The modernization of Los Angeles International Airport recently hit another milestone with the topping out of a structure connecting the Tom Bradley International Terminal to the people mover system now nearing completion.
The connecting structure, known as a terminal core, allows access to the ticketing facilities on the upper level, baggage claim on the lower level and the separate level for the people mover connection.
It is one of seven vertical core structures under construction that by the end of next year will ring the central terminal area at a total construction cost of about $490 million. The terminal cores will provide both arriving and departing passengers with direct access to the $2 billion automated people mover system that will link to a parking complex, the K Metro Rail line and a $1 billion rental car facility.
Dallas-based Austin Commercial is constructing the Tom Bradley International terminal core and two of the others; downtown-based AC Martin and New York-based Cannon Designs are the principal designers.
One of the unique features of the Tom Bradley International Terminal core will be a recently restored 10-foot-tall bronze and granite sculpture memorializing the terminal’s namesake, the late Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley.
“The topping out of LAX’s Tom Bradley International Terminal Core represents an important moment for one of the airport’s most ambitious and anticipated initiatives to date – creating a sustainable and interconnected network for getting to and from the airport that has the added benefit of alleviating congestion and passenger wait times,” said Justin Erbacci, chief executive of Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that runs LAX.
