LAX People Mover faces delays with additional $400M cost

The project is about 95% complete, but disagreements between the airport and contractor LAX Integrated Express Solutions (LINXS) over timeline, compensation, and production led to significant delays.

The board most recently approved an additional $200 million for the project in May to settle claims submitted by LINXS. If the board clears the way for staff to dip further into reserve funds for the airport's $30 billion overhaul—which includes a terminal and gate renumbering system, updated signage, and terminal improvements—the total settlement amount would be $550 million. That increase would also require approval from the Los Angeles City Council.

"Resolution of claims now will provide LINXS the necessary cash flow and incentive to ensure schedule certainty," the board report states.

If the allocation is cleared, the People Mover budget would increase from $2.9 billion to $3.34 billion.

Once in use, the project is expected to eliminate roughly 117,000 vehicle miles per day and carry about 30 million passengers each year. The airport saw about 75 million passengers last year.

Transit experts believe the People Mover will ease traffic at the world's fifth-busiest airport by finally offering an alternative to the airport's trafficky horseshoe loop used by hundreds of thousands of passengers each week and many of LAX's more than 50,000 employees.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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