Elon Musk touts Convention Center’s underground people mover

The Boring Co.’s underground people mover is still months away from being operational at the Las Vegas Convention Center, but that hasn’t stopped the company’s top executive, entrepreneur Elon Musk, from tweeting about it.

Musk, whose ventures include Tesla and SpaceX in addition to the company that is building the first-of-its-kind $52.5 million underground transit system, gave a Twitter shoutout to his project and Las Vegas.

“Tunnels under cities with self-driving electric cars will feel like warp drive,” Musk tweeted Tuesday afternoon. “First operational tunnel under Vegas almost done.”

The update was retweeted by about 7,400 followers.

Musk had tweeted, “Have you hugged a tunnel today?” and “Embrace tunnels!” earlier that day.

The Boring Co. project includes twin tunnels nearly a mile long serving three stations and linking an above-ground entrance just east of the Convention Center’s South Hall with another above-ground station near the southwest corner of the under-construction West Hall. A third station in between those two will be underground and have access near the North and Central halls. Most of the tunnels are beneath the Central Hall, a Convention Center parking lot, Paradise Road and Convention Center Drive.

Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority Chief Operating Officer Brian Yost on Sept. 1 gave the authority’s board of directors an update on construction progress.

At that time, lighting, communication equipment and the final asphalt surfacing were being placed in the tunnels. At both Station 1, the easternmost station, and Station 3, the western end point, the ramps leading to the tunnels were being graded and prepared for paving.

At Station 2, the underground midpoint, a concrete support structure for the roof of the station was being poured and emergency exit stairs were being installed. The roof will support a parking lot above it and escalators will move system users to and from the station.

None of the Tesla vehicles that will be programmed in self-driving mode for use within the tunnels have arrived.

Once they arrive, The Boring Co. will be able to test the system in advance of opening it to the public.

The LVCVA had planned to have the transit system tested and in place in time for January’s huge CES trade show. LVCVA President and CEO Steve Hill in August said the new West Hall and the people mover were expected to be completed by Dec. 14.

The Consumer Technology Association on July 28 announced that CES would be held completely online in January, canceling any in-person displays or meetings in Las Vegas.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.