Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), just west of the downtown area, is the fourth largest airport in the world in terms of passengers handled, and the airport is served by dozens of major airlines with thousands of flights each year. Nearby Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport is served by six major airlines. Greyhound carries passengers to a terminal in downtown Los Angeles. Amtrak has invested $100 million in new passenger trains in recent years; its Pacific Surfliner carries passengers from San Diego through Los Angeles to San Luis Obispo.
Three interstate highways converge in the Los Angeles area: I-5 approaching from Canada in the north, I-15 from Las Vegas to the west, and I-10 connecting Los Angeles with Arizona and the Southwest. State Highway 1, the Pacific Coastal Highway, skirts the city along the ocean.
Los Angeles is perhaps best navigated by automobile, although the city's massive, complex web of limited-access freeways, one of the most extensive in the nation, still struggles to accommodate heavy commuter traffic. The Los Angeles Department of Transportation has implemented a state-ofthe-art computer system to manage the city's street traffic, but Los Angeles is still among the places with the worst traffic in the nation, according to a study by Cambridge Systematics for the American Highway Users Alliance.
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit operates frequent local and express bus service throughout the city and to major area attractions. It also operates Metro Blue Line light rail service, the new Metro Red Line light rail service to Hollywood, and the Metro Red Line subway. The Metro Orange Line began with construction of a bridge across the Los Angeles River and is slated for an August 2005 completion. The $880 million Metro Gold Line, which will add 6 miles of track, is scheduled to begin running in 2009. The Mid-City/Exposition Light Rail Transit Project is the newest proposed extension of the 62 station Metro Rail System; preliminary engineering design work began in 2003. The City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation operates the DASH shuttle system; downtown DASH lines link major business, government, retail and entertainment centers within downtown. The Convention Center, the Garment and Jewelry districts, Olvera Street, the Metro Blue Line, and Union Station are easily accessible via DASH lines.