LAS VEGAS, Nevada – The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) announced this week a decision to recommend selecting Elon Musk’s The Boring Company to design, build, and operate, an underground transportation network for the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The transport network, which would utilize autonomous electric vehicles to move passengers through a system of underground tunnels, has the potential to connect downtown Las Vegas with the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Las Vegas Boulevard Resort Corridor, and McCarran International Airport.

“Las Vegas is on the cutting edge of technology and this project reflects the incredible work that’s taking shape right here in Southern Nevada,” said LVCVA Board Chairman and Clark County Commissioner, Larry Brown. “It’s exciting to have the Las Vegas Convention Center campus at the forefront of this historic development in our destination and we look forward to this new mass-transit solution with The Boring Company.”

The project carries an estimated price tag of $35 million and $55 million, depending on the eventual number of stations and size of the network, with a potential capacity of up to 11,000 passengers per hour.

While no timetable has been provided for the project at this stage, the need for rapid transit around Las Vegas is growing. A current expansion of the Las Vegas Convention Center, due to be completed in time for CES in 2021, will result in end-to-end walking distances of about two miles.

The Boring Company currently operates a fully operational Research and Development Test Tunnel in Hawthorne, California. The company highlighted the reduced disruption to pedestrian and vehicle traffic, plus lower total costs and faster construction times as benefits of its underground system.

Following this week’s announcement, The Boring Company and the LVCVA are expected to meet no later than June to determine specific design and construction plans, as well as request final approval for the project.