CONEXPO/CON/AGG will be held in 2023. Attendees can expect to have a much larger area for walking around. The attendees will also be able to travel from one end of the show to the other using a new method.
Elon Musk’s Boring Company is building an underground system for moving people at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The system is similar to a subway. However, the mode of transport is an autonomous electric car (AEV), not a railcar.
The new system, also known as the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop, consists of three strategically placed passenger stations and two one-way tubes. The first tunnel is already complete, while the second one is still under construction. Three passenger stations are currently under construction.
The Loop will link the LVCC’s existing space to its new West Hall. Both projects should be completed by January 2021.
The West Hall expansion is estimated to cost $980 million and will add 1.4 million sq. The West Hall expansion is estimated to cost $980 million and will add 1.4 million sq. ft. campus. The project includes a grand atrium and an outdoor plaza in addition to the exhibit space. The exhibit hall is equipped with modern electrical, plumbing, and data infrastructure to allow exhibitors to connect without using on-ground wiring.
A New Mode of Transportation for Passengers
The Loop is the real attraction. This is a brand-new approach to passenger transport in the U.S.
The Boring Company claims that The Loop allows convention goers to travel from one end of the LVCC to the other in about one minute. It takes about 15 minutes to walk between the two ends.
Standard people-moving vehicles are AEVs, which in this case is a Tesla Model X. Elon Musk also owns Tesla. Model 3 chassis modified to transport up to 16 passengers at a time. Conduit sensors within the tunnels will guide the AEVs. They can travel safely up to 155mph.
The Boring Company has a vision of a vast network of tunnels in the United States, many layers deep. Tunneling underground reduces the disruption to society during construction. Then, as infrastructure demand increases, additional tunnel layers can be constructed to increase passenger-transporting capacity in the same general area. The Boring Company also claims that tunnels have been proven to be able to withstand earthquakes.
Cost is the main reason why tunneling has not taken off in the U.S. The traditional tunneling equipment is slow and unable to produce the desired output. According to The Boring Company, past tunneling projects have often cost $1 billion per mile. To make tunneling an alternative to conventional roads, the cost must be reduced by ten times.
The Boring Company claims to know how to do it.
More productive equipment. It is necessary to improve the speed of tunneling and the equipment used. The traditional equipment spends only half of its time digging; the rest is spent building tunnel support structures. However, The Boring Company claims that existing equipment can be easily modified to allow continuous tunneling.
Tunnel boring machines must also be faster. According to The Boring Co., a machine’s power output can triple when upgraded cooling systems are used.
Smaller tunnels. AEVs are smaller and compact, allowing for a 50 percent reduction in tunnel diameter to 14 feet. This alone can reduce construction costs by 300 to 400%.
Automation. Automation is already present in smaller tunnel-boring machines. Larger machines, however, are not. The Boring Company believes that larger machines that require multiple people to operate must be automated.
The Boring Company is working to build an additional underground people-mover system as the U.S. looks for solutions to its many infrastructure challenges. The company is currently reviewing and permitting a few projects:
- Los Angeles — Transporting people to Dodger Stadium from different neighborhoods
- Chicago – express service to O’Hare Airport from downtown
- Washington, D.C. – Baltimore
The Boring Company has also built a test tunnel in Hawthorne, California, which is its home base. The Las Vegas Convention Center Loop is the company’s very first commercial venture.
Steve Hill, LVCC’s CEO and President, said: “Las Vegas continues breaking boundaries, and we look forward to offering this first-of-its-kind transportation solution to convention attendees.”
The Loop will already be operational by the time CONEXPO/CON/AGG takes place in 2023. It will have already been operating for a few years.