The governing board of LAX voted unanimously Thursday to appropriate more than $1 billion to build long-planned elevated roadways officials said will separate airport-bound vehicles from local traffic.

Supporters say the roadways will make it safer and more efficient to get in and out of LAX.

“We have multiple paths in and out of the airport, and each and one of those creates pinch points and traffic jams, particularly along Sepulveda [Boulevard],” Emery Molnar, an LAX executive, said to the airport Board of Commissioners before the vote.

Before the vote, commissioners heard from advocates and people living near the airport who questioned the need for the project amid lower-than-projected passenger levels at LAX.

“I think this a project that was maybe well conceived 10 years ago, but

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