LA ACTA Board Approves Expanded Mission and Makes Key Recommendations to Reduce Traffic Congestion

LOS ANGELES COUNTY, Calif.--Dec. 4, 2003--Directors of the public agency that built the Alameda Corridor agreed to an expanded mission Thursday to develop and support projects that more effectively move cargo to points around Southern California, ease truck congestion, improve air quality and make roads safer.

The Governing Board of the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority (ACTA) unanimously adopted several recommendations that would improve the flow of cargo from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to the rest of the region. While the Alameda Corridor provides an uninterrupted express railway for cargo for transcontinental rail lines, an improved regional intermodal network is needed to deliver local cargo to the Southland's major freight distribution centers.

"ACTA's extensive expertise and experience in identifying and developing innovative projects are resources that should be brought to bear on developing goods movement solutions on a regional scale," said ACTA Board Chairman and Long Beach Vice Mayor Frank Colonna. "We have the institutional know-how, the government structure and stature to play a major role in solving what is the most vexing problem facing our region and our transportation infrastructure today."

ACTA's governing board, which includes representatives from the cities and ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, as well as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, directed the agency to:

-- Coordinate with the ports, shippers, wholesalers and retailers to work together on expanding the operating hours of the intermodal distribution system

-- Develop a proposal to optimize existing on-dock rail capacity

-- Evaluate the viability of a regional shuttle train operation

-- Support the development of a new near-dock ICTF

-- Continue working with Caltrans to plan the State Route Expressway/Commodore Schuyler Heim Bridge project

-- Participate in goods-movement studies with the MTA and other agencies.

The recommendations were made to the ACTA Board by its Ad Hoc Committee on Goods Movement. The committee, formed by ACTA in September to evaluate a potential expanded role, is composed of Colonna, Los Angeles City Councilwoman and ACTA Board Vice Chair Janice Hahn, Los Angeles Port Commissioner Thomas Warren and Long Beach Port Commissioner James C. Hankla.

"We can't wait any longer to reduce truck congestion in the region, and we must look at all of our options," said Hahn, an early proponent of expanding operational hours at the ports.

This method is currently being successfully implemented at other large international port complexes.

ACTA CEO John T. Doherty said, "These proposed projects could significantly improve the region's goods-movement system while reducing truck congestion on local freeways."

Existing surplus capacity of on-dock rail facilities, for example, could be utilized more efficiently to reduce the number of trucks departing port terminals.

In response to the significant growth of new warehouse distribution centers in the Inland Empire, ACTA will evaluate the development of an inter-regional shuttle train system to deliver cargo to these inland distribution centers. A short-haul system would augment Alameda Corridor cargo destined for transcontinental shipment.

In addition, ACTA will support efforts to develop a new near-dock facility where containers can be loaded onto rail that would transport containers via the Alameda Corridor and eliminate those trucks on freeways destined for downtown rail yards. Union Pacific Railroad operates one such facility in the harbor area, and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway is considering a site in the Wilmington area.

ACTA will continue to cooperate with Caltrans on planning efforts to improve State Route 47 (SR47). Preliminary studies indicate that replacing the Commodore Schuyler Heim Bridge and building an elevated connection between the north side of the new bridge and Alameda Street at Pacific Coast Highway would reduce truck traffic on the Long Beach (710) and Harbor (110) freeways, as well as surface streets. The proposed project would improve traffic safety and congestion in the Wilmington area by eliminating five at-grade rail crossings and three traffic signals on SR47.

Opened in April 2002, the Alameda Corridor consolidated train traffic from four branch rail lines into a high-speed freight rail expressway stretching 20 miles between the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles and the transcontinental rail yards and railroad mainlines near downtown Los Angeles. It eliminated conflicts at more than 200 street-level railroad crossings, thereby reducing traffic congestion and air pollution.

The project was built on time and on budget by ACTA, a joint powers authority formed by the Cities and Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The seven-member Governing Board is comprised of two representatives from each Port, one from each City, and one from the MTA.