Elon Musk’s Boring Co. Vegas Loop dual tunnel line beneath Paradise Road is on schedule to open before this year’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.

The 2.2-mile portion from the Las Vegas Convention Center to just north of Tropicana Avenue should be operational before the Grand Prix weekend of Nov. 19-21, according to Steve Hill, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention Authority.

Known as the University Center Loop, the dual tunnels will eventually serve eight stations. One at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, one of the first to open, is less than a mile east of Grand Prix Plaza, which is linked to most of the race’s spectator zones.

“I think that’s a real possibility,” Hill said. “I think that’s probable. … It’s going to be great for folks attending the race.”

Boring Co. President Steve Davis said he expects the Paradise tunnels to be operating in time for race weekend, which draws a three-day total of 300,000 people to the area.

“Paradise tunnels should def be open by then,” Davis said in a text to the Road Warrior last week.

Other stations on the Paradise tunnel will be at Howard Hughes Center, which will serve Sphere, and one at a planned Boring Co. apartment complex across from Virgin Hotels on Paradise.

The tunnels going underneath Paradise will eventually link to a station at 4744 Paradise, where the Boring Co. processes the majority of the dirt and water encountered while digging the section. The site will allow passengers to take rides to and from Harry Reid International Airport with minimal surface road travel.

“You have almost 2.5 miles of tunnel, you get closer to the airport — and that’s going to be really important,” Hill said. “People are going to be able to start and see how this works in the destination and not just centered around our campus, which is really the way this system operates now. It’s very busy when there’s a show in the building, but not very busy when there’s not. Now that we’re getting closer to the airport and are starting to connect there, it’s really a new use for the system.”

Last year, the Nevada Transportation Authority allowed Boring Co. to start offering airport rides with a mix of tunnel and surface street travel, as long as the surface street portion was limited to 4 miles. The airport rides feature a dual-pricing structure with a set fare for a tunnel ride on top of a separate fee for the above-ground portion, with a fixed rate of $7 for up to 3 miles and $12 for over 3 miles.

Plans are also in motion to extend the Paradise line south of Tropicana to a planned station at 5032 Palo Verde Road, which would be just north of Reid Airport’s terminals and eliminate having to travel above ground and through the busy intersection of Paradise and Tropicana.

Plans detailing the design of the Palo Verde station were submitted to Clark County in December, and the project’s administrative design review was approved by the county in January. A Boring Co. lobbyist has met with the county multiple times between April and May, with one such meeting dealing with the airport, per county records.

The Paradise line is just the beginning of the plans to extend the Vegas Loop system outside of the convention center and the four resorts with active stations near the campus.

At full build-out, the Vegas Loop will feature 68 miles of tunnels and 104 stations at resorts on the Strip and in downtown Las Vegas, and serve other points of interest, including Chinatown and Allegiant Stadium.

The point-to-point system uses Tesla vehicles to transport passengers directly to their destination without having to stop at other stations along their route, as the Las Vegas Monorail does.

“We’re going to start seeing further expansion of the system over the next couple of years,” Hill said.

Some of the first extensions will link 4744 Paradise and Park MGM with a stop at MGM Grand along the way. Another will stretch from the convention center to the Strat. Boring Co. received the city building permit in January for that line, but a permit from Clark County is still needed before work on that portion begins.

Years down the road, the Vegas Loop will connect into the Las Vegas Monorail’s infrastructure. The monorail is expected to run until 2037, but once it becomes financially insufficient or new trains are needed for the line, then the tracks will be removed and precast, two-lane roads will be added to the monorail’s structure.

On Tuesday, Clark County is likely to approve an amended ordinance for tunneling operations, which will set a standard guideline of safety measures that must be featured in each Vegas Loop segment. Those include cameras and sensors throughout the system, fire suppression systems and a ventilation system able to push smoke away from passengers who would have to evacuate the tunnel in the event of a fire.

Hill said the approval should help speed Vegas Loop construction. “We’re excited about that,” he said.

The county and Boring Co. are also working on streamlining the permitting process for the Vegas Loop, which would help speed expansion of the project by removing the up-to-six-month wait time to receive building permits for each tunnel segment, Davis previously told the Review-Journal.

Davis did not have further updates on Boring Co. projects outside of the Paradise tunnels information when reached last week.

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X. Send questions and comments to roadwarrior@reviewjournal.com.