LAX Celebrates Construction Completion of Automated People Mover Train Guideway Structure

“The Automated People Mover will be so much more than another way to get to LAX – it’s the piece of the puzzle that will end the congestion that has been plaguing our airport for decades,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti. “This project is a historic investment in our city’s transportation future, and today’s milestone brings us another step closer to our ultimate goal: bringing modern, reliable public transportation to our airport.”

“Los Angeles no longer has to imagine a transformed LAX, rather we can see the future through our own eyes with the completion of the 2.25 miles of Automated People Mover guideway that will one day soon carry train cars filled with travelers and employees,” said Justin Erbacci, Chief Executive Officer, Los Angeles World Airports. “Over the last two-and-a-half years, we have seen the guideway rise up from its foundation to become a fully completed track, providing us a glimpse at what will provide time-guaranteed access to the airport, ensuring greater mobility for all of those coming to and from LAX.”

Guideway construction began in November 2019 with the first underground support columns being placed, followed by the first column pours in January 2020 and the first guideway segment pour in September 2020. A total of 69,700 cubic yards of concrete were poured since 2019 to complete the structure, along with more than one million work hours.

The last major pour for the guideway structure took place over Sepulveda Boulevard and completed on April 1 after two-and-a-half months of construction. It was the last of three cast-in-place segmentally constructed bridges on the project, the first of which was completed over Century Boulevard last December. The other span, built over Parking Structure 2B in the Central Terminal Area, was fully connected on March 19. Each of these three sections were constructed one short segment at a time with a traveling form system.

The concrete segments were cast in formwork and supported by larger traveling platforms. After the segments were formed and cured, the traveling platforms would move further ahead to help form the next segment. This process repeated on both ends of each span until the traveling platforms met in the middle. The superstructure over Sepulveda Boulevard was built in 12 segments, each approximately 15 feet in length, culminating with a 7.5-foot closure pour.