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In less than three years, Los Angeles will welcome the world to the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Over 15,000 athletes, tens of thousands of Games personnel, and millions of visitors will descend on Southern California, putting enormous pressure on the city's existing infrastructure, mobility systems, and venues. While LA is no stranger to hosting the Olympics, the scale, complexity, and visibility of the 2028 Games are unlike anything the region has tackled before. Substantial capital improvements will be essential to meet the global demands of the Olympic Games.
Since being awarded the Games in 2017, LA and its regional partners have committed to over $50 billion in infrastructure investments to become Olympic-ready. Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) announced a $30 billion Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) modernization program, while LA Metro allocated $20 billion to construct 28 transit projects by 2028. More recently, LA broke ground on a $2.6 billion Convention Center expansion project, and LA28 (the non-profit organization in charge of Games delivery and operations) allocated $1.4 billion to temporary venue infrastructure upgrades — all of which must be completed before the summer of 2028.
As of late 2025, more than eight years have passed since LA was awarded the Games in 2017, yet many of these ambitious capital programs are still underway, with approximately half of the total work completed to date. That leaves a narrow two-and-a-half-year window to finish the remaining scope before the Olympic torch is lit.
Schedule Risk is Real — and Rising
With billions of dollars at stake and hard deadlines that cannot be moved, the schedule, cost, and delay risks associated with these projects are intensifying. LAX's People Mover and terminal upgrades, LA Metro's Purple Line extensions and transit station improvements, the Convention Center's expansion, and LA28's venue preparations are all racing against a fixed clock.
Schedule overruns could impact not just the Games themselves, but also public perception, regional mobility, and long-term development goals for Southern California.
The Olympics are a Deadline — but Also an Opportunity
Beyond the Olympics, these capital improvements are intended to leave a lasting legacy: faster transit, enhanced public spaces, and more sustainable urban infrastructure. However, delivering on those broader goals requires more than just acceleration — including alignment between regional planning, stakeholder coordination, and schedule risk mitigation. Project challenges often include tight permitting timelines, budget restrictions, supply chain disruptions, coordination across various public agencies, limited resources, and logistical constraints around existing urban operations.
Without careful risk assessment and collaboration across stakeholders, these constraints threaten to derail projects at the most critical moment.
Project Delivery Best Practices — Increasing the Odds of Success
Delivering complex capital projects on a tight timeline requires not only strong execution, but proactive planning, coordination, and adaptability. Many project teams across the LA region are already working tirelessly to meet 2028 deadlines — but the scale of what remains calls for additional support and specialized expertise in managing schedule risks.
Proactive engagement of schedule and cost risk professionals during project delivery can help round out existing project management and controls teams, while bringing targeted expertise to areas that can make or break delivery, including:
- Schedule risk identification, analysis, and mitigation
- Early detection of potential delays and cost impacts
- Support with managing change orders and navigating complex regulations
- Development of integrated master schedules that reflect constraints and coordination points
- Tracking and interpreting progress data to enable timely,
informed decisions
In practice, these efforts are most successful when integrated within existing project management structures and before schedule issues start to escalate. A collaborative, embedded approach — grounded in both construction advisory and claims avoidance strategies — allows project teams to stay ahead of risks, improve transparency, and make confident, data-driven decisions as deadlines approach.
Lessons learned from both active project advisory and large-scale dispute resolution show that certain tasks are critical to delivering projects successfully, including:
- Defining clear milestones and interim deadlines
- Mapping coordination points across agencies and contractors
- Building a stakeholder engagement plan that aligns with regional requirements
- Identifying long-lead equipment and permitting bottlenecks early
- Developing a master integrated schedule with rigorous progress tracking procedures
- Investigating and responding to schedule slippages proactively
- Establishing open communication protocols to manage
expectations and align project goals
Looking Ahead
The 2028 Olympics represent an extraordinary opportunity for LA — not just to host a world-class event, but to reshape the city's infrastructure for decades to come. To succeed, project sponsors must act quickly, collaboratively, and decisively. The schedule will not wait. But with the right strategy, controls, and execution, LA can deliver an Olympics that the world — and the city itself — will celebrate for generations.
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