The Boring Company’s Las Vegas tunnel is nearly 50% done • Hacker News Board

Re: The Boring Company’s Las Vegas tunnel is nearly 50% done

#31

Post by retrovm » Thu, Jan 16, 2020, 9:57 PM UTC

ghaff wrote: post #18

acchow wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"is expected to connect the Las Vegas Convention Center to popular Las Vegas hot spots. Downtown Las Vegas, the Strip, and McCarran International Airport will all be destination options for riders"

That statement in the article makes no sense in the context of other stated facts in the article. And seems to be simply untrue. [1] It's a contract with the Las Vegas Convention Center. "LVCC Loop will connect the LVCC New Exhibit Hall with the existing campus (North/Central/South Halls). Three stations locations (see map below) will offer convenient access between key LVCC destinations and nearby transportation con…

"That statement in the article makes no sense in the context of other stated facts in the article."

You read some unsupported claims on a fan service blog for a pump-and-dump stock scam? I, for one, am completely shocked.

Re: The Boring Company’s Las Vegas tunnel is nearly 50% done

#32

Post by neltnerb » Thu, Jan 16, 2020, 9:58 PM UTC

mdszy wrote: post #9

So they're halfway through digging the tunnel, not halfway through doing all the other things to make the tunnel actually as useful as musk is claiming. This all just seems like subways from first principles but probably worse.

Though if they really dug that much tunnel under a city in such a short time, maybe there's an actual innovation in a better way to make subway tunnels?

I think putting cars in these tunnels is silly and that subways are obviously the best answer personally, but I'm also watching two new light rail lines being put in next to my house. It does not seem quick (though they're elevated). It'd be lovely if those tracks were somehow underground faster and cheaper than above ground.

I'm happy enough it's finally happening, but if it could be done economically in a way that reclaimed the land the rail lines are on to make a park or more housing? And without trains driving by my windows on both sides? Maybe the boring machine itself is somehow better than what we dig tunnels now.

Re: The Boring Company’s Las Vegas tunnel is nearly 50% done

#33

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jan 16, 2020, 9:58 PM UTC

CydeWeys wrote: post #20

3fe9a03ccd14ca5 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t the Tesla just an electric car? Musk as a company leader means a lot. I’m sure a lot of other people had the idea for a “Tesla” before there was Tesla. Or the idea of self-landing rockets.

There's a big difference between an ICE car and a BEV. There's no difference between a tunnel and a tunnel.

[deleted]

Re: The Boring Company’s Las Vegas tunnel is nearly 50% done

#34

Post by dzhiurgis » Thu, Jan 16, 2020, 10:01 PM UTC

altacc wrote: post #15

Isn't this just describing building a small but fancy subway system? Honest question: what's the novel "wow" factor that I'm missing?

Novel is faster and cheaper (because faster and less ventilation cuz electric cars).

I think it makes total sense. Rail is so much more complex when compared to an electric bus.

Re: The Boring Company’s Las Vegas tunnel is nearly 50% done

#35

Post by 3fe9a03ccd14ca5 » Thu, Jan 16, 2020, 10:01 PM UTC

elsonrodriguez wrote: post #27

CydeWeys wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a big difference between an ICE car and a BEV. There's no difference between a tunnel and a tunnel.

There's also no difference between a rocket and a rocket, until you figure out how to make one cheaper than the other.

The difference between one that falls into the ocean and one that brings itself back down into orbit and lands safely is one is cheaper than the other?

Re: The Boring Company’s Las Vegas tunnel is nearly 50% done

#36

Post by yongjik » Thu, Jan 16, 2020, 10:02 PM UTC

maxharris wrote: post #28

CydeWeys wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a big difference between an ICE car and a BEV. There's no difference between a tunnel and a tunnel.

When you build the tunnel for a tenth the cost, that's a pretty big difference. The same budget lets you build ten times more infrastructure, which is quite badly needed! I live in Los Angeles and things are so bad here that often you simply can't see friends that live only a few miles away.

But what if it's also tenth the capacity? According to the article this accommodates 4,400 people/hr. BART ridership is 411k/day, and (to pick a random example) Gangnam subway station in Seoul averages at 230k/day. And that's actual usage, not max capacity.

Re: The Boring Company’s Las Vegas tunnel is nearly 50% done

#37

Post by semi-extrinsic » Thu, Jan 16, 2020, 10:03 PM UTC

sambroner wrote: post #11

I don't know much about tunneling speeds, but this seems much faster than Big Bertha in Seattle although for a much smaller volume (the tunnel is narrower) and (I'm assuming) less complex location. Big Bertha - 3.5 years, ~1.75 miles, 1.5 m/yr Boring - .15 years, .35 miles, 2.33 m/yr

For the Crossrail project going under London, they used 8 machines in parallel and took 3 years to dig a total of 26 miles of 20 ft diameter tunnels.

That's a little more than 1 mile/yr, an average number that includes overhead like moving the TBMs between the different boring sites. And the cutting surface area (which multiplies linear speed to give material removal rate) is (20/14)^2 = 2.04 times bigger for Crossrail than the Boring Co. machines.

Re: The Boring Company’s Las Vegas tunnel is nearly 50% done

#38

Post by jeromegv » Thu, Jan 16, 2020, 10:05 PM UTC

maxharris wrote: post #28

CydeWeys wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a big difference between an ICE car and a BEV. There's no difference between a tunnel and a tunnel.

When you build the tunnel for a tenth the cost, that's a pretty big difference. The same budget lets you build ten times more infrastructure, which is quite badly needed! I live in Los Angeles and things are so bad here that often you simply can't see friends that live only a few miles away.

Except this 10% of cost is just a marketing ploy by Musk to sell you the project. When you compare to the price of subways in Europe, this isn't any cheaper. North America is extremely bad at building cheap subways, but other places of the world have already achieved it.

Re: The Boring Company’s Las Vegas tunnel is nearly 50% done

#39

Post by retrovm » Thu, Jan 16, 2020, 10:08 PM UTC

neltnerb wrote: post #32

mdszy wrote: post #9

So they're halfway through digging the tunnel, not halfway through doing all the other things to make the tunnel actually as useful as musk is claiming. This all just seems like subways from first principles but probably worse.

Though if they really dug that much tunnel under a city in such a short time, maybe there's an actual innovation in a better way to make subway tunnels? I think putting cars in these tunnels is silly and that subways are obviously the best answer personally, but I'm also watching two new light rail lines being put in next to my house. It does not seem quick (though they're elevated). It'd be lovely if those tracks we…

No, it's just a lot smaller. A 12-foot-wide tunnel is, shockingly, much cheaper than a 21-foot-wide tunnel. It also has essentially zero capacity, much like a hyperloop. If you want to punch useless holes in the earth, Elon Musk is your man without a doubt.

Re: The Boring Company’s Las Vegas tunnel is nearly 50% done

#40

Post by nrp » Thu, Jan 16, 2020, 10:09 PM UTC

ghaff wrote: post #25

jandrese wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds silly until you've walked from one end of the LVCC to the other.

The expansion of the LVCC made me vaguely curious about what types of shows use it given that all the IT shows I'm familiar with use the Venetian/Sands or, if they're a bit smaller, The Mandalay Bay. I haven't been there since Comdex days. It looks as if it's things like Kitchen and Bath Builders, World of Concrete, etc. So maybe things that are more oriented towards a mega show floor and less to speaking rooms.

CES is the key one. It occupies all of LVCC and Sands, with spillover and unofficial meeting rooms taking up basically all of the strip. It's not clear what CES is going to do with another full hall though. The show is already kind of a mish-mash of industries.