LA mayor on feeling Paris pressure ahead of hosting 2028 Games: ‘You better believe it’

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Los Angeles is set to host the 2028 Summer Olympics, and much like when the City of Angels hosted the 1984 Games, people are talking about one of the things it’s famous for — traffic.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is in Paris as the Paris Olympics come to a close, and she said technology will make getting around LA and the surrounding area “easier than ever.”

“Everybody was worried this traffic monster was going to happen,” she said. “With technology and the change in the workforce, I believe it’s going to be easier, I hope, to navigate that.”

The city has plans to expand its light rail system, bike share networks and update its bus stations and mobility hubs to help people navigate the city and make it where they want to be.

Janet Evans, the 4-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming and chief athletic officer for LA2028, said they’ll create “Olympic lanes” to allow quick travel between venues and the Olympic village where athletes will stay — the UCLA campus in Westwood.

Evans and the committee are encouraging companies to make more robust work-from-home plans while the Olympics are in town and for deliveries to be done overnight.

The official handoff from Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo to Bass, both the first women mayors of their respective cities, is Sunday during the closing ceremony. When Bass was asked if the job Paris has done hosting the Games puts any pressure on her city to do the same, she had a very honest answer.

“You better believe it,” she said. “It’s not just pressure because of 2024, it’s also because of 1984.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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