Olympic flag arrival kicks off 2028 ‘pressure’ for Los Angeles
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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass waves the official Olympic flag next to LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LOS ANGELES – The Olympic flag arrived on Aug 12 in Los Angeles, where officials now have four short years to organise an event capable of rivalling the widely praised Paris edition in a notoriously traffic-clogged metropolis.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass landed in a plane emblazoned with palm trees and the logo “LA 2028”, and crossed the tarmac holding the five-ringed banner, accompanied by several United States athletes.
“We feel the pressure to make sure that our city and our region are prepared and ready,” she said. “We have the flag now. It’s on us. We got a lot of work to do.”
A timely reminder of potential unique challenges came moments before her plane landed, as a 4.4-magnitude earthquake shook the city.
“Making sure that we are prepared for events like an earthquake will be key to infrastructure plans,” she added. “But also now we have climate events that we never thought about impacting our region that we have to be prepared for.”
Still, the biggest challenge will inevitably be transport.
In Paris for the closing ceremony last weekend,
In a city addicted to private vehicles, where gigantic highways criss-cross the urban sprawl and traffic jams are a daily inevitability, that pledge is ambitious.
Los Angeles does have a subway network, but with just six lines and the relatively infrequent service, it is insufficient to meet commuters’ needs.
Authorities plan to bring in 3,000 buses, borrowed from all over the country, and to create dedicated road lanes for them. Public transport will receive priority over private cars, which will not be banned.
The last time Los Angeles hosted the Olympics, in 1984, many residents left the city, averting a traffic nightmare.
“If we see residents following the same strategy in 2028 and basically getting out of town for a few days, that may free up enough road space that we’re able to move everybody with buses,” said James Moore, an industrial and systems engineering professor at the University of Southern California.
The city’s giant main airport, infamous for its accessibility issues, will – at least – finally be connected to the metro train network.
An automated shuttle, long in the works, is due to open by 2026, when Los Angeles will be one of the venues for the football World Cup.
Los Angeles is also counting heavily on its reputation as the world’s movies and entertainment capital.
In a “handover” segment of the Paris closing ceremony, actor Tom Cruise parachuted with the Olympic flag into Los Angeles near the famous Hollywood sign, which he then redecorated with the Olympic logo.
Los Angeles is also a US sporting powerhouse, with numerous major teams and state-of-the-art stadiums.
“We’re creative, we’re storytellers. We’ve got sport, we’ve got diversity. It’s LA,” said Reynold Hoover, chief of the 2028 organising committee. AFP
