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A light-rail or other time tested solution would be cheaper and faster. This vanity project works in Vegas because it creates news and supports tourism.
by ozten 3y ago
A light-rail or other time tested solution would be cheaper and faster.
This vanity project works in Vegas because it creates news and supports tourism.
- achates 3y agoI'm glad that people try new things even if it's more expensive at first and sometimes turns out to be a bad idea in the end.
- spywaregorilla 3y agoThe problems with this thing are visible at the beginning, in the planning and analysis phase. Trying new things doesn't require that you go all the way to the end.
- mrguyorama 3y agoTunnels are not a new thing. Making the tunnel slightly smaller is not innovation.
- mensetmanusman 3y agoA light rail doesn’t have the same option to scale in three dimensions though…
- martin8412 3y agoBut a metro does.
- TheCoelacanth 3y agoDoes using smaller tracks and train cars suddenly mean that you can't put it in a tunnel the way we do with heavy rail or with this idiotic proposal?
- ragebol 3y agoOnce the tunnels are there and after the company running them goes bankrupt, someone sensible can buy those tunnels for cheap and do something sensible with them. Like have an actual mass transit system.
- mrguyorama 3y agoLast I knew the Boring company wasn't making full size tunnels, but weird undersized tunnels that just barely fit a Tesla and have zero room for emergencies.
- ragebol 3y agoGood point. I know next to nothing about making tunnels, but I wonder how hard it is to increase the tunnel diameter after it's originally dug out.
- Arrath 3y agoQuite likely more time consuming, expensive and dangerous than digging entirely new tunnels if the existing ones have a lot of concrete lining, shoring, soil nails, or other structural features that must be removed as part of the process.
- atoav 3y agoIt is probably a major engineering project. Normally you choose a tunnel boring machine with a certain diameter and it basically drills your tunnel and seals the walls with concrete at the same time. That is a concrete layer that is built to both seal potential water/rockslides out and to not have the tunnel collapse. That means in order to make the tunnel wider you'd have to destroy that concrete layer over the whole length and add a new one. I am not an expert, but my guess would be that drilling a new one and using the smaller one as a maintenance tunnel might be more reasonable and cheaper.
- ragebol 3y agoThat sounds expensive and slow. And sensible. So I'm guessing the Boring Company does things differently, but I have no basis for that. Those tunnel boring machines that dig and put the concrete etc up are super cool though
- kylecordes 3y agoThe time and cost to acquire the land for such a system would be enormous, if it is possible at all.
- mustacheemperor 3y agoAs far as I know, the monorail has been prepared to extend to the airport for years, and Fremont St is only a mile and a half away. It already runs through multiple casinos up and down the strip. Vegas has an existing mass transit system and after being constantly mystified that I can't use it to get between the strip and the airport it's a little frustrating to see so much capital poured into building a new road network directly underneath Vegas' existing overcongested road network. A light rail on Maryland St has also been discussed [0]. I don't think the only option to improve transit options in Vegas is to dig a new, cramped road network underneath the existing one. [0]https://lasvegassun.com/news/2018/apr/16/q-a-rtc-official-outlines-whats-next-for-maryland/ https://lasvegassun.com/news/2018/apr/16/q-a-rtc-official-ou...