Ceremony marks start of expansion project at LAX international terminal [Updated]

L.A. city leaders will gather at LAX Monday morning for a ceremony to mark the start of a $1.26-billion expansion-and-refurbishment project at the Tom Bradley International Terminal.

The work is expected to be completed by mid-2013 and will add two concourses and nine new gates for the next generation of large commercial planes. It also will add 1 million square feet for ticket counters, security checkpoints, passenger lounges and expanded customs and immigration facilities.

Stores and restaurants will occupy a central area.

Airport officials said the building project will be the most expensive the city has ever undertaken and is expected to employ about 4,000 construction workers. The Bradley terminal has not undergone major improvements since the 1984 Summer Olympics.

The aging airport has often received poor-to-average marks in surveys of passengers and airlines.

Among those scheduled to attend the 10 a.m. ceremony are Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa and council members Bill Rosendahl, Janice Hahn and Tom LaBonge.

[Updated at 10:20 a.m.: A previous version of this post stated the project's cost was $1.26 million. It is $1.26 billion.]

-- Jeff Gottlieb

Photo: A bust of the late Tom Bradley is located in front of the LAX international terminal named for the former mayor. Credit: Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times

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Comments

[Eduardo]

This is crazy or what. I have been using this terminal for the last 10 yeears and I can't remember a day where there was no construction in it. Terrible terminal , only two security gates. Longest lines in the country probably. No food , ( Well some Restaurants in one of the major renovations are in the top floor)And no transportation. This article is a joke????? And the sculpture...very creepy.
But the worse is the LA Times reporting this as news. Sorry the airport needs it but this is a bad joke.

[David Wood]

So why the underplay in the Times of this HUGE event? First and foremost, it's one of the largest construction projects in the history of LA, second only to the subway system. In addition it will offer hundreds of well needed jobs to the region AND it offers a sign of hope for beleaguered international air travelers worldwide who have had to put up with a Tom Bradley Terminal that was practically obsolete by the time it was finished in 1984.