‘A key location’: Vegas Loop stations may be coming near Sphere

The Boring Co. is looking at a pair of sites for Vegas Loop stations that could serve patrons going to and from Sphere, while work to prolong the use of the Las Vegas Monorail is getting underway.

Extending the monorail’s life until at least 2035 will keep a viable transportation system in place until the Vegas Loop is fully built out to its planned 104 stations and 68 miles of tunnels. There is not a firm date to when full build-out will be reached.

In January, Boring Co., under a subsidiary called Object Dash, purchased a 1.29-acre plot at 3824 Paradise Road for $8.75 million. The space was once home to Firefly Tapas Kitchen & Bar.

Separately, there is a land deal in the works for a 2.57-acre lot on Paradise just south of the Firefly parcel in the Howard Hughes Center, where brewery and restaurant Gordon Biersch once stood, according to Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority President and CEO Steve Hill.

The two stations would be served by the University Center loop, which is already under construction. That portion of the tunnel system began on land between Paradise Road and University Center Drive, just north of Tropicana Avenue near the Thomas & Mack Center.

“There will be a station there (former Gordon Biersch site),” Hill said. “Once they (Boring Co.) get that deal closed, I think they’ll move operations there, which I think will make it a little quicker moving up the rest of Paradise. We think it will be a key location. It will service the Hughes Center, and it’s about four tenths of mile from that location to the Sphere.”

Hill said a planned station at the former Firefly site would also serve the Sphere, but the former Gordon Biersch site would be the main station to service the attraction because it is on the west side of Paradise, and the Howard Hughes Center borders the arena site.

The University Center loop will feature stations at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, at a parcel just north of the resort, with the tunnels set to run to the Las Vegas Convention Center. The Virgin stop would also serve fans going to nearby Grand Prix Plaza during Las Vegas Grand Prix weekends.

The station near the Thomas & Mack and the two near Sphere would allow for the Tesla vehicles, which operate mainly underground inside the Vegas Loop, to travel on public roads to take passengers to key locations that lack loop stations, such as Harry Reid International Airport and Sphere.

“Just like we plan to pop out of the station at Tropicana (Avenue) and Paradise and drive over the airport, they’ll be able to pop up out of the station at Gordon Biersch and be able to drive close to the Sphere,” Hill said. “That option will exist as well.”

Las Vegas Monorail upgrade

With the Vegas Loop only operating between multiple expo halls at the Las Vegas Convention Center and Westgate, Resorts World and Encore, years of work remains until the full build out of the system is reached.

As that takes place, the Las Vegas Monorail will be upgraded in multiple areas to prolong the use of the people mover well into the 2030s.

The first step toward extending the life of the 3.9-mile Las Vegas Monorail was approved last week.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority board of directors approved a $1.9 million contract to update fare gates, hardware and software to allow for the implementation of a cashless, ticketless system.

That work includes adding 67 new fare gate pedestals for electronic and ticketed entry, equipment for point-of-sale hardware at seven customer service locations along the system and replacing equipment and hardware on 29 existing fare boxes to update the technology used, to allow for payments to be made via a QR code.

The planned upgrade is part of a multi-step process to enhance the monorail to allow for the system to operate until at least 2035.

Upgrading the monorail’s control system is also in the cards, which will be the most expensive aspect of the project, with an estimated cost of between $6 million and $8 million. The contract for that work will be up for approval at a future LVCVA board meeting.

Plans call for the LVCVA to spend $12 million on the upgrade of the 20-year-old system.

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