The city is getting $900 million in federal funding for transportation projects ahead of the 2028 Olympics. Ted Chen reports for the NBC4 News at 4 p.m. on Thursday, July 18, 2024.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited the Los Angeles Coliseum Thursday to highlight federal funding to help Los Angeles prepare for the 2028 Olympic Games while some have questioned whether the government help will be enough.
Buttigieg said he was committed to helping Los Angeles prepare for the Games, which includes federal money to help improve the rail and bus system for the hundreds of thousands of expected daily visitors, but there is a big gap yet to be filled.
Buttigieg joined LA Mayor Karen Bass and other leaders to celebrate the nearly $900 million in federal funding for transportation projects ahead of the 2028 Olympics. The bulk of the money is to go toward the purple line extension on the LA's Westside and Light Rail in the east San Fernando Valley.
A previous plan to lean heavily on the rail system for the Olympics was abandoned as it was deemed too expensive and time consuming.
Get top local stories in Southern California delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC LA's News Headlines newsletter.
Now officials want to dramatically increase the number of buses.
But USC transportation expert James Moore said the federal money so far isn't nearly enough.
"Not even close," Moore said. "Even with this additional federal money, they can’t add a great deal of capacity to the system then they already got by 2028. They can do a few incremental things"
When asked if more federal funding was possible, Buttigieg said he thinks there may be a partnership in the future.
"A lot of different players have to come together," he said.
When asked whether the billions of dollars in infrastructure projects he’s helped get funding for would survive if Republicans took over the White House and both houses of Congress, Buttigieg responded that the decision to help LA was bipartisan despite not everyone in congress supporting the bipartisan infrastructure package.
