There was a time when California built big things efficiently. 

In the 1930s, for example, the state simultaneously constructed the iconic Golden Gate Bridge and Bay Bridge — both marvels of engineering — in about a four-year span. 

Both on time. Both on budget.

Those days are gone.

Today, examples abound of California construction projects gone (way) awry. 

One of those is the long-awaited People Mover at LAX.

The project’s contractor, LAX Integrated Express Solutions, disclosed this month that the train — intended to whisk people around LA’s famously sprawling airport — will not open in October as most recently planned.

Instead, the 2.25-mile-spanning train just might be ready in January. Maybe. Could be. If the stars and other variables align.

The inert people mover underscores a stark reality in California: Our culture of efficiently building things — especially big things — has not just deteriorated. It’s collapsed. 

Projects take too long, deliver too little, and cost too much.

That culture needs to change.

The preeminent example, of course, is the state’s High-Speed Rail to nowhere: Nearly 20 years in the making, tens of billions over budget and not an inch of track laid.

There’s also state’s Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing — a massive bridge to let mountain lions and other animals cross the busy 101 — also years late and billions over budget.

And then there’s the People Mover in LA. 

The project broke ground in 2019. It was forecast to cost $1.9 billion and be zipping through LAX by 2023.

Now, the cost has soared to $3.34 billion, with service set to start, maybe, in 2027.

To be fair, at least some portions of the $30 billion LAX overhaul have fared better than the beleaguered train.

But per media reports, the People Mover still needs at least a month of testing, an independent review, an assessment by Los Angeles World Airports — the city agency that runs LAX — and a utility agreement with the LA Department of Water and Power.

Meanwhile, navigating LAX takes the patience of a monk.

What would take five minutes by train can now demand an hour, as passengers endure long waits for shuttles from terminals to parking lots, the rental car center or the $900 million LAX Metro Transit Center (which opened last year, but needs the People Mover to actually work).

The long-stalled People Mover is a frustration, a vexation, an embarrassment. 

It was an embarrassment when tens of thousands of visitors descended on LA this summer for the FIFA World Cup.

And it will be an embarrassment if the train’s not ready for the Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium in February and the LA Summer Olympics in 2028.

We keep hearing that the People Mover’s coming.

And then it doesn’t, quite yet. 

The state that built two bridges in a little over four years can’t deliver a train in seven (or, for that matter, nearly 20).

That “can’t do” culture needs to change.

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