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STAKEHOLDER VIEW - Myths are often made to foster false beliefs and obscure facts. Fabricated myths are sometimes inaccurately reported by the media, contributing to the concealment of factual information. Such is the case with Metro’s Rail line direct connection with the Los Angeles International Airport. (LAX)
The Los Angeles Times last October called it “The city’s transit riddle for decades.” In truth, it is no riddle at all.
With the advent of the hard-fought Los Angeles mass transit system to connect the sprawling region, an obvious destination was LAX with thousands of employees and millions of passengers coming in and going out. Years rolled by and rail had still not made it to the airport. This elusive link between Metro Rail and LAX created many misconceptions causing embarrassment to the city while disparaging the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission (LACTC)
Since the early 1990s, allegations were numerous, some claiming that a turf war existed between the transportation commission’s chief executive officer, Neil Peterson, and the Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) chief, Cliff Moore. Moore, it was claimed, did not want to lose parking fees income. The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) was also blamed over its concern with signal interference from the trains. I was told by a senior LACTC board member that the funding for the train connection was pulled and given to the Red Line. These assertions were frequent, and they circulated widely by uninformed media.
In fact, the design for the Green Line(C) connector was completed and approved by the FAA and the Airport. Contracts were awarded and construction work began on the guideway foundations along the west side of Aviation Boulevard heading north to the airport according to Ed Mcspedon, former chief engineer for Metro, who at that time was the LACTC project manager.
Ed. McSpedon, told me that “priced options” were included for the signal and power systems on the LAX connector within the main Green Line contracts and the project was well on its way. In fact, several concrete columns were under construction along the west side of Aviation. Then the airport’s point of contact, LAWA chief engineer Bob Millard, related to McSpedon that Moore was furious over the starting of construction, and he called Mayor Tom Bradley demanding that work be stopped.
Behind the call to stop construction was not the connection itself, which was on track, but the planning for the future expansion of the airport, which was behind schedule, and LAWA was not ready to commit to having a people mover connection in Lot C on 96th Street. Obvious to McSpedon was that Moore was caught by surprise by the pace of LACTC’s construction. (The airport is presently undergoing a $30-billion overhaul.)
To further complicate progress, the FAA was convinced by someone yet unknown that it must reconsider its prior approvals. New expressions of concern were voiced over the possible distraction of pilots by elevated trains crossing the approach path to the airport. (an issue that could have been resolved with trains going below grade, in a trench near the airport)
McSpedon told me that in order to be successful, the rail connection to the airport needed to have the support of both LAWA and the mayor’s office. When Peterson asked his opinion, McSpedon said construction should await a new plan supported by airport officials.
The bottom line is that LACTC had every intention of building a rail connection to the airport in the early 1990s, but it was stopped by the airport because its expansion plans were not far enough along to determine how and where the rail connection should be.
Now, more than three decades later, the long awaited LAX/Metro Rail transit station is about to open at a cost of $900 million, at Aviation Boulevard and 96th Street in Westchester. Costs, safety and ridership projections determined that an elevated people mover system would best convey airport travelers to and from the new Metro Rail station without tunneling underground. Next year the new $3.34 billion Automated People Mover (APM), which is being constructed by LAWA, will begin operations, providing the final link to the Central Terminal Area and other LAX facilities for Los Angeles Metro Rail passengers and a convenient connection to the regional rail system for arriving passengers at LAX. It will connect directly to the C and K Metro lines at the LAX/Metro transit station.
Unraveling the myth surrounding the LAX/Metro connection sets the record straight and proves that LACTC was moving forward only to suspend construction at the behest of the airport authorities who were not prepared.
“Time brings all things to pass,” wrote Aeschylus. It is time, indeed, to correct the LAX/Metro myths and misconceptions.
Nick Patsaouras is former board member of LACTC and Metro. Parts of this comment are drawn from his book "The Making of Modern Los Angeles"
