



Los Angeles World Airports, which operates LAX, is pouring $118 million into alleviating LAX traffic by adding traffic signals, LED street lights, a departures-level road retrofit, and a new lane of traffic, but its executive director Gina Marie Lindsey is still talking about a rail connection to the airport like it's a waste of money. At Monday's Board of Airport Commissioners meeting, Lindsey said airlines don't care about building a people mover at the airport or a proposed intermodal transportation facility—two projects favored by Mayor Garcetti—because they don't benefit the carriers. ("I think the facilities that are most important are the airline used facilities" and "There is no way to make money off of an [automated people mover]. It's essentially a sunk cost that you have to find other mechanisms to pay for.") If a rail project is built (which seems likely), Lindsey said she'll favor the cheapest option: "You could spend $300 million on an ITF … or you could spend a billion dollars," she said, according to LA Airspace. "We need to collectively keep ourselves honest that we don't overbuild. We have one airport [Ontario] where that happened already." Comparing the nation's third-busiest airport to little Ontario is insane, as is ignoring the passenger and employee experiences at LAX. Airport Commissioner Jackie Goldberg pretty much said as much: "It takes 40 minutes at 1030 at night to get out of the airport. This discourages people from coming to LAX. It just does."

· L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti wants better LAX ground transportation. But do airlines? [LA Airspace]