GETTING THERE FROM HERE--As we descend into the holiday mode that begins with Thanksgiving and proceeds through New Year’s Day, it appears that we'll actually see a Metro rail line that accesses LAX. However, it's not what many of us thought it would be--yet it's much more in line with what transportation planners always anticipated: a north-south Metro Rail light rail line to the east of LAX, connected to the central airport terminals via an Automated People Mover.
As illustrated in Curbed LA, the People Mover trains will arrive every two minutes to take people back and forth from the Consolidated Rental Car Facility at its eastern terminus, to the LAX Intermodal Transit Facility, and arrive at the Central Airline Terminals at the western terminus along a "spine" configuration in the center of the LAX horseshoe to 3-4 stations, and back again.
The stations will connect to the actual terminals via moving walkways, including one that goes by the old Theme Restaurant in the iconic structure at the center of LAX (sorry, folks, that neat but expensive restaurant is now closed...but that's capitalism, for you.) The walkways will be fairly rapid, and will be wide enough for those needing to move fast to access the left portion of the walkways and walk/run past the slowpokes on the right.
The walkways will also be enclosed from the elements but with surrounding glass windows to create an open sensation to those using them...except without all the exhaust and noise that occurs for those pedestrians brave (and unlucky) enough to now walk from one airline terminal to another.
Having observed and heard from many who wanted a different configuration, or perhaps the Green/Crenshaw Lines (which will connect to each other along the north-south rail right-of-way east of LAX along Aviation Blvd.) to be dug underground to swerve underneath the airport...or perhaps a People Mover that was located above the road horseshoe that currently exists...there's no doubt many will be unhappy with this configuration.
But if it's any small consolation, every possibility was thoroughly and repeatedly evaluated and vetted over the past twenty-five years.
Going underground was an environmental and fiscal nightmare, and any swerving away from the straight-shot, north-south rail right-of-way was deemed unfair to Metro commuters not wishing to access the airport. Furthermore, the LAX horseshoe is a lot tighter than its counterpart in Dallas, where the distance between the terminals is much, much greater.
So for operational, environmental, security and (to be certain) fiscal reasons, the above "spine" configuration of a People Mover (which was just approved as part of the $5 billion LAX Landside Access Modernization Program) was chosen, with a new Metro connecting station at 96th/Aviation to interface between Metro Rail and the People Mover.
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Motorists, taxis, and buses will be able to access and/or drop off passengers (and, of course, to pick them up) anywhere from the Central Airline Terminals to the LAX Intermodal Transit Facility to the 96th/Aviation Metro Station to the Consolidated Rental Car Facility to any station that is part of the Metro Rail network. Presumably, this would allow a variety of adjacent and remote access points to and from LAX.
With this green-lighted and approved Automated People Mover, one can only hope that the multi-agency effort to make this connection a reality (requiring compromise and coordination from LA World Airports, Metro, the City of Los Angeles, and the Federal Aviation Administration) bodes well for the citizens of Los Angeles, who want better mobility...and perhaps a 2024 Olympics, to boot.
Speaking of which, the anticipated project completion date for the People Mover is 2023, with the adjacent Crenshaw/LAX and Green Lines to connect east of LAX a few years before that. And it's probably the 2024 Olympics that will be as much of a driving force as any to get this decades-overdue project done.
So while many will breathe a sigh of relief that SOMEDAY we'll see Metro connect to the airport, and many others will gnash their teeth over their complaints about this proposed plan, it does look like maybe...more like probably...LAX will catch up to the rest of the world and link ground and air transportation where it's most needed.
Happy Thanksgiving!
(Ken Alpern is a Westside Village Zone Director and Board member of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Planning and Outreach Committees, and currently is Co-Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee. He is co-chair of the CD11Transportation Advisory Committee and chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at [email protected]. He also does regular commentary on the Mark Isler Radio Show on AM 870, and co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line at www.fogl.us. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mr. Alpern.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 95
Pub: Nov 24, 2015
