Photographer: Bridget Bennett / Bloomberg
Photographer: Bridget Bennett / Bloomberg
Nate Calabrese almost skipped the “manager search” ad on the job search site Indeed.com because it provided so little detail. It turns out that the message was for the Boring Co., the tunnel company owned by Elon Musk. This is how Calabrese, 27, finally drove people under the Las Vegas Convention Center in one of the first public glimpses into the so-called ‘Loop’ Musk built there.
The company’s first major commercial project was unveiled at Las Vegas’ dazzling annual Consumer Electronics Show in January, but the Covid-19 pandemic was in the way. Now it is ready for its first major implementation at the World of Concrete meeting of June 8-10, tourist officials in the city said on Friday.
The Loop ride itself is short and corresponds to the tunnels – only about 0.6 kilometers long for each of the four sections, yielding a total of about 1.7 kilometers of tunnel. But they compensate for their ephemerality in the fun, with plenty of pulsating colored lights that the staff called the dazzling track “Rainbow Road”.
The Boring Co. Convention Center Loop in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Photographer: Bridget Bennett / Bloomberg
Consisting of a fleet of custom Tesla sedans that, as their name suggests, exists between three stops, the system can transport passengers up to 40 km per hour. The idea is to draw people around, showing that pre-Covid regularly attracted tens of thousands of people, in an expansive space consisting of four different exhibition halls. The cost is free for conference attendees, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
Riders boarding at the stop or south or west stations, wait outside for their Teslas and enter tunnels that run down through entrances lined with painted gray rocks, in amusement park style. Riders riding on board at Central Station drive 40 feet down an escalator to a large open hall with room for Teslas to pull in so passengers can get in or out. Each car currently has room for three people due to Covid restrictions, but they can hold as many as five.
Drivers all had to pass tests, including a driving exam, Calabrese said – and a surprising number of applicants could not nail the section that required them to turn around safely from a spot, he said. The group had to drill for a number of emergency scenarios, including bomb threats, active shooters and tunnel collapse.
Tesla vehicles parked at the Boring Co. Convention Center Loop.
Photographer: Bridget Bennett / Bloomberg
The Vegas Loop was approved and built in May 2019 at a cost of $ 52.5 million, paid for by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Association. Most funds come from hotel taxes. Boring also said he wants to build a loop to Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles from a nearby subway stop. This potential project is still being reviewed by the environment. The only existing project is a test tunnel in Hawthorne, California, which was completed in 2018.
The Las Vegas Convention Center Loop could one day use a broader network planned to connect more parts of the city, including the Strip, and possibly to the airport. According to a spokesman for Clark County, Nevada, the plans are at the stage of approval and land use, to which a large portion of the route would go.
Calabrese likes a lot of work so far, and at $ 17 an hour plus benefits, he said he’s doing much better financially compared to his old life as a Vegas manager. Eventually, however, he will still have to find new work. Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority CEO Steve Hill said Friday that once the cars are certified as a transportation-free driver, and passengers feel comfortable with the idea, they will drive themselves. “We will work on autonomy,” he told reporters.