Boring Company risks being at the center of a scandal in Las Vegas
Boring Company, a startup owned by Elon Musk, is expanding its network of tunnels under Las Vegas. However, recent events have brought attention to safety issues and regulatory violations in the construction process.
In 2021, the Boring Company unveiled a design for a 1.7-mile (about 2.7-kilometer) tunnel designed to transport passengers under the Las Vegas Convention Center using Tesla vehicles. The company is currently expanding this tunnel system to create the Vegas Loop, which would connect various key locations such as LVCC, the airport, downtown Las Vegas and others with approximately 68 miles (109 kilometers) of tunnels. The project was approved by the county and city.
However, Fortune, thanks in part to Freedom of Information Act requests, has obtained documents revealing that Boring Company employees inadvertently excavated too close to supports for the 6-mile Las Vegas monorail system. .9 miles (11 kilometers).
Clark County officials reported three violations related to two incidents last June and October in which monorail support bases were exposed.
Following the June 15 incident, the county ordered the monorail system to be temporarily suspended. An engineering firm was brought in to assess the risks, and the next day the construction company filled the area at the base of the column with a cement mixture. The monorail resumed operation on the evening of June 16.
A spokesman for the Las Vegas Convention and Convention Department acknowledged the incidents, noting that in the June incident, the Boring Company «repaired a broken irrigation line and inadvertently exposed the monorail foundation, so we took steps to repair, including suspension of traffic for a day».
Regarding the October incident, a spokesman said suspicions of an accident were «unfounded», and the monorail was not closed.
«We endangered everyone who was on that monorail at the time»,— a former Boring Company employee who worked near the site of the June incident told Fortune magazine.
These incidents are not the first to raise concerns about the safety of Boring Company operations. In February, Fortune published an investigation in which former employees said they felt unsafe.
Also in February, Bloomberg reported on safety violations at the Boring Company, where employees suffered chemical burns and accidents.
Some employees were left with scars after working in muddy chemicals, according to Bloomberg, citing an OSHA investigation.