The transportation system of Los Angeles has a network of complex multimodal transportation infrastructure, which serves as a regional, national and international hub for passenger and freight traffic. The City of Los Angeles includes the United States' largest port complex, the Port of Los Angeles; an extensive freight and passenger rail infrastructure, including light rail lines and rapid transit lines; numerous airports and bus lines; vehicle for hire companies; and an extensive freeway and road system. People in Los Angeles rely on cars as the dominant mode of transportation. Since 1990, Los Angeles Metro has built over of light and heavy rail serving more and more parts of Los Angeles and the greater area of Los Angeles County.

Intercity Transportation in Greater Los Angeles is a complex multimodal transportation infrastructure, which serves as a regional, national and international hub for passenger and freight traffic. The transportation system of Greater Los Angeles includes the United States' largest port complex, seven commuter rail lines, and Amtrak service. With many highways, it is integrated into the Interstate Highway System.

Air transportation

The Los Angeles metropolitan area has five commercial airports and many more general-aviation airports.

The primary Los Angeles airport is Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The seventh busiest commercial airport in the world and the third busiest in the United States, LAX handled 28.8 million passengers, of cargo and 380,000 aircraft movements in 2020.

Other major nearby commercial airports include: LA/Ontario International Airport (serves the Inland Empire); Hollywood Burbank Airport (serves the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys); Long Beach Airport (serves the Long Beach/Harbor area); and John Wayne Airport (serves the Orange County area).

The world's busiest general-aviation airport is also located in Los Angeles, Van Nuys Airport. Santa Monica Airport is also located near Los Angeles.

Intercity train services

Union Station is the major regional train station for Amtrak, Metrolink and Metro Rail. The station is Amtrak's fifth busiest station, having 1.4 million Amtrak boardings and de-boardings in 2019. Amtrak operates eleven daily round trips between San Diego and Los Angeles, five of which continue to Santa Barbara via the Pacific Surfliner, the only service that runs through Los Angeles multiple times daily. Two of those trips continue to San Luis Obispo, California. The Coast Starlight provides additional service on the route and beyond to the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, and on to Seattle, Washington. Amtrak motor coaches connect from Los Angeles to the Gold Runner route in Bakersfield with frequent service through the Central Valley of California to Sacramento and Oakland, and eastward to San Bernardino and Las Vegas.

There is also daily service to Chicago, Illinois on the Southwest Chief, and three times a week to New Orleans, Louisiana on the Sunset Limited. Due to the effects from Hurricane Katrina, Sunset Limited service between New Orleans to Jacksonville, Florida has been discontinued, although Amtrak is required by current federal law to develop a plan to reinstate the service. The Texas Eagle is a second train to Chicago, which operates thrice weekly. Sunset Limited and Texas Eagle trains operate as one train between Los Angeles and San Antonio, Texas before splitting off towards their respective destinations.

Amtrak Pacific Surfliner trains stop at several locations in Los Angeles County, including: Glendale, Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, Chatsworth, and Van Nuys.

Due to the large volumes of import freight that flow into the city's port complex, Los Angeles is a major freight railroad hub. Freight is hauled by Union Pacific Railroad and BNSF Railway. The now-defunct Southern Pacific Railroad once served the Los Angeles area before merging with Union Pacific. The Alameda Corridor, a below-grade rail corridor connects the port to the city's main rail yards and to points further north and east.

The California High-Speed Rail plans to connect Los Angeles to San Francisco and San Diego via the Inland Empire. Additionally, the Brightline West will serve Los Angeles to Las Vegas via Rancho Cucamonga.

Intercity freeway The major freeway routes providing intercity connections are Interstate 5 (which goes north to Sacramento and south to San Diego), U.S. Route 101 (which goes north to Santa Barbara and San Francisco), and Interstate 10 (which goes west to Santa Monica and east to Phoenix, Arizona).

Intercity bus services Greyhound, FlixBus, and various smaller bus lines provide intercity bus services. Greyhound connects directly to Bakersfield and from there into the California Central Valley, San Diego, Las Vegas, and the San Francisco Bay area. It departs from Los Angeles Union Station and from a secondary terminal located close to the North Hollywood Metro station.

Harbors

The Port of Los Angeles is located in San Pedro Bay in the San Pedro neighborhood, approximately south of Downtown. Also called Los Angeles Harbor and WORLDPORT L.A., the port complex occupies of land and water along of waterfront. It adjoins the separate Port of Long Beach. There are also smaller, non-industrial harbors along L.A.'s coastline. Most of these like Redondo Beach and Marina del Rey are used primarily by sailboats and yachts.

The Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach comprise the largest seaport complex in the United States and the fifth busiest in the world. Over 11 percent of United States international trade (by value) passes through the Los Angeles region, and the Los Angeles customs district collects over 37 percent of the nation’s import duties.

The port includes four bridges: the Vincent Thomas Bridge, Henry Ford Bridge, Gerald Desmond Bridge, and Commodore Schuyler F. Heim Bridge.

Ferry services Catalina Express offers passenger ferry service from San Pedro to the communities of Avalon and Two Harbors on Santa Catalina Island; they are mainly used for day excursions and to move supplies. There is however no regular vehicle ferry service to the island since the use of cars and trucks there are restricted.

Intracity

Freeways

There are a dozen major freeways that crisscross the region. California's first freeway was the Arroyo Seco Parkway segment of California State Route 110, also known as the Pasadena Freeway. It opened on January 1, 1940 and links downtown Los Angeles to downtown Pasadena. From Chavez Ravine north to Pasadena it can be quite dangerous because there is no shoulder, the lanes are narrow, the turns are sharp (not always properly banked), and the ramps are quite short and offer little room for acceleration to freeway speed. The route is often described as a hybridization of older parkway designs and more modern freeway designs. Commercial vehicles over are prohibited from using this freeway. Newer freeways are straighter, wider, and allow for higher speeds.

Major freeways in Los Angeles include:

Glendale Freeway Santa Ana Freeway Golden State Freeway Santa Monica Freeway/San Bernardino Freeway Antelope Valley Freeway Seaside Freeway Pomona Freeway Marina Freeway Gardena Freeway Hollywood Freeway Ventura Freeway Terminal Island Freeway Glenn M. Anderson Freeway/Century Freeway Harbor Freeway Arroyo Seco Parkway Ronald Reagan Freeway Foothill Freeway San Diego Freeway Long Beach Freeway

Major highways in Los Angeles include:

Pacific Coast Highway/Lincoln Boulevard Santa Monica Boulevard Decker Canyon Road Topanga Canyon Boulevard Alameda Street Slauson Avenue Highland Avenue Venice Boulevard

Angelenos are noted for referring to freeways with the definite article ("The 101"), in contrast to most other areas of the United States, who omit the article. Referring to freeways by name, for example "The San Diego Freeway", is essentially a holdover from the time when the freeways were built, and is diminishing. Freeways continue to be officially named; for example, State Route 118 was christened the Ronald Reagan Freeway.

Streets, street layout, the boulevards, and street problems

The city has an extensive street grid. Arterial streets (referred to as surface streets by locals, in contrast with freeways which are usually grade-separated roadways) connect freeways with smaller neighborhood streets, and are often used to bypass congested freeway routes. Consequently, most of the surface arterial streets in Los Angeles have various forms of congestion control.

Some of the more common means of maintaining surface street traffic flow is the use of loop-sensors embedded in the pavement allowing for intersection traffic signal timing adjustments to favor the more heavily delayed roadways; the use of a traffic control system allows for the synchronization of traffic signals to improve traffic flow (as of October 2009 this system is currently installed at 85% of the city's signalized intersections, more than any other US city); restrictions on vehicle turns on roadways without designated turning lanes during rush-hours; and the extensive use of rush-hour parking restrictions, allowing for an extra lane of travel in each direction during peak hours (weekdays excluding holidays generally from 7-9am thru 4-7pm, although hours vary by location) by eliminating on street parking and standing of vehicles, with violators being ticketed, and in the case of priority routes known as "anti-gridlock zones", immediately towed by specialized enforcement teams dubbed "tiger teams" at steep cost to the violator.

1st Street divides the block numbering grid north and south, and southwest of the Los Angeles River, Main Street divides the city east and west. Northeast of the river, block designations are divided east and west by Pasadena Avenue and North Figueroa Street.

From downtown Los Angeles to Long Beach, in a straight-down vertical pattern, east–west streets are numbered (starting with 1st Street in downtown, to 266th Street in Harbor City), and north–south streets are named. (1st Street is one block south of Temple.) There are many exceptions to the numbered streets, but the above pattern is generally used. This same numbered pattern is not mirrored north of Temple. Addresses are then numbered east or west stemming from Main Street (a major north south artery). Therefore, the landmark Watts Towers at 1765 E. 107th Street is approximately 107 streets south of 1st Street, and on the 17th street east of Main Street. Although the numbered streets are sequential, they do not necessarily equal the number of blocks south of 1st Street, as there are streets such as 118th Street and then 118th Place.

Many of the numbered streets also continue into neighboring cities, but some cities, such as Manhattan Beach, have made their own numbered street grid. Also, some districts of Los Angeles, such as Wilmington, San Pedro, Venice, and Playa Del Rey have their own numbered street grids.

Many arterials have been labeled as boulevards, and many of those mentioned below have been immortalized in movies, music, and literature.

Major east–west routes include: Roscoe, Victory, Ventura, Hollywood, Sunset, Santa Monica, Beverly, Wilshire, Olympic, Pico, Venice, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Exposition, Obama Boulevard, and Martin Luther King Jr (formerly Santa Barbara Avenue), and Century Boulevard. The major north–south routes include: Topanga Canyon, Crenshaw, Reseda, Lincoln, Sepulveda, Van Nuys, Westwood, Beverly Glen, San Vicente, Robertson, La Cienega, Laurel Canyon, Glendale, Avalon Boulevard, and Main Street.