"An Olympics and Paralympics security plan that gives control to a federal administration that is already attacking immigrants in our city and across the nation puts our entire community at risk"
In a bunker below the civic center, the signal-controlling mechanisms meant to keep traffic flowing during the summer of 1984 became one of the most famous legacy improvements of LA's Olympic Games. What's known as ATSAC now has a new location and new name — formerly Automated Traffic Surveillance and Control, now Advanced Transportation System and Coordination — and thanks to the kind folks at LADOT, I'm thrilled to once again offer Torched subscribers a very exclusive tour.
ATSAC has evolved into one of the most sophisticated transportation-monitoring systems in the world, with 26,000 sensors and detectors and 620 traffic cameras. A 2022 upgrade and rebrand ensured that ATSAC would be ready for millions more multimodal users in 2028. And more changes are on the way — listen to this recent KCRW segment — so LA can once again medal in the "secret Olympic sport" of eliminating gridlock. This year our tour will also hear from Christopher Rider, LADOT's principal transportation engineer for Vision Zero, to learn how ATSAC's innovations are being deployed to reduce traffic deaths.
Afterwards, we'll ride a DASH bus (or walk) to a nearby location for happy hour (last year we went to Far Bar) and watch clips of The Italian Job (2003), which prominently features ATSAC as well as the role of "ATSAC supervisor." During our tour be sure to also ask LADOT engineers if they can turn all the signals in the city green in all directions at the same time just like in The Italian Job. They love this question.
Wednesday, November 19 2 to 4 p.m. tour*, followed by optional happy hour
This tour has an extremely limited capacity so if you end up not being able to make it, please let me know so someone on the waitlist can join. And yes, you can bring a +1 but if they can't make it, please let me know so I can give the spot to someone else. You also must be there at 2 p.m.; we can't accommodate late arrivals.
Meet in the Caltrans lobby 100 Main Street Los Angeles, CA 90012
*As far as tour length, LADOT says: "The tours generally last 45 to 60 minutes, depending on the amount of questions asked. Good questions have been known to drive the length to 90 minutes." Torched subscribers were there last year for TWO HOURS, a new record. Let's see if we can beat that this year. (Although we have to leave the room by the time rush hour starts.)
Again: I just want to stress that registration for this tour is very, very limited, so if you can't make it, please let me know right away so I can get someone else in.
Unfortunately, the mayor's vision — which feels about 1,000 days too late — is so light on substance that it's hard to see how LA's megaevent future materializes
