Construction permits issued for Hyperloop One at Apex Industrial Park

Construction continues at the Hyperloop One test site in and near North Las Vegas.

Earlier this month, the city and Clark County issued construction permits for electrical work at the Los Angeles-based transportation technology company’s site at Apex Industrial Park.

The city permit details about $390,000 worth of work to build a medium-voltage structure to control the hyperloop’s speed.

The county’s permit shows $350,000 worth of work for the technology’s motor.

A representative for the Los Angeles-based company declined to comment on the permit or to say whether Hyperloop One is still following the schedule submitted to the county in April 2016.

According to that original schedule Hyperloop One gave Clark County, it should be on or near completion of its third phase of construction.

The first phase of construction for 3,300 feet of tube was expected to finish in September. A second phase for 2 miles of tube was expected to finish in December. The company did not tell the county when it expected to finish an addition 2.6 miles of tube in the project’s third phase.

In January, the company’s senior vice president of global field operations told the Review-Journal its full test is expected around April 2017.

The vice president, Nick Earle, said that the test will cover less than a mile and the company wants its hyperloop operational for freight use by 2020.

Also in January, the county issued a construction permit to Hyperloop One to continue with $1.5 million worth of work with the steel tubes that will make up the track for its experimental mode of fast travel.

According to the planning documents Hyperloop One previously filed with the county, these steel tubes have an 11-foot diameter and are placed about 9 feet above a base within Apex Industrial Park on reinforced concrete columns spaced between 50 and 150 feet apart.

Last month, the company also received construction permits for work on two tents, each permit detailing the value of working on each tent at $400,000.

One tent is 2,800 square feet. The other is 2,000 square feet. In a letter to the county dated Nov. 15, Hyperloop One CEO Rob Lloyd said that the larger tent is for vehicle staging and the smaller tent is for a vacuum system.

The structures are meant to last three years at most, Lloyd said. Around the time of Lloyd’s letter, the company received a county permit to conduct underground grading work for the tube structure. The work was worth $60,000, according to county records.

CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER LEAVES

When Hyperloop One conducts its test of its technology for the public, a notable face will not be present.

Brogan BamBrogan split from Hyperloop One as its chief technology officer in November.

BamBrogan appeared with Lloyd and Hyperloop One Executive Chairman Shervin Pishevar at a public test for the company’s propulsion system in May.

Multiple reports said Hyperloop One, BamBrogan and some of his colleagues settled a lawsuit that partly concerned his treatment at the company.

Earlier this year, BamBrogan formed Arrivo, another company focused on hyperloop travel.

Arrivo did not return a request for comment about whether it is interested in working in Nevada. No job listings on the Los Angeles-based company’s website are for the Silver State.

BamBrogan had worked at private rocket company SpaceX with technology innovator Elon Musk. The hyperloop concept was described in a 2013 white paper by Musk, also known as the face of commercial spaceflight company SpaceX and carmaker Tesla. Should the hyperloop concept prove successful, it could send Las Vegas passengers to Los Angeles in 26 minutes, according to a 2016 report from NASA.

At the public test, the company announced additional hiring for the North Las Vegas project. On Hyperloop One’s website are job listings for tool makers, welders and a temporary position for someone to monitor the health of people enclosed in tight spaces. Responsibilities include calling emergency services in case those enclosed people are exposed to toxic fumes and combustible gas.

Contact Wade Tyler Millward at wmillward@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4602. Follow @wademillward on Twitter.