Transportation. (Barely Making the Grade).

Year in Review: Nightmare year for Los Angeles International Airport... After Washington's Reagan National, LAX was the most problem-plagued airport in the country following Sept. 11; only this month was a curbside parking ban lifted. Concessionaires and airport administration have been bleeding red ink... Despite increased security concerns, ports were not hit as hard. Long Beach port cargo volume down 3 percent for the year, while L.A. port cargo actually was up 5 percent for the year...Change in leadership at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority as troubleshooter Julian Burke left and transit administrator Roger Snoble entered.

Players to Watch: L.A. Mayor James Hahn, who has promised to come up with a "modernization" plan for LAX focused on security, not expansion... Los Angeles World Airports Executive Director Lydia Kennard who must handle the post-Sept. 11 mess... New MTA chair Roger Snoble... Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority chief executive James Hankla.

Buzz for 2002: L.A. airport officials face budget shortfalls and struggling airport businesses...LAX modernization plan will focus on accommodating increased security. Proposal expected to replace existing expansion plans that are going through environmental review... Most anticipated event: opening of the $2.4: billion, 20-mile Alameda Corridor in April after a decade of planning and four years of construction. It will speed trains from Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to rail switching yards southeast of Downtown L.A.

At the ports themselves, first phases of massive terminal expansion projects expected to open: Maersk-Sealand Terminal at Pier 400 in Port of Los Angeles and Hanjin terminal at Pier T in Port of Long Beach... Hundreds of millions of dollars in fast-tracked state funding for L.A. County-area highway construction/renovations already are in pipeline and should hit the street in next few months.

At Metropolitan Transportation Authority, new chief executive Roger Snoble will try to implement his decentralization and hope for better success than the L.A. Unified School District's similar attempt... Also, MTA plans to expand its rapid bus network and continue environmental or engineering work on Eastside and Exposition rail lines and the Valley busway.

Westside commuters should see completion of Wilshire Boulevard project in Beverly Hills and the road redesign around Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica...Work on Santa Monica Boulevard from Century City to the 405 will edge closer to construction.

Grade: Overall B (LAX: C-)