After the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics in August, the countdown began for the Los Angeles Games.

In August, Mayor Karen Bass announced the LA 2028 Olympics will be a car-free event, meaning visitors and spectators are encouraged to use public transportation to get to the venues. Transportation agencies – including LA Metro, Caltrans, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation and Metrolink – have partnered with LA28 and cities around LA County to try to reach this goal.

The sports competitions are planned to occur in venues throughout Southern California, with the majority of events happening in LA County – though some sports, such as softball and canoe slalom, will be held in Oklahoma City.

One way the city hopes to get ready is through LA Metro’s Twenty-Eight by ’28 initiative, which focuses on the expansion of the county’s public transportation network. For this initiative, the LA Metro Board approved 28 projects – including building and extending metro lines and expanding freeways – to be completed before the Games in 2028, a spokesperson for LA Metro said in an emailed statement.

“Selected projects address regional needs, with a focus on transit solutions that would provide additional connectivity to major sports venues,” the spokesperson said in the statement.

Five projects have already been completed, with three targeted to be finished by the end of this year.

Another major transportation project is the Games Route Network, which involves designating certain freeway lanes for vehicles transporting people for the purposes of the Games. In Paris, lanes were designated for Olympic use as part of the city’s hosting of the 2024 Games.

Jacob Wasserman, a research manager at the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies, said this project is an approach to figuring out how to get everyone to the venues on time without heavy reliance on private transportation.

“This is also what happened in 1984 for the Olympics. They had temporary lanes on the freeways … where there would be priority given to transit buses but also to Olympic athletes themselves and officials and people who need to get there on time,” Wasserman said.

Steve Sann, chair of the Westwood Community Council, said the transportation plans for the Games in 1984 were successful in making traffic flow better in LA.

“Traffic flowed better during the 1984 Olympics than almost any other time in the city’s history,” he said. “That is because they used some very thoughtful techniques and strategies that proved very effective.”

The spokesperson for LA Metro also said in the statement that the addition of a regional rail system and a network of Metro ExpressLanes since 1984 could improve accessibility to the venues for the 2028 Games.

They added that there are other major projects expected to be completed by 2028 that will directly benefit the Games, including three D Line subway extensions, which will facilitate a half-hour trip from Westwood to downtown LA.

[Related: UCLA students support proposed Metro expansion but wary of cost]

Sann said he hopes to see Westwood filled with energy and excitement during the Games, including through a major Olympics-related activity – pin trading. In this tradition, athletes collect and trade pins with designs unique to a participating country or a sponsoring company.

He also said the car-free zone in the new Broxton Plaza could serve as a site where visitors could congregate to watch the Olympic events.

“Broxton Avenue, especially the plaza that’s going to be closed to traffic, is a ready-made street,” Sann said. “It’s just waiting to be dressed up as one of those outdoor locations where people can gather and celebrate and maybe watch the Olympics on some outdoor screens … and just soak in the spirit of the Olympic Games.”

[Related: New pedestrian-only Broxton Plaza aims to revitalize Westwood]

In addition to the countywide transportation projects, UCLA has its own plans in preparation for the 2028 Games.

As the host of the athletes village, UCLA has been collaborating with the LA28 organizing committee to prepare to house athletes, said Chansoth Hill, director of the UCLA Events Office, in an emailed statement. Hill added that there are many things that are still being determined, including how regular campus operations – such as summer sessions – will be impacted, and what the Games’ presence on campus will exactly look like.

“The Olympic and Paralympic Village has specifications outside of just housing athletes, such as operational needs, that will involve many of our on-campus facilities,” Hill said in the statement. “This is something we are still determining alongside the LA28 organizers.”

With LA preparing for its third Olympic Games, Sann said he sees an opportunity for the city – including UCLA and Westwood – to once again receive recognition on the international stage.

“It’s really an opportunity for Los Angeles, for Westwood and for UCLA to shine on the global stage,” he said. “It’s going to be exciting.”