Downtown Vegas Loop Approved, Fontainebleau Station Goes Live

• The city of Las Vegas approved a new Vegas Loop extension connecting the convention center to downtown
• Earlier this week, Fontainebleau added its own Vegas Loop station offering free rides to LVCC, Encore, and Westgate
• $12 airport rides remain limited as the Boring Company advances major tunnel expansions

The city of Las Vegas announced Wednesday that it’s issued the first construction permit to the Boring Company for a new leg of the Vegas Loop. Elon Musk’s company will connect its subterranean Tesla tunnels from the Las Vegas Convention Center to downtown Las Vegas.

The first downtown station in the city will be built just north of The Strat, though no timeline was announced.

“Convention-goers will soon be able to hop in a car to quickly and conveniently travel to downtown for dinner, cocktails, a visit to a museum, or to catch a show at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts,”  Mayor Shelley Berkley said in a statement.

The Boring Company says it intends to expand its network to several stops in downtown, in addition to the airport.

The station is not stand-alone, but rather a connection to the Convention Center’s Riviera station, which is only about a block away.

Fontainebleau is not among the resorts offering $12 airport rides. That temporary promotion — about a third of the going rate for rideshare and taxi rides — remains available only from Resorts World and Westgate. Those rides deliver passengers through completed portions of the Vegas Loop before taking surface streets to airport terminals 1 or 3.

The $12 airport rides will be offered until the twin tunnels connecting the Vegas Loop to the airport are completed — supposedly in Q1 of this year.

Tunnel Vision

Once the 2.25-mile Airport Connector is complete, airport trips will shift almost entirely underground. The spur will connect to the University Center Loop, now under construction beneath Paradise Road, which will add stations at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, the Howard Hughes Center, UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center, and the Sphere.

The Vegas Loop has over 10 miles of tunnels dug, with about four miles operational — connecting stations at Encore, Resorts World, Westgate, and the Vegas Convention Center. Some routes — such as Encore to Westgate — have used self‑driving Teslas since October, though all currently operate with a human “safety driver” onboard.

The Boring Company plans to eventually connect the entire tourist corridor — from the Allegiant stadium in the south to downtown Las Vegas in the north — via a 68-mile underground web of 104 Vegas Loop stations already approved by Clark County and the City of Las Vegas