Is the Boring Co. Vegas Loop threatened by monsoon flooding?

The above-average monsoon pattern seen over the better part of the last month has left some areas of the Las Vegas Valley flooded.

As the wettest monsoon season in a decade is poised to continue this week, the reports of flooding on valley roads have some readers wondering about the Boring Co.’s Vegas Loop.

Is the underground network of tunnels that uses a fleet of Teslas to transport people from point to point at risk of flooding as the roads above it are?

The short answer: no.

Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority President and CEO Steve Hill said the Convention Center Loop was built after various permit applications that addressed the flooding risk were approved.

As the Vegas Loop — an extension of the existing loop that will link the Strip and downtown — begins to be dug underneath as soon as next year, the same safeguards will be in place, he said.

“That’s part of what happens when you go through the building permit process, they check for all of those types of things,” Hill said. “The tunnel we have here at the Convention Center is under the water table. The tunnel itself is not completely and utterly sealed, but pretty close.”

The tunnels feature a pumping system that allows any water that infiltrates the system to be moved, Hill said. But he said there’s very little water that seeps into the tunnel through the walls.

Hill also said water flowing into the tunnels via the entrances and exits is not an issue, either.

“As part of that building permit and design process of the system, those are elevated above what the drainage level is. There’s really no way for water to drain into the tunnels. That’s designed into the process.”

Next stops

At full build-out, the Vegas Loop will run from the south Las Vegas Strip near Mandalay Bay to downtown Las Vegas. There are 56 planned stops on the system.

The first connection beyond the Las Vegas Convention Center is the station at the Resorts World that opened last month. The initial connection picks up and drops off passengers at the Riviera Station at the convention center, with riders having to walk a short distance to access the main Convention Center Loop system.

Work is underway to link the main system to the Riviera Station so riders will be able to directly connect to their desired convention hall from Resorts World.

“The boring machine is actually boring between our Riviera and West stations right now,” Hill said. “It’s getting pretty close. … We have to work on that between shows. So they’ll turn and head back over to Resorts World.”

The next offshoot from the convention center will be to the Westgate on Paradise Road.

“The Westgate connection is getting pretty close,” Hill said. “Other than that, it will be months I think before the next ones are approved.”

Allegiant Stadium will be among the properties next in line for station approval. On Thursday, the Las Vegas Stadium Authority approved having Hill, who chairs the stadium authority board, to lead the process to get an Allegiant Vegas Loop connection.

Hill said a land use permit and a building permit for potentially multiple stations at Allegiant Stadium are needed before any work can begin.

After the Westgate station, the Caesars Loop and Tropicana Loop are set to be the next ones constructed. Those will be built as separate projects and eventually connected as the system grows.

The hope is to have portions of those loops in operation sometime next year.

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter. Send questions and comments to roadwarrior@reviewjournal.com.