Traffic Signals not Synchronized?

I've worked at LAX for the past year and during my commute or when I leave the airport to get food I notice most, if not all traffic lights aren't synchronized to the traffic flow. I'm from Irvine so we have synchronized traffic lights as well as in surrounding areas and it drives me crazy to be stuck at a traffic light in a line of cars when there's barely or similar amount of traffic at the intersection. What's the reason to not improve the traffic light system? Surely with the size of LA, they should be able to afford it.