Critics say LAX roadway plan won't ease congestion

Board approves final $1 billion for the project, scheduled to be finished just two months before the 2028 Olympics

- BY GAVIN J. QUINTON

ALLEN J. SCHABEN Los Angeles Times TRAVELERS use a crosswalk amid traffic navigating the "horseshoe" at Los Angeles International Airport.

The countdown to the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games has sent Los Angeles International Airport into a $1.5-billion sprint to rebuild its roads, drawing ire from critics who argue the plan leaves the airport's most infamous bottleneck the “horseshoe” — largely untouched.

Los Angeles World Airports Board of Airport Commissioners on Thursday approved the final $1-billion phase of spending for its new roadway improvement plan, which aims to streamline traffic flow at airport entrances and exits and reduce jams on public roads such as Sepulveda and Century boulevards. It's set to be complete just two months before the world arrives in 2028.

Opponents assert the effort will not relieve airport traffic, and could even make it worse.

LAWA officials, however, said it'll make getting to the airport safer and separate airport travelers from everyone else on the road more efficiently.

“The ATMP Roadway project is one of the most significant investments made to improve traffic in and around LAX,” Board President Karim Webb said in a statement.

Project designers promise smoother travel on the elevated segments to and from the U-shaped roadway around the terminal area commonly called the horseshoe. They said traffic in the loop itself will “roughly remain the same,” but expect entering and exiting will be far easier.

With the final funds allocated last week to Skanska-Flatiron Joint Venture, the project’s design-builder, the 4.4-mile reconfiguration aims to remove more than 500 cars from Sepulveda Boulevard at any given time, loading them into a new queue en route to the horseshoe. It also should make pedestrian crossing safer and reduce time spent at stoplights.