The more I learn about the Vegas Loop, the more I think the tunnels are actually the least interesting part of it. The Boring Company has already built 14 stations, 12 emergency egresses, six cross-passages and nine knockout shafts around the system. By the end of the year, they expect 28 stations. And some of the engineering happens in remarkably small increments. Connecting two existing tunnels takes about ten days. Stabilize the earth, cut through one tunnel wall, excavate roughly ten feet a day toward the other, then waterproof and reinforce the new passage into both structures. It made me realize that building an underground transportation network isn’t really one giant tunneling problem. It’s hundreds of small civil-engineering problems that eventually become a city beneath the city. Writer: Oliver