The second most-trafficked airport in the US, the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), has been undergoing various renovation projects since at least 2008.

In 2019, nearly 43 million people passed through LAX, making it the fourth busiest airport in the world. As such, CNBC once compared Terminal 1 to “Dante’s ninth circle of hell,” so the $509.8 million renovation to it listed on the airport authority’s website is probably a much-welcomed project for those who frequent it.

Construction and renovation of a new terminal at LAX accounts for the largest public works program in the history of the city of Los Angeles. Phase 1 of the project alone created 40,000 “good-paying local jobs,” according to Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), who operate the airport.

Already, work has completed on a number of projects including a new terminal, the Tom Bradley International Terminal, which includes 1,179,000 of usable square feet. The terminal contains:

• 45,000 tons of steel, "enough to build 148 Airbus A380 super jumbo jets or 22,206 midsized SUVs."
• 310,785 square feet of glass, "enough to create a window the size of 6.5 football fields."
• 405,405 cubic feet of concrete, "enough to fill 8,000 cement trucks or to create a one foot-thick slab of concrete the size of 8.5 football fields."

Work has already been done to complete multiple terminal renovations, runway upgrades, terminal connectors and more. Still on the agenda is a new $1.6 billion concourse to add on to the new Tom Bradley terminal, a $270 million projet to upgrade moving walkways, elevators and escalators, a $613 million program to create an in-line baggage handling and screening system in all nine terminals, more terminal renovations and runway construction projects.

LAWA maintains a full list of completed, ongoing and future projects at LAX complete with many fact sheets on individual projects,

Originally intended to be completed in 2024, work at LAX is expected to wrap up 18 months ahead of schedule in mid-2023. In this case, it seems that the pandemic helped expedite work projects because of lower passenger traffic.

Last week, CBS Local reported that workers had dismantled a pedestrian bridge connecting Terminal 2 to a parking structure. Terminal 2 is being renovated at a cost of $332 million, according to LAWA.

“For the second time in three months, our construction team successfully removed a pedestrian bridge, helping to pave the way for our continued modernization,” one project manager said. “Removing this bridge is the first of many major achievements in 2021, a year in which our monumental transformation will continue to come to life as we build a better LAX.”

Crews removed the pedestrian bridge in pieces, each weighing more than 50,000 pounds, according to CBS. The deconstruction makes space for Terminal 2 to connect to the highly-hyped “Automated People Mover,” a 2.25-mile marvel partly aimed at making sure the airport doesn’t disappoint when Los Angeles hosts the 2028 Summer Olympics.

Additionally, portions of the Imperial Highway have been closed down recently for work on the planned $2 billion Crenshaw/LAX light rail project. The 300 feet of closed highway is set to re-open on February 23.

Photo via Flickr.