Imagine arriving at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas and stepping off the plane and onto an autonomous electric vehicle that would whisk you through an underground tunnel to the Strip, Las Vegas Convention Center or Fremont Street Experience.
That distant dream inched a little closer this month when the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority board of directors selected Elon Musk's The Boring Company (TBC) to build such a system, starting with a loop serving the expanded Convention Center along Paradise and East Desert Inn roads.
The Boring Company was one of several finalists that submitted proposals for a people mover around the Convention Center, which will stretch about two miles and cover 200 acres when its additions are complete in 2021.
TBC's plan is an underground system that could potentially accommodate up to 11,000 passengers per hour on high-speed autonomous shuttles, zipping around a closed loop. The estimated cost for the Convention Center project is $35 million to $55 million, depending on the distance, path and number of stops.
Transportation woes have long been an issue in Las Vegas, where taxis and now ride-sharing services are the overwhelming option for airport arrivals, despite so many visitors heading in the same general direction. The Las Vegas Monorail reaches only from the SLS to MGM Grand, and a planned extension that would add a stop at Mandalay Bay to serve both the south end of the Strip and the forthcoming Raiders Stadium has been repeatedly delayed. It likely won't be ready for the NFL team's debut in 2020.
A light rail line proposed by the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada would connect the airport, University of Nevada Las Vegas and downtown via Maryland Parkway, cutting the length of the trip by 13 minutes and increasing ridership by an estimated 7,000 passengers per year. But the cost for that potential project is $750 million, and the trains wouldn't touch the Strip.
Which brings us back to The Boring Company and that subterranean shuttle, ferrying conventioneers to and fro. The next step is a detailed design and construction plan and an official contract. The LVCVA Board expects to review both at an upcoming meeting in June. Until then -- and until Musk's futuristic people movers are on the move -- conventioneers will just have to travel the old-fashioned way: by car, Monorail or bus.