New Terminal Will Make LAX Less Miserable

LAX's airport commissioners unanimously approved a new concourse west of the fancy, new Tom Bradley International Terminal. The new $900 million terminal will add gates for the largest jetliners flying, since the airport currently does not have enough gates to support all the traffic.

"We need more wide-body contact gates. We just can't deliver them fast enough," Gina Marie Lindsey, the executive director of Los Angeles World Airports, said to the Los Angeles Times.

The terminal will save travelers from deplaning onto the open tarmac and taking buses to Bradley terminal's immigration, customs, and baggage claim areas. During construction, international passengers will still have to be bused to other terminals, but the trips will be much shorter than the previous 1.5-mile rides.

The northern wing of the terminal will include 11 gates, taxiways, aircraft aprons, service roads, utilities, and a people-mover station. With the addition of the southern wing, which is still in the planning stage, the concourse will have a maximum total of 29 gates.

No word yet on exactly when construction on the new concourse will begin, but the announcement of a construction contract is scheduled for January.