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Tunneling starts Friday for Las Vegas Convention Center project

Before people travel underground to and from the Las Vegas Convention Center, dirt will be moved first.

Tunneling begins Friday for the LVCC’s underground people mover as Elon Musk’s The Boring Co. starts work on its first commercial project.

When completed — scheduled for January 2021 — the transportation system will allow convention attendees to be whisked across the LVCC’s sprawling 200-acre campus in about a minute, according to the news release.

The system would use autonomous electric vehicles (AEVs) on three types of Tesla Model X chassis with rubber tires, operated in automatic pilot mode.

The deal also includes developing less than a mile of twin vehicular tunnels, a pedestrian tunnel, three underground stations, and elevators and escalators to access the stations. Back-of-the-house features include lighting, power, video surveillance, ventilation, safety, cellphone and WiFi systems, intercom and public address systems and a control room.

Plans call for digging the tunnels underneath county right of way, which raises other issues, according to Boring Co. President Steve Davis.

“When you’re tunneling, there’s other stuff underground,” Davis said in July. “We’ve already started coordinating with dozens and dozens of stakeholders that have subsurface infrastructure. You have electric lines, gas lines, storm drains, etc. There’s a lot of stakeholders, and as part of this process we’re going to coordinate with all of them.”

Contact Tony Garcia at tgarcia@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0307. Follow @TonyGLVNews on Twitter.

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