The $5.5 billion Landside Access Modernization Program (LAMP) made major gains in 2021 as the first major component – the LAX Economy Parking facility – completed construction and made its debut in October. Meanwhile, heavy construction continued on the 2.25-mile Automated People Mover (APM) train system and the approximately 6.3-million-square-foot Consolidated Rent-A-Car (ConRAC) facility.

 

The APM guideway is now approximately 87% complete as the only remaining sections where concrete remains to be poured are along 96th Street between the Maintenance and Storage Facility and Bellanca Avenue, over Sepulveda Boulevard and above Parking Structure 2B. The ConRAC facility has less than a half percent of 242,000 cubic yards of structural concrete remaining to be poured with 3.5 million work hours have been completed on the project thus far.

 

Click the links below to watch time-lapse videos of the progress for both projects in 2021:

 

As a whole, the APM system is now approximately 67% complete, while the ConRAC facility is 77% complete.

 

Below are several photos from two points in time – January 2021 and December 2021 – showing just how much the LAX landscape has changed over the last year. 

East CTA station.

Center CTA station.

West CTA station.

Economy Parking facility and guideway at 96th Street.

Guideway along 96th Street near Maintenance & Storage Facility.

ConRAC Facility.

Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti leads the ribbon-cutting celebration for the LAX Economy Parking facility on Oct. 15.

A free shuttle (left) transports guests to and from the new Economy Parking facility and the Central Terminal Area. During the first year of operation, 500 electric vehicle chargers will be in phased into operation (right).

The first component of LAX's massive transformation made its public debut in October as a ribbon-cutting, led by Mayor Eric Garcetti, was held Oct. 15 to celebrate the opening of the Economy Parking facility. The approximately 4,300 stall, state-of-the-art smart parking facility officially opened to the public on Oct. 19, just in time for the busy holiday travel season. Guests can reserve parking ahead of time for discounted rates at parking.flylax.com. In the future, the facility will connect to an APM station via two pedestrian bridges once the train system is online.

 

While the facility is now open for public parking, construction of a Security & Badging Office (SBO) for the more than 50,000 badged Los Angeles World Airports employees continues on the southwest side of the building on the ground floor. The SBO will complete construction in 2022. 

Segmental construction to connect the APM guideway over Parking Structure 2B got underway in November.

Inside the Central Terminal Area (CTA), construction achievements included:

• At the West CTA station, crews continued work on the concrete decking for the four-story parking garage located adjacent to the station in between Parking Structures 3 and 4. Work continued on the columns for the pedestrian walkways that will connect to Terminals 3 and 4.
• Installation of structural steel supporting the station canopy was completed at the Center CTA station. Construction on the pedestrian bridge at Terminal 2, which will connect to the future Center CTA station, will continue in the coming months with the installation of glass panels that will adorn the sides of the bridge. 
• Installation of structural steel for the station canopy continued at the East CTA station.
• Segmental travelers were installed on the guideway over Parking Structure 2B. The traveling form system allows the team to safely construct the guideway over the garage without additional support structures.

The Century Boulevard segment is now connected over the roadway.

The station that will service the Economy Parking facility topped off in steel in November (left), and progress continued on the APM Maintenance and Storage Facility (right).

Outside the CTA, segmental construction wrapped up over Century Boulevard and structural steel installation was also completed at the station that will connect to the new Economy Parking facility in the future. Recent milestones include:

• The guideway superstructure now completely spans Century Boulevard. To accomplish this, crews incrementally built the guideway from both the north and the south of the roadway using an innovative cast-in-place segmental construction technique, meeting in the middle with the final closure pour on December 16.
• Concrete pouring operations on the guideway segment along 96th Street between the Maintenance and Storage Facility and Bellanca Avenue are underway. The aerial work includes plinth construction, which is what the train rides on atop the guideway, on completed sections of the guideway.
• The final piece of structural steel was placed at the station that will service LAX Economy Parking on Nov. 5. Since that time, construction has continued at the station with the installation of escalators and non-structural steel. 
• At the APM Maintenance & Storage Facility, switchgear has been installed, and concrete pads have been poured. Work also continues with the installation of solar panels and electric power rails. When complete, the facility will serve as the hub of operations and maintenance of the APM trains and system.

Using the cast-in-place segmental technique, guideway construction will begin over Sepulveda Boulevard and will continue on the guideway segment spanning Parking Structure 2B. Crews will continue working on installing reinforcing steel bars for the guideway along 96^th Street and pouring concrete for these spans. Collectively, once completed, these segments will connect the 2.25-mile guideway from the future West CTA station to the ConRAC facility.

 

Installation of the pedestrian bridge structure that will connect Terminal 3 to the West CTA station will get underway in January, while work to complete the bridge structures at Terminal 4.5 and Terminal 2 will continue. 

 

Between guideway segments, construction at each of the stations will continue to progress, as construction is officially underway at all six stations. At the East CTA station, canopy steel is anticipated to be topped out in the first few weeks of the new year. In addition, plinth work on the guideway near the future Economy Parking station will approach completion in early 2022.

 

In the coming months, the APM team will continue to prepare the Maintenance and Storage Facility to receive the first train cars and the maintenance vehicle that will help service them.

Connecting ramps between the Ready Return/Idle Storage and Quick Turn Around buildings, along with speed ramps, were constructed during the last quarter of 2021.

Construction of the Customer Service area on the roof of the Ready Return/Idle Storage building (left) and speed ramps continued (right).

As even more progress is visible at the construction site for the future ConRAC, some fall highlights of note include:

• Civil and road work continued on Arbor Vitae Street, La Cienega Boulevard and the future extension of Concourse Way.
• Concrete pours for the north and south speed ramps, along with exterior stair structure installation on the Ready Return/Idle Storage building, continued.
• Construction of the Customer Service buildings and installation of solar panels on the top level of the Ready Return building continued.
• Façade coverings were installed on the Ready Return/Idle Storage buildings.
• Construction of ramps connecting the Ready Return/Idle Storage building to the Quick Turn Around building took place.
• Elevators and escalators installations, along with further interior fit-out of the Ready Ready/Idle Storage and Quick Turn Around buildings, continued.
• The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power substation received permanent power, along with substations within the Quick Turn Around building.

Road work, including the construction of Concourse Way,

will continue in 2022.

In the first quarter of 2022, construction work will continue to make strides for the ConRAC facility. Key elements include:

• Civil and road work will continue on Arbor Vitae Street, La Cienega Boulevard, and the future extension of Concourse Way, along with civil improvements of interior roadways and sidewalks.
• ConstructIon for the north and south speed ramps and exterior stairs on the Ready Return/Idle Storage building are expected to be completed.
• Construction will continue for the Customer Service buildings on the top level of the Ready Return building
• Installation of the exterior façade coverings on the Ready Return/Idle Storage buildings will complete.
• Construction of the ramps connecting the Ready Return/Idle Storage building to the Quick Turn Around building will complete.
• Further interior fit-out of the Ready Ready/Idle Storage and Quick Turn Around buildings, including the installation of elevators and escalators, will continue.

Luis Esparza Jr. (left) and Anthony Ruano (right).

APM Project

Luis Esparza Jr., a cement mason journeyman (Local 600), has worked on the APM project for over two years. Luis, whose father is a foreman on the APM project and whose grandfather worked as a non-union concrete finisher, decided to enter the construction trades after initially working as a graphic designer. He was inspired to follow the family footsteps after realizing that office work didn’t suit him and that he craved more variety and a better earning potential. Now, after 12 years in the industry, Luis has worked on a variety of interesting projects, including underground rail, a power plant, highway work and residential development. He notes that construction is a challenging job but it can make for a very rewarding career. A native of Southern California, Luis has resided in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Palms for five years now. Luis is currently saving up to buy a home and said that his decision to enter the trades has made it possible.

ConRAC Project

Anthony Ruano is a Carpenter 2nd Period Apprentice working for PCL Construction Services, Inc. on the LAX ConRAC facility construction project. Anthony shared that he went from gang life to a career in construction. Having been in and out of prison for a decade, Anthony turned his life around after going to drug rehabilitation and connecting with people who helped him kick-start his new journey in construction. Anthony knows that, along with his own hard work, he would be in a very different place than he is currently without the help of others. He is grateful to his family, friends, Homeboy Industries, Goodwill Industries, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) 2nd Call program, the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters Training Fund My Brother’s Keeper program, and PCL, for helping improve his circumstances for not only himself but also for Anthony’s wife and children and their future together as a family.

APM Project

In their continuing efforts to promote local economic development, the LINXS Constructors APM inclusivity team supported several in-person and virtual outreach events.

 

LINXS Constructors continued to support certified firm outreach events this quarter, including a virtual training workshop focused on Small Business Financing and Technical Assistance. LINXS Constructors also sponsored the annual SoCal Business Development Conference. Hosted by the Regional Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the virtual event involved four presentations from local agencies and contractors, as well as matchmaking appointments for potential work opportunities. LINXS Constructors’ Certified Firm team also participated in the LAX Coastal Chamber of Commerce’s Quarterly Small Business Enterprise Certification Program. The program was composed of seven small, local businesses that were mentored by fellow Chamber sponsors.

 

As of December 2021, the LINXS Inclusivity Team has participated in more than 575 community events and given more than 265 scholarships totaling nearly $300,000. Recent outreach initiatives included: LINXS Fourth Annual Virtual Youth Engagement Summit, South High School Spartan Symposium, National College Resource Foundation's (NCRF) virtual Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts + Agriculture + Aviation + Aerospace, and Mathematics (S.T.E.A.M.) Expo, LA Promise Fund Girls Build Summit, EXP and Compton Unified School District LINXS Externship Program and the GLAAACC 27^th Annual “Economic Awards Dinner.”

 

The Inclusivity team also supported craft worker development by partnering with the Big John Kares/Fagon’s House Turkey Give Away, HACLA Imperial Courts Housing Project/Work Source Center, HireLAX, My Brother’s Keeper, Second Call Turkey Give Away, South Bay Workforce Investment Board 1 Stop Inglewood Program and LINXS Training Institute of LA.

  

LINXS Constructors kicked off Cohort 4 of the Mentor Protégé Program in September 2021. The six-month program provides one-on-one training to firms certified as small, local and/or disadvantaged business enterprises as a part of the LINXS Training Institute of LA. Both protégé firms – American Safety Group and Cougars Construction – met with the LINXS Inclusivity team to establish goals and work alongside the LINXS Certified Firm Technical Advisor (CFTA.) Subcontractors interested in participating in next year’s cohort can email opportunities@linxscjv.com.

ConRAC Project

LAX ConRAC Partners (LAXCP), builder of the ConRAC facility, continues to help small businesses grow and succeed. One such business is PG Cutting Services, a family-owned certified Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) concrete cutting business serving the Southern California community. The PG Cutting Services team takes pride in tackling a wide range of jobs and is known for their work in residential construction, as well as more complex projects like building stadiums, freeways, airports and commercial structures.

 

In early 2019, PG Cutting Services attended an LAXCP meeting for subcontractors at LA Southwest College to learn about upcoming opportunities for the project and met a Morley Builders representative. This networking opportunity positioned PG Cutting Services for opportunities with Morley Builders on the ConRAC project as well as work on several other nearby projects including the United Airlines hangar.

 

In the summer of 2019, PG Cutting services was selected to participate in the inaugural class of the LAWA BuildLAX Academy, a small contractor development program established by LAWA’s own Business, Jobs, and Social Responsibility Division.

 

After showing promise, gaining valuable knowledge, building relationships and proving its capabilities, PG Cutting Services is poised to become an even more successful business in the future.