The city of Los Angeles is home to just under four million people, with millions more living in the surrounding metropolitan area. Many of these residents rely on their cars to get to the area on a daily basis, which contributes to the city’s notorious traffic congestion.
The Paris Olympics will conclude on Sunday, after which attention will turn to Los Angeles, host city of the 2028 Summer Olympics. As the Southern California city prepares to host the games, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has unveiled an ambitious plan to help ease traffic congestion.
Bass wants to restrict vehicle access to any venues hosting sporting events during the two-week Olympics.
“It’s a car-free tournament,” Bass said Saturday.
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At the LA28 press conference held in Paris on August 10, 2024, the LA28 Olympics logo was projected onto an LED screen. (Luke Hales/Getty Images)
The plan would require participants to use public transport, and Mayor Bass said he had outlined the city’s efforts to expand public transport, potentially making a car-free Olympics possible.
Because Los Angeles’ current transportation system is significantly inferior to other major U.S. cities, the mayor said the city plans to borrow more than 3,000 buses from other cities in the country.
“This is a great achievement for Los Angeles. We’ve always loved the car,” Mayor Bass said at a news conference in Paris. “But we’re already working to build a greener Los Angeles.”
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Bass also said that developing strategic partnerships with the city’s largest employers will be key when it comes to Los Angeles’ ability to ease traffic congestion.
“The way it should work is to meet with major employers in the city and discuss staggered working hours. This was done 40 years ago, before technology, before cell phones, before computers,” she said. “Some employers may ask, ‘Can you work remotely for 17 days?'”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, February 17, 2023. (Robert Gautier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Bass acknowledged that essential workers will have to continue commuting to work during the Summer Olympics.
“We’ve also certainly learned from COVID-19 that there are essential workers who need to come to work, but if you limit that, it’s going to be a lot easier,” Bass added. “People are going to look to recent history for guidance on how to get there.”
Organizers of the 2028 Games have announced that swimming events will be held at the multi-billion-dollar SoFi Stadium, home of the Rams and Chargers, in Inglewood, California. Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles has been selected as the gymnastics venue, and the University of Southern California’s Memorial Coliseum will host track and field events.
A Metrobus travels on 1st Avenue in Los Angeles on July 23, 2024.
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum hosted the Opening Ceremony of the 1984 Summer Olympics. The Opening Ceremony for Los Angeles’ third Summer Olympic Games is scheduled for July 14, 2028.
Recently announced plans call for artistic swimming, marathon swimming, water polo, handball, rowing and triathlon to be held at multiple venues in Long Beach, California.
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Most of the competition will take place in Los Angeles County, with the equestrian events taking place in Temecula, about 85 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, but the softball and canoe slalom will take place in Oklahoma City, about 1,500 miles away.
Tahiti, the venue for the surfing events at this year’s Olympics, is more than 9,000 miles from Paris.
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