Starting next year, the combination of Metro's LAX Metro Transit Center and the new LAX automated people mover will offer a new way to reach the region's busiest airport without a private automobile. But for those who still choose to enter the airport's notorious horseshoe in their cars, more changes are coming.

A presentation to the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Commission from LAWA, Skanska, Flatiron, and HNTB showcases the roadway elements of the Airfield and Terminal Modernization Project, which would dramatically shift how vehicle traffic flows through the airport. LAWA plans to funnel travelers entering from and exiting to Sepulveda Boulevard into a spaghetti-like array of new flyovers, ramps, and roadways originating at and terminating at Sepulveda's intersection with 96th Street.

Aerial view looking northwestLAWA

"New roadway connections extend east from the Central Terminal Area (CTA) to Jetway Blvd., north to 96th Street and west to Sepulveda [Boulevard], where connections are made to north and southbound traffic," explains the presentation." Points of access and egress to the CTA will be reconfigured for a consolidated footprint over Sepulveda [Boulevard], while closures are planned for connections from Vicksburg Avenue, Sky Way, and Little Century. Similarly, off-campus roadway improvements will improve access to [the airport people mover's] Intermodal Facility (ITF) - West, where connections to ride-share, bus transit and [people mover] stations can be made."

Likewise, plans call for the construction of new elevated pedestrian walkways at Sepulveda's intersections with Century Boulevard and 96th Street, replacing existing at-grade crosswalks. The 96th Street overcrossing would be accompanied by the construction of a new multi-use path, connecting Sepulveda Boulevard to the new ITF West complex taking shape a few blocks to to the east near Airport Boulevard.

Relocated LAX monument signLAWA

In addition to 14 miles of new roadway and landscaping, the project also requires changes to several key design elements of the LAX complex. Most notably, construction would require the relocation of the existing LAX monument sign in the median between World Way and Century Boulevard, as well as the replacement of the airport's 100-foot-tall light pylons which are part of a public art installation by artist Paul Tzanetopoulos.

Within the central terminal area, the airport's legacy air traffic control tower - which now serves as offices - would be reskinned with LED-embedded panels to display messages.

Aerial view looking southeast from above SepulvedaLAWA

Retooling the airport's roadways is one component of a larger plan to expand passenger capacity at the airport by adding a new Concourse 0 to Terminal 1, and a new Terminal 9 on the east side of Sepulveda Boulevard. Shifting vehicular access to the central terminal area toward the east side of Sepulveda is required to accommodate the extension of Terminal 1, specifically. However, as passenger volumes have failed to rebound to pre-pandemic levels, those plans have been put on hold.

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