On Thursday, July 9^th, Mr. Roger A. Johnson, the Deputy Executive Director of Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), was invited by WTS-LA Chapter to join transportation professionals, practitioners, policy makers, and students to talk about the multi-billion dollar capital improvement program underway at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Thanks to the generous sponsorship of AECOM, Emilie Gino, James Moore, and Alexandra Spencer, eight USC undergraduate and graduate students from both policy and engineering were sponsored to attended the event, held at the LAX Westin Hotel, and enjoyed the lunch, the valuable networking opportunities, and the opportunity to hear firsthand from transportation leaders.  They also served as the chapter’s field reporters, taking careful notes which were used to generate the chapter’s news article for the event.

As the Program Director for the Airports Development Group, Johnson is responsible for the $7 billion modernization of LAX and oversees all major construction projects at LA/Ontario International Airport and Van Nuys Regional Airport. As he mentioned, LAX is the sixth busiest airport in the world and the third in the United States; however, we have to admit the fact that “…the U.S. is falling behind”, and “LAX has a short-term plan to come up to stimulate jobs.” He guided the audience through the growing need for mobility and the changes that are taking place to expand and develop to accommodate the growing number of travelers at LAX.

The students appreciated Johnson’s insights. “The most interested part was the back story in which Roger Johnson showed us how far behind we [the U.S.] really are”, said Vincent Nguyen, a Master of Science in Civil Engineering student of Viterbi School.  Nguyen is currently interning at HNTB, a design firm conducting work for LAX, and by attending this luncheon he appreciated that he was able not only to gain a deeper insight of his work and his workplace, but also that he was afforded the chance to meet other transportation professionals. Ling Feng, a Master of Planning student at Price School and METRANS WTS Liaison, found her favorite part to be the discussion of the Landside Access Modernizing Program: “I’ve heard of the idea of People Mover System for quite some time, and am really happy to hear about its mechanism and goals from an insider. I think I’ll be one of the first to try it when it’s done!”

Sunghea Khil, an undergraduate at Price School, said the whole event was “a great learning experience:  I was always interested in aviation planning, but did not know much. Although it was a short speech, I was able to familiarize myself with what goes on in the airport”, she added. In appreciation for the valuable opportunity to attend, the students offered to take the official notes for the presentation. “We are happy to see a growing bilateral friendship between WTS-LA and METRANS at USC, and see only increasing student involvement in future professional activities,” said Feng, who acts as coordinator for USC student attendance and participation in WTS activities and other regional events.

For more information about this event or WTS-LA, visit www.wtsinternational.org/losangeles 

Photo by John Livzey, johnlivzey.com, [email protected]