail.com> on Friday January 17, 2020 @12:33AM (#59628624) Homepage Journal

    The mover is expected to transport an estimated 4,400 people per hour.

    That's not even a fraction of what a subway can handle.

    So for all the money spent on that, what we get is something that does not even lighten congestion; all those cars still have to get to entry points, and when leaving those entrypoints will continue to clog up the roads, and is horribly inefficient.

  • is now about 50% complete with its underground tunnel. It's about six football fields in length.

    Seriously, 'football fields' as a unit of measure? Ok, so I guess they HAVE dug 600 yards? Or is the finished tunnel GOING to be 600 yards?

    and is working to drill two, one-mile-long tunnels.

    Uh, a mile is 1760 yards. So 600x2=1200, which is a far cry from 1760. Who wrote this?

  • 1. 50% complete
    2. 90% complete
    3. ???
    4. Profit!

  • The Simpson's did it. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0... [imdb.com]

  • 50% complete is another way of saying they aren't finished.
    Let me know when it's finished.

  • I love big works. The work has to be done locally, increasing local demand for labor and local technical expertise.

    In addition, big projects like this can decrease ground level congestion.

    Yes, I expect all of them to under deliver and go way over budget. But decades after they're completed they'll still be of use, helping the local society.

  • The tunnel is 50% complete and stands at 6 football fields, or 600 yards. That means the full tunnel will be 1200 yards, or about 2/3 of a mile. In NYC, the short blocks are 264 feet (according to Wikipedia), so the tunnel will be about fourteen blocks long. Going by the NYC standard again of local subway lines stopping every 5 blocks, that means three stops. Now, I understand the drive for convenience, especially in places where it gets blisteringly hot in the summer, but it takes 10-15 minutes to walk

    • Does anyone else see this project as underwhelming, or am I missing something?

      Personally, and this is a little out there, I don't think The Boring Company exists to make car tunnels on Earth. It's a nice little warm-up to making tunnels for underground civilizations on Mars though.

  • I hope he drills up into the casinos.

    There may finally be a an obvious way to exit!

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