Vegas Loop Will Repurpose Monorail Pylons for Elevated Tesla Roadways

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is moving toward integrating the aging Las Vegas Monorail into Elon Musk's Vegas Loop, replacing the elevated rail system with a roadway for Tesla vehicles rather than dismantling it outright.

"It will incorporate the monorail," Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority CEO Steve Hill said in a speech to the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association. "We'll take the track off, put a pre-cast two-lane road on top, incorporate it into the Boring Company system, and use the existing monorail stations."

The LVCVA purchased the monorail out of bankruptcy in December 2020 for $24.3 million. A key motivation was the monorail's noncompete clause, which prohibited any other company from building an off-street transportation system along the Strip — a potential conflict with the LVCVA's 2019 contract with the Boring Company to build the Vegas Loop. Acquiring the monorail eliminated that restriction.

The 3.9-mile system opened in 2004 and connects several large casinos adjacent to the Las Vegas Strip, running from the MGM Grand to the Sahara. The monorail employs nine Innovia 200 trams, each with four cars, whose track was custom-designed to fit trams manufactured solely by Bombardier, which no longer makes them. Bombardier sold its rail business to French competitor Alstom in 2021. Alstom only manufactures the newer Innovia 300 model, whose 27.2-inch beam width renders it incompatible with the older 26-inch model.

Rather than dismantling the elevated guideway, Hill intends to reuse the monorail's right-of-way and support pylons as part of the Vegas Loop, eliminating the need for the Boring Company to dig a separate four-mile tunnel. Once the LVCVA sunsets the monorail, the plan calls for converting the rail into a two-lane track for Vegas Loop vehicles while keeping the existing stations.

In 2020, the LVCVA said the monorail would be closed and dismantled as early as 2028, but by 2030 at the latest. The organization later extended that timeline to 2033–2035. In May 2025, Hill announced $12 million in new funding to keep the system operational through 2035.