LOS ANGELES – When flying out of the Los Angeles International Airport the main question on everyone’s mind is, “How long will it take to get there?” The trip to the airport is almost as important as the flight itself.

Executive Director for Operations and Maintenance Michael Christensen knows this is a major concern.

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“Traffic has always been a problem here,” said Christensen.

With new construction projects underway, LAX had to make major changes. They created the LAX-it lot, for rideshares and cab pickup. In August, they added the traffic management center, which acts as an information hub with views of the dozens of cameras around the airport. This allows them to see any possible traffic issues in the moment and fix them right away, which was hard to do in the past.

“We were always a half a step behind and now when we see a problem we can react to it much quicker,” said Christensen.

Before the center, Christensen says they were reactive and it took them too long to deploy officers or activate changes to alleviate congestion. Now, they can be proactive by sending out traffic officers, police officers, adding a lane, closing a lane, redirecting cars, and anything to help the flow in and out of the terminals.

“We felt we had to have a hands-on tool that would allow us to understand exactly the state of land-side transportation at any point in time and actually make changes,” said Christensen.

The center also works to spread information to the public. LAX updates their website, Twitter accounts, and electric signs on the neighboring streets so travelers have updated and reliable information.

“Passengers can also take a look at their device in their palm and have enough information so they can make a good decision on how to get in and where to park,” said Christensen.

This is important as we go into the holiday season with millions coming in and out during the days surrounding Thanksgiving alone. 

“Every Thanksgiving is full here and every Thanksgiving has lines everywhere,” said Christensen.

Christensen says along with monitoring in real time, LAX also takes information from airlines to figure out how many people to expect on certain days to be as prepared as possible for the impending congestion.

“What this TMC is going to do is going to manage that with all the levers and tools we have to minimize the amount [of traffic]. It’s not going to eliminate it, because it’s simply not going to happen, there’s too many people coming at us,” said Christensen.

LAX is trying to do whatever they can to make this holiday travel period as easy as possible for travelers, but still be prepared for long waits and lots of cars. Click here for real-time updates on traffic and parking at LAX.