LAX to Spend $4B on Renovations as Part of Effort to Ease Traffic Congestion
Jeff Edwards January 08, 2015
The $4 billion Landside Access Modernization Program will attempt to address traffic gridlock at the third-busiest airport in the U.S.
Occasional delays are a reality of air travel, but while other airports struggle to deal with runway congestion, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) has serious issues with automobile traffic to and from its terminals. In a statement announcing initial plans to remedy traffic issues at LAX, Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) Executive Director Gina Marie Lindsey admitted gridlock at the airport is giving the facility a bad reputation.
“For too long LAX has been known to travelers and guests as nine unrelated terminals connected by a traffic jam,” said Lindsey.
The first steps in making LAX terminals easier to access began last year with the $118 million Curbside Appeal Project, which largely addressed cosmetic and traffic pattern issues. Plans approved last month by the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners are considerably more ambitious and are not expected to break ground until 2017.
The $4 billion Landside Access Modernization Project calls for a new automated LAX Train that will connect passenger terminals to a consolidated rental car center, additional passenger pick-up and drop-off areas, and a station connecting the airport to a planned new Metro train line.
Environmental impact studies on the project are scheduled to begin this month, marking the first concrete action on this project that has been discussed for decades.
“This is an important commitment to Los Angeles,” Lindsey noted. “The Board’s decision today means local residents and visitors to LAX won’t have to wait a generation to benefit from these improvements. Improvements are happening now.”
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The current issue as I see it is that there is a light just before Terminal 1 with two feed points - from Century Blvd and then the side just by many of the rental car buses. More light time is given to the side entrance. Hence, Century Blvd then backs up. On Sunday Jan 4th it took 1.5 hours to get from the Renaissance Hotel to Term 4. With Term 1 being so close to the traffic light - there is a log jam at Term 1 entrance requiring cars to go to the left 2 lanes. Improving Term 1 drop point would be a big start. As it is now - you should allow 2 hours commute time from an close in airport hotel to LAX. At a point that you can walk quicker from an airport hotel to the terminal than take a hotel shuttle.
I knew LAX had lots of terminals (used to live there) but NINE terminals? Why not start by consolidating all those terminals somewhat so you have less choke points and give departing/arriving passengers more options to enter the building? I'm no traffic engineer but having some many spots where cars can stop and go cannot be good for traffic flow. Go to any airport in the world with a single terminal layout where there is usually one very long drop-off/pickup point so see the difference.
LAX could improve the situation now - by preventing private cars from entering LAX. Set up a shuttle bus location and make everyone take the bus. Also close the parking lots in the middle and create bus stops inside.
There's not going to ever be a new airport...so don't waste your time suggesting it. LAX is a great airport and I get in and out of T1 FASTER than ANY other major airport in America...and I don't have to walk for ages in the damn terminal. I get my home in West L.A. in 15 minutes or less...10 miles away. Learn the shortcuts in and out of LAX...
That's what Eminent Domain is for. Build it next to the current one. That whole area around LAX is blight anyway.