Question of the Day - 30 April 2019

The Boring Company, a subsidiary of SpaceX, owned by South African billionaire entrepreneur and visionary Elon Musk, has been tagged to build and operate a new-age subway under the Las Vegas Convention Center. By a vote of 10-3, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority board of directors approved the plan in mid-March.

The tunneling company would install 16-passenger autonomous electric Tesla vehicles to run through tunnels connecting various entrances to the Convention Center that would cover about a mile and a quarter. While the technology can achieve speeds of up to 150 mph, the short distance from one end to the other would limit the speed to 50, though it probably wouldn't even go that fast.

The cost of the project is expected to be between $35 million and $55 million. Though the rides would be free, this first-of-its-kind transportation system would be an attraction all its own. And if it's successful, the system could be extended along the resort corridor between the airport and downtown.

Last we heard, construction could begin as early as June, run concurrently with the ongoing $1 billion Convention Center expansion, and be completed by January 2021 in time for the Consumer Electronics Show. 

As for what we think, we’re not entirely convinced. Notice that we used the conditional tense (“would”), rather than the simple future (“will”), due to a number of questions about the project.

First and foremost, the tunnels must be dug at a depth of 30 feet below grade and Boring intends to do so at a cost of around $10 million a mile. That sounds pretty optimistic to us: The cost of installing comparable subways in other cities runs about $750 million per mile.

According to business reporter Richard Velotta in a story in the Review-Journal, “The high cost of tunneling scratched the idea of a subway system beneath the Strip in the 1970s.”

The main challenge of tunneling under the southern Nevada desert is caliche, a sedimentary rock consisting of gravel, sand, clay, and silt that hardens into a kind of natural concrete and is very difficult to dig (which is why few Las Vegas houses have basements).

In addition, tunneling under the Convention Center could disrupt a packed schedule of trade shows, especially if utility lines are damaged or the halls are destabilized in any way.

Plus, 16 passengers per vehicle equates with one ten-thousandth of the number of people who attend the big CES convention. Spit in the ocean.

So we remain wait-and-see about it.

One thing we can say, however, is that we’re not sure what all the fuss is about. We don’t reckon you need a $50 million construction project to bore a tunnel.

Just talk to it.