Las Vegas Loopty Loop

Elon Musk’s Boring Company, which digs tunnels and sells flamethrowers, has landed a $49 million contract to build LVCC Loop, an underground transit line in Las Vegas. Sin City will become Boring’s first commercial transport customer.

The project: Boring will dig two tunnels and build three stations to connect the outer regions of Vegas’s sprawling convention center. If all goes to plan, battery-powered autonomous vehicles will whisk 4,400 lanyard-toters around hourly.

• The goal: Have LVCC ready for CES in 2021. Boring won’t see two-thirds of the paycheck until the project’s finished.

What else is happening in loop land?

The U.S. Department of Transportation wants to turbocharge underground tunneling and hyperloops. And some investors are lining up behind hyperloop technology: Virgin Hyperloop One recently announced it raised $172 million in new funding.

Keep in mind: LVCC is a small project (less than a mile). Underground tunneling as a viable means of public transit is still experimental, expensive, and likely to be caught up in red tape.