Port to Quicken Pace on B Street Realignment Plan

Moving forward with a promise to rebuild one of Wilmington’s most heavily traveled roads, the Los Angeles Harbor Commission has agreed to accelerate the $53-million realignment of B Street for completion in mid-1995.

The action follows a recent agreement, prompted by state legislation, that the port would set deadlines for several public works projects in Wilmington, a community hard hit by truck traffic to and from the harbor.

Previously, the port and community had agreed that the project’s completion would follow the gradual acquisition of properties needed to realign B Street and redirect trucks to a new roadway between the Harbor Freeway and Alameda Street.

But with truck traffic increasing, the new plan commits the port to accelerate its purchase of properties needed to complete the project and, if necessary, use condemnation proceedings that would later require approval of the Harbor Commission and Los Angeles City Council.

The project’s construction is slated to begin in 1994.