Oh man - pushed back from October? Sucks. I wonder if it'll happen pre-Olympics.

Kind of breaks the whole "modernization" thing if they can't get it running and remove a lot of motor vehicle trips through the U. And unfortunately they seem to find issues that stretch the schedule faster than they make progress against them.

Wow. Things seemed relatively on track and then just fell off the rails quickly. Is this still largely Metro's fault?

I have no insight into their project schedule but in looking at the station renderings it looks like Metro overloaded the station plan, took on more than they could chew, and planned poorly.
It has a huge maintenance yard, C/K line switches, bus plaza, passenger dropoff point, etc. I can't help but think this could've been planned better in phases with the objective to safely open a bare-bones station first then expand from there.

The mezzanine also looks excessively large, similar to the new stations built for the downtown connector. The basic LA Metro platform stations of yesterday are perfectly serviceable (downtown underground stations of course are more complex, but the new ones still look overbuilt.) There are so many other priorities Metro can spend money on that will get more people in the system than overbuilt stations. It's like Metro is now sharing the same station designer as NYCT's new Second Avenue Subway stations. I suppose their new pot of gold from Measures R/M encourage this excessive capital spending.

Metro maintenance yard and the switches are not part of this project. They were already built as part of the Crenshaw (C/K line) project.

The delay is multifaceted but all ultimately Metro's responsibility. The LAWA portion of the project is largely done or on time except for the station work that they purposely slow down to manage the cashflow in response to Metro delays. The ITC West, rental car center, and elevated guideways are all finished; and all the APM trains have been delivered and stored.

It's really too bad they can't operate without Metro. Many of us would use this and won't ever use the Metro portion.

The ITF West, Conrac, and guideways may all be (nearly) finished, but the APM trains have not even all been assembled, let alone delivered and stored. Alstom/Bombardier is years delayed in delivering train cars, as is their common practice.
The roadways around the Conrac are very far behind (why is Aviation Blvd only open to one-way traffic), but the blame for that seems to squarely be on the LA Bureau of Engineering, not the people mover builder, Conrac builder, or LAWA.

LAWA is to blame for some of the delays, however. The people mover cars should've started moving on portions of the guideway months ago, but haven't because of the delays from LAWA IT that I mentioned earlier in the thread.

At least 3 APM train cars had been assembled and already delivered as of 2022.
https://www.lawa.org/news-releases/2...ws-release-053

Given the mind-numbing incompetence at work on this project, I have my doubts that 1. it will be ready before 2026, and 2. it will have the intended effect.

How many people take the very same (identical as in LA stole the plans) setup at MIA to be picked up or dropped off at MIA airport? Aside from redirecting ride-share and shuttles to a central location and consolidating the rental cars, I don't believe there was a measurable effect on private vehicle traffic at MIA. Given the higher volume of passenger car traffic at LAX, I don't see it making a dent - in fact, the best way to improve traffic flow at LAX would be to get rid of the traffic lights in the loop, move pedestrians onto bridges or tunnels away from the traffic, and come up with a better way to feed cars onto the loop road, and into and away from the curbs in front of the terminals to avoid backing up cars who are moving through to distant terminals, perhaps even adding an automated tolling system that will track cars and fine/toll those who idle at the curb, or impede traffic flow.

If the rental car facility is ready, they could get a jump start by copying SEA and opening the consolidated rental facility, removing the rental car branded shuttles, and just run a consolidated facility shuttle between the terminals and the new rental car facility. That would at least streamline that part of the arrival and departure process.

I do wonder if LAX plans to change the loop roads after this opens. The way they changed that outer downstairs loop to only allow LAWA buses might be able to be re-worked once walking between terminals is easier, plus using the APM to move between terminals and to at least one parking lot.

But I'd love to get ride of those rental car shuttle buses. Beyond being insanely noisy, the drivers are super-aggressive and their size just blocks visibility. I'd wager that cutting those out alone makes a noticeable difference downstairs, anyway.

It will move only a small number of private cars out of the loop, but it will remove large numbers of bus trips. All the rental car and parking shuttles will be moved out of the loop, most of which are from private companies that use the main traffic lanes.

You can never "solve" traffic because the moment more road capacity is available, it will be immediately be filled. Taking the buses out of LAX just make it easier for Uber to drop off. etc. The only way to ensure free flowing traffic inside the loop all the time is congestion pricing.

But public transit option is essential because it is an option. You don't need to be dropped off at in the loop if you are smart and knows taking the APM from ITC is actually faster.

Great updates, thanks guys

more info

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/lax...d-agency-says/

1 hour from hertz dropoff to terminal today
 

The main road in/out of LAX is closed so the rental shuttles are taking smaller roads completely jammed up. I was worried about getting past the marathon route but that was a breeze.

Looks like a cluster today. There was some scheduled road closure overnight but it appears to have lingered. Lots of pictures on Twitter of people walking on the overpasses.

My sister traveled out of LAX early this morning and didn't mention anything so perhaps it's just multiplying as the day goes on.