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

teslarati.com

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

#71

Post by reaperducer »

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…

I think they are stretching because you'll be able to transfer to the monorail.

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

#72

Post by reaperducer »

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

this seems much faster than Big Bertha in Seattle

Big Bertha dug under the downtown of a city with existing tunnels and utilities. The Las Vegas tunnel is mostly under parking lots with no obstructions.

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

#73

Post by dv_dt »

threeseed wrote: post #70
dv_dt wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this follows Elons pattern of being able to find areas where the fundamental technology has advanced and is available, but the integration and step up to a new level hasn't been invested in yet. I think the Boring company basically made more efficient custom built tunneling equipment.

Actually Musk leased an existing Canadian boring machine: http://superexcavators.com/news/super-excavators-consult-mac... There is no evidence of any improvements or innovations.

A line of that article says this:

> He also drew upon the 67-year-old contracting company’s expertise to get going, with an ultimate goal of developing ways to dig tunnels faster

Not evidence I agree, but not entirely inconsistent with improvements.

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

#74

Post by danso »

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…

If there were an actual innovation in tunneling, I feel like they’d be able to give actual specific metrics to rebut critics who argue that it’s apples to oranges. But AFAIK the bottleneck in tunneling is not a mechanical engineering one.

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

#75

Post by guessmyname »

mc3 wrote: post #41

ELI5... why is digging a tunnel tech news? Does Elon dig them faster or more cheaply or something? Otherwise do I submit this to HN? https://www.sydneymetro.info/tunnelling . I think tunnels are the future though for cities. But I'd prefer trains to be running in them, or roads that only allow electric public transport. Edit. In 1988 they started work on the Channel Tunnel UK to France: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…

> ELI5... why is digging a tunnel tech news?

> Does Elon dig them faster or more cheaply or something?

> Otherwise do I submit this to HN? https://www.sydneymetro.info/tunnelling

Someone already did [1] but it didn’t attract much interest.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22069948

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

#76

Post by rainyMammoth »

jessriedel wrote: post #5
abduhl wrote: post #4

The article is confusing. It says that they are supposed to deliver two tunnels - are both going on at the same time? It also says that they’re 6 football fields in: 1800 ft. This is only 35% of the stated mile length for the tunnel. Under what metric is this tunnel or project 50% complete?

This article from 10 days ago says "About 1,900 feet of the 4,300-foot-long tunnel has been dug in the seven weeks since the project’s kickoff". https://www.reviewjournal.com/business/conventions/boring-co... So I think the Teslarati article just rounded 4,300 feet up to "a mile" (=5,280 feet). 1900/4300 = 44%.

Also good to note that Teslarati is an "Elon Musk fan boy" blog. Anything that you read there is usually lacking critical sense. They probably rounded 44% to 50%

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

#77

Post by cordite »

danso wrote: post #74
neltnerb wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

If there were an actual innovation in tunneling, I feel like they’d be able to give actual specific metrics to rebut critics who argue that it’s apples to oranges. But AFAIK the bottleneck in tunneling is not a mechanical engineering one.

What is the bottleneck

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

#78

Post by cgy1 »

astrodust wrote: post #68
xeromal wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea is to make it 10x cheaper and 14x faster. The boring company is more of a personal effort by Elon due to his hatred of LA traffic.

"Let's solve traffic by building more roads!" Elon has a lot to learn about induced demand.

He has said that he doesn't believe in induced demand: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1211076829395738626?s=20

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

#80

Post by CydeWeys »

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.

They're using standard tunnel boring machines same as anyone else. It's not clear what their "special sauce" is that's supposed to enable them to do it at one-tenth the cost. So far they haven't delivered.

As for LA, you've had ample opportunity to expand your subway system over the past decades to solve this problem, it's just never actually been done. It's not clear how Boring Company changes anything. I would love to be wrong about this, but I'm not seeing it.

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