The Los Angeles International Airport just put the last beam atop its newest terminal entrance, just the latest landmark in the airport’s mammoth improvement plan aimed to wrap up before the Olympics return to town.
LAX on Friday, March 10 celebrated topping off the Tom Bradley International Terminal Core with a beam signing and ceremony honoring the workers who brought the project to fruition, Los Angeles World Airports announced in a Friday press release.
The new entryway is one of seven new cores that the airport is working on in its $490 million dollar Terminal Cores project, set to be complete in 2024. It’s part of the overall airport’s long-term $15 billion capital improvement project that’s projected to be done in 2030; much of it is aimed toward being ready by the 2028 Olympics.
“The topping out of LAX’s Tom Bradley International Terminal Core represents an important moment for one of the airport’s most ambitious and anticipated initiatives to date–creating a sustainable and interconnected network for getting to and from the airport that has the added benefit of alleviating congestion and passenger wait times,” LAWA CEO Justin Erbacci said in the release.
Once the entire Terminal Cores project is done, travelers will be able to use escalators and stairs to access all levels of terminal buildings and directly connect to the future Automated People Mover train system as well as the city’s greater public transportation network. The train system will start transporting folks late next year.
The three-level Tom Bradley Core will directly connect to the People Mover’s West Central Terminal Area station, departures, arrivals and office spaces.
Eventually, a recently restored, 10-foot-tall sculpture memorializing former LA Mayor Tom Bradley will greet folks at the Tom Bradley Terminal.
The Los Angeles International Airport’s long-term modernization is more than halfway finished, airport officials said in an update this week, with some projects completed in the past few years and others under construction and upcoming.
The second and final phase of the airport’s total modernization is underway, Erbacci has said in a January update, and the entire revamp is 70% complete.
Since the project started in 2017, LAX has also added a public parking structure, a $216 million airport police facility, redesigned Terminal 3, built Terminal 1.5 between Terminals 1 and 2, and created Terminal 4.5 and 5.5 entranceways that include escalators and elevators, and will connect to the upcoming automated train, among other improvements.