Elon Musk's Las Vegas Loop Explained

go, just below the surface of las vegas and you'll find this it's a tunnel that quickly transports, people beneath the city, and its traffic jams in soon to be, automated teslas. the idea came from elon musk and what's. being constructed looks very different what was originally. proposed. the system currently just serves the. convention center a city-wide network is planned and other locations across the us are, being lined up, its critics call it a glorified bypass, nothing more than a car in a tunnel, while its supporters herald the dawn of a new transportation system, so will we travel on loops around our, cities in the future, well this is why it's still a bit of a gamble. in june 2021 the 50 million las vegas convention center loop will open. it's a 2.7 kilometer circuit tunnel that. allows delegates to jump from one end of the 200 acre campus to the other in the comfort of a shiny new tesla. complete with funky disco lighting. the system has three stations in total. two on the surface, at each end of the site and an underground station in the middle. what used to be a 25-minute walk is now, a two-minute car ride, the loop was supposed to be ready in. time for the massive ces show in january. but, the physical event was cancelled due to covid and it'll now debut at the less. well-known but far more exciting world of concrete. conference which this year has a truly solid agenda, owned and operated by the equally, exciting las vegas convention and, visitors authority. the loop is the first commercial project. to be completed by the boring company that's the tunneling business that's. owned by elon musk. it was musk that originally tweeted the, idea when he got caught in traffic. in 2016. within months the boring. company was digging a test range at the, headquarters of another musk firm, spacex in california and, just a few years after that in 2020 the, company was using its own specialized tunnel boring machine to, carry out what is an unusually narrow. excavation. because the tunnel only has to be big enough for a tesla. and there's no need for things like. utilities or additional piping. a machine with a diameter of just 4.3 meters was used. most tunnel boring machines are normally. 17 meters in diameter having a more compact machine made it. easier to tackle geological and structural obstacles, it could work quickly and the firm, claimed to be clearing over 40 metres of, ground a day at one point, in total the tunnel went from sign off

by the convention center to completion, in 18 months of course longer tunnels would need some kind of emergency access or service, routes and critics have argued that a larger tunnel able to accommodate a train or, bus. basically a subway system might have. been a more effective way of transporting. more people if you're claustrophobic then this current narrow tunnel with few. axis, is probably not for you, with this loop opening there are now, plans to extend the system across the city the las vegas council voted unanimously in favor of the scheme but, environmental checks now have to be, completed before it can go ahead. a wider vegas loop would see the system, branch out from the existing tunnel, and connect with resorts along the strip, other landmarks across downtown the new. allegiance stadium and eventually the airport, that's around 10 miles of new tunnels, which would give the city its first. underground infrastructure system and a, vital alternative to regular road travel. before the pandemic more people were, flocking to vegas than ever before, with a record 50 million traveling. through the airport in 2019 the city does have a monorail but it's a. single line and it misses lots of the, big attractions , most people therefore end up taking buses or resorts or walking, but that doesn't always go with the, glitzy and extravagant experience that. someone from vegas. and an air-conditioned tesla away from. all the traffic could be much more appealing it's thought that fares will be around, ten dollars for a five mile ride but this could of course change as things develop as for the, financing of the actual project the cost of the main tunnels will be covered by the boring company. while casinos and hotels will pay for the stations and tunnels that connect to. their property it's a project that looks like it could. happen and be beneficial for vegas. and there are plans in place for other. u.s cities too although it's fair to say they're less advanced a loop to transport fans. to and from la's dodger stadium was. announced in 2018, and a more ambitious route that would. run between washington dc and baltimore, was unveiled a year before. but little has happened with either idea, and it seems both have now stalled at. the environmental review stage. , a loop from o'hare international airport. to downtown chicago also never took off while details are yet to emerge about another possible. tunnel in austin texas, the location for tesla's next u.s. gigafactory there's also questions about whether. loop systems would actually work outside, of a city like las vegas,

most major cities already have some form. of city-wide transit network whether. it's a subway or an effective overground rail. system so, digging loops would either be more difficult due to existing tiles or infrastructure, or not really necessary with people already able to get around the city relatively quickly there's. probably more chance of it happening in. the us city as they tend to be more car centric but many other countries are likely to. look at this and not really get it. the loop was originally conceived as a way to escape, traffic but would a system like this really be free of congestion itself if built in the middle, of a busy urban center would it eventually have to be priced at a level to control passenger numbers, creating a somewhat elite mode of travel when the loop was first announced we, were shown glossy cgi, where cars would take elevators down to, the tunnel level, and then be whisked off on autonomous sleds at 120 miles an hour, in this inaugural tunnel there's no. elevator speed is limited to just 35 miles an. hour and the cars are still human controlled although the intention. is for them to become autonomous. in the near future it's a long way from the ultimate vision that. first excited so many people, and some feel that musk may have created. more detractors than supporters with what's now been built and unveiled under the convention center strip away the funky lights and critics say you're kind of left with a one-way concrete underpass so could these tunnels be coming to a city near you. in las vegas the funding is there the, authorities are on board and there's no existing infrastructure in the way plus people are pretty likely to use it. and it's filling a genuine need for a new transport solution. , but will the same reasoning apply in all, cities, well no other places are likely to already have. something that does a similar job and most authorities aren't as open to new ideas as they are in nevada, and they don't have mega casinos or, hotels to help spread the cost, it's still early days those other systems remain a possibility. and you should never knock an entrepreneur who's trying something that. hasn't been done before, but when it comes to the loop it'll. probably turn out to be another case of. what happens in vegas stays in vegas, if you liked this video and you want to learn more about where construction is, headed. make sure you're subscribed to tomorrow's build. ,