Curbside Traffic Resumes at LAX

At 5 a.m. Saturday, Los Angeles International Airport traffic officers lifted the cones and barricades that had prevented noncommercial vehicles from dropping off and retrieving passengers curbside for 13 weeks, as traffic flowed freely for the first time since Sept. 11.

Hours later, Los Angeles Department of Transportation officer Haywood Johnson sat on a bench outside the Delta Airlines baggage claim area, ticket book in hand. By noon, he had issued $56 citations to several drivers for leaving their vehicles unattended.

Johnson was part of an array of airport police, LAPD officers, National Guardsmen and LAX traffic officers who stood ready to ticket and even tow unattended vehicles.

“We’re not ubiquitous,” he said. “But we’re here as a deterrent.”

The number of vehicles arriving curbside was relatively low for most of the day, and few problems were reported.

Outside, the airport is beginning to resemble its pre-Sept. 11 self, with tearful curbside departures and reunions back in force.

Still, a few things have changed.

Gone is the overhead announcement, parodied in movies such as “Airplane!” that the white zone was “for the immediate loading and unloading of passengers only.” A new message, read by an announcer with a deeper voice, tells travelers that “no unattended vehicles should be parked curbside at any time. Unattended vehicles will be cited and towed immediately.”

LAPD officers roamed the airport in squad cars Saturday, using speakers to warn motorists about to step away from their vehicles.

And passengers still faced long lines at baggage check-in and security checkpoints, especially at the American and United terminals.

“There’s a perception that things have returned to normal,” said airport spokeswoman Nancy Castles. “But behind the scenes, there are lots of security measures we’ve put into effect, with more coming.”

Castles said that if a vehicle had to be towed, officials would be forced to seal off 300 feet in all directions because of safety concerns. That would almost certainly shut down part or all of the airport, she said. And drivers whose vehicles are impounded by police will face up to $11,000 in fines.

“If we get too many of them,” she said, “we will be seriously considering returning to the old plan,” under which private passenger vehicles were banned from the horseshoe ring around the terminals.

By 5:30 p.m., only two vehicles had been towed, one a news media van and the other a car whose driver had run inside a terminal to use the restroom, Castles said. Officials said that a fair number of citations was issued, but that the figure would not be available until Monday.

Most arriving passengers knew little about the return of curbside drop-off and pickup, greeting questions about the new procedures with blank stares or shrugs.

But for Vicki Dolan, the change was “thrilling.” The 48-year-old Hershey, Pa., resident sat on a suitcase outside the Terminal 4 baggage claim area, a cell phone pressed to her right ear. She was in Los Angeles to meet her first grandchild, Jared, who was born Monday. Her daughter and son-in-law were bringing the baby to pick her up.

“I’m so thankful they can pull up to the curb,” she said.