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Officials Break Ground On $5.5 Billion People Mover At LAX
cbs2la ^ | March 14, 2019 at 11:28 am

Posted on 03/14/2019 11:51:28 AM PDT by BenLurkin

The trains will stop at three stations inside the terminal loop and three outside that includes a Metro station, stitching public transit with air travel. Officials are hoping the new transportation system will reduce congestion in and around the airport, which was recently named the fourth busiest in the world.

The project will cost $5.5 billion and will be paid for with both private and public funds. It’s also expected to bring 2,000 jobs to the area.

The people mover is scheduled to be completed in 2023.

(Excerpt) Read more at losangeles.cbslocal.com ...


TOPICS: US: California
KEYWORDS: boondoggle; lax; peoplemover
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1 posted on 03/14/2019 11:51:28 AM PDT by BenLurkin
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$5.5 billion


2 posted on 03/14/2019 11:52:29 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin

probably a good idea but
$5.5 BILLION!????????????

its Screw the Damned Taxpayers Time, again!


3 posted on 03/14/2019 11:56:06 AM PDT by faithhopecharity ( “Politicians are not born; they are excreted.” Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 to 43 BCE))
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To: BenLurkin

Wall money right there. Besides, won’t lax be under water in 12 years or something?


4 posted on 03/14/2019 11:58:03 AM PDT by rktman ( #My2ndAmend! ----- Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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To: BenLurkin

We need one of those at the border. We’re simply not being invaded quick enough.


5 posted on 03/14/2019 12:00:39 PM PDT by bgill (CDC site, "We don't know how people are infected with Ebola.)
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To: rktman
...won’t lax be under water in 12 years or something?

Nope. Global cooling is on the way, which means their beaches are going to grow.

6 posted on 03/14/2019 12:04:11 PM PDT by Windflier (Pitchforks and torches ripen on the vine. Left too long, they become black rifles.)
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To: rktman
"...won’t lax be under water in 12 years..."

No, no, no, it's gonna break off in the next big quake.

7 posted on 03/14/2019 12:06:41 PM PDT by budj (combat vet, 2nd of 3 generations)
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To: BenLurkin
$5.5 billion? Wow. With that kind of money they could build a canal system. Wait. That would be so cool. I think they should build a canal system.


8 posted on 03/14/2019 12:07:33 PM PDT by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.)
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To: BenLurkin

Does it connect to Disneyland?


9 posted on 03/14/2019 12:09:20 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: bgill

Actually it could be a very good ide, absent graft (ROTFLMAO!). The Brits have something like it in London that works very well with Gatwick and Heathrow. For Gatwick you get on a nonstop train at Victoria Station and go directly to the airport. Then you go directly to security and thence, via people mover, to your terminal. It could be made really good by putting security at the three outlying stations and restricting certain cars to screened passengers only.


10 posted on 03/14/2019 12:13:37 PM PDT by libstripper
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To: BenLurkin

But AOC said we can’t have airports and planes and stuff anymore or we’ll all die.


11 posted on 03/14/2019 12:15:42 PM PDT by Bullish (My tagline ran off with another man.)
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To: BenLurkin

There’s one of these boondoggles in Morgantown WV.

From wiki:
“Developed from the Alden staRRcar and built by a consortium led by Boeing Vertol, the driverless system was a government-funded experiment in PRT systems. Upon its opening in 1975 with three stations, it had a fitful start, being three years behind schedule and costing 3–4 times more than estimated.”

Read more at

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgantown_Personal_Rapid_Transit


12 posted on 03/14/2019 12:26:48 PM PDT by Roccus (When you talk to a politician...ANY politician...always say, "Remember Ceausescu")
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To: faithhopecharity

This is nutso. LAX is a relatively small airport compared to the major hubs in the USA like ATL, JFK - even MSP is much bigger. The terminal area is in the shape of a U with 8 “gates” plus an international terminal between gates 3 and 4. One thing they really needed to do is run a tram around the secure side of the airport so people could do transfers without having to clear security. But that would be maybe 2 miles of track at most and there is plenty of room to add that on the secure side of the airport.

Sounds like they want a tram to bring people into the airport from the neighboring areas to alleviate the need for cars. There is currently a road that runs right through the center of the U. They do have some parking structures but they could build under or at the ground level. Wouldn’t be too much to run some track that way straight down Century Blvd.

But in a state where it costs $10 billion to NOT run a train from LA to SF, I suppose $5.5 billion for one that runs a few miles in and around the airport is a bargain.

I’m curious to know how much MSP paid to build their tram system.


13 posted on 03/14/2019 12:32:37 PM PDT by monkeyshine
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To: BenLurkin

The same amount requested for a wall with Mexico?


14 posted on 03/14/2019 12:35:16 PM PDT by The Toll
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To: monkeyshine

the price is ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGEOUS!

it is probably 0.5 Billion actual cost (at most) and
4.0 Billion in robbery, graft, corruption, kickbacks


15 posted on 03/14/2019 12:36:27 PM PDT by faithhopecharity ( “Politicians are not born; they are excreted.” Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 to 43 BCE))
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To: BenLurkin
Disagree, it's no boondoggle if it gets used. The airport is so congested with vehicle traffic that it can take a half-hour or more to get to your airline once you leave the freeway. Look at the traffic at 0:22 seconds on the video on the link.

I've flown Southwest from there multiple time last year. When my scheduled allowed it, I've flown into either John Wayne or Burbank to avoid LAX.

It looks like it will operate like the Phoenix Sky Harbor people mover. A six-minute YouTube video shows that installation:

Sky Harbor's People Mover

16 posted on 03/14/2019 12:42:20 PM PDT by CedarDave (A better name for US Public Schools: Propaganda Indoctrination Centers)
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To: libstripper

You’re talking about Los Angeles. You want people to stop using cars? I travel through LAX a lot. It definitely could use a tram service. You are right LHR and CDG airports in Europe have trains from the city center right into the airport. That could work for some parts of L.A. but most of L.A. is nowhere near a “tube/metro” stop to make it anywhere near convenient. And the L.A. Metro system is small, and designed to shuttle people from downtown to Hollywood - nowhere near the airport. There is a train (not metro) line that runs out towards the airport but most people would have to make very distant transfers in the downtown area just to try to get on it. I don’t think that line runs to the airport though, just sort of in the direction.

And imagine the massive security line if they tried to clear passengers for all 9 terminals at one spot. I don’t think that is workable at LAX.

I think the main objective is to have an auxiliary pickup/dropoff point that is more convenient than having to drive onto the airport itself. Once you enter that loop with a car you have to make the whole drive around - and on the busiest days that could take 45 minutes for what maybe 2 miles of road? So better to just drop people off at an auxiliary lot and then shuttle them in on a tram. Because of the U shape I figure a tram could run from Century Blvd up the middle of the U with stops between terminals 1&8, 2&7, 3&6, and the last one for the International terminal as well as terminal 4&5 since they are adjacent. I am sure the hotels and car rental places along Century would like that tram, too.


17 posted on 03/14/2019 12:47:44 PM PDT by monkeyshine
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To: faithhopecharity
the price is ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGEOUS! it is probably 0.5 Billion actual cost (at most) and 4.0 Billion in robbery, graft, corruption, kickbacks

You must be in government because you're missing $1 billion :-)

18 posted on 03/14/2019 12:49:36 PM PDT by monkeyshine
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To: BenLurkin

The Las Vegas Monorail cost 650 Million and is 4.4 Miles long.

Me thinks a whole lot of palms will be greased at LAX.


19 posted on 03/14/2019 12:54:54 PM PDT by Kickass Conservative (THEY LIVE, and we're the only ones wearing the Sunglasses.)
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To: monkeyshine
Agree with the outrageous cost. The City of Phoenix has awarded Bombardier Transportation a $305 million contract to extend it's existing system 2.5 miles to the airport’s rental car center, build two new stations, expand the existing maintenance facilities and supply an extra 24 Innovia APM 200 vehicles.

Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport’s automated people mover set for extension

Of course costs are much higher in California with required union labor, environmental permits, etc. I saw one estimate that 40 percent of a new home's cost are environmental and other regulations.

20 posted on 03/14/2019 12:58:20 PM PDT by CedarDave (A better name for US Public Schools: Propaganda Indoctrination Centers)
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