Red-eye travelers, you might want to avoid the Upper/Departures Level at LAX. While the roadway won't be completely closed, overnight lane closures are set to take effect. Work begins tonight, September 14, at 11pm and continues until Thanksgiving—please, let it be done by Thanksgiving.
If you're catching a flight on Monday through Thursday nights, be prepared for delays on the departures level from 11pm to 5am the following morning. On Friday and Saturday nights, work will begin at 11pm and end at 1pm the following afternoon—so all you weekend travelers should plan on getting dropped off at the arrivals level instead. You can monitor the closures and real-time traffic here.
The construction comes as part of Phase 2 of a $32.4-million renovation of the second level. The deteriorating 31-year-old roadway will live to see another three decades thanks to the introduction of a relatively water-impervious polyester concrete. Construction consists of a six-step process that includes the kinky-sounding combination of steel-shot blasting, crack sealant and rubber "boots"—a process which apparently gives off a perfectly safe fiberglass-like odor.
Almost 38,000 vehicles enter the Upper/Departures Level roadway each day—that's just less than half of the total number of vehicles in the central terminal area. While far fewer of those vehicles are looping around the airport at night, that's still a lot of cars to squeeze into a small number of lanes.
The Upper Level delays come in addition to other intermittent lane closures, elevator repairs and terminal overhauls. In other words, LAX is a mess—or as its construction-minded website will tell you, LAX is happening.