Critics say LAX plan could make traffic worse

THE PLAN aims to streamline traffic flow at entrances and exits and reduce jams on roads such as Sepulveda and Century boulevards.

- 

THE PLAN aims to streamline traffic flow at entrances and exits and reduce jams on roads such as Sepulveda and Century boulevards.

(MYUNG J. CHUN Los Angeles Times)

ise 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.

Airport officials said the new system will reroute drivers around airport hotels instead of funneling them onto the skyway ramp. Currently, traffic from Lincoln and Sepulveda boulevards squeezes eight lanes of cars into a single ramp, creating a persistent choke point. To ease that pressure, the agency has carved into its right-of-way to create two new offramps for airport access and three “through lanes” that will allow uninterrupted travel toward Imperial Highway and the 105 Freeway.

Jacob Wasserman, who manages research at the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies, warns the traffic nirvana won't last.