Rich Tide of Commerce Being Dammed Up on Land : Ports require overhaul of vital transit link to downtown L.A. depots

Which infrastructure projects have the highest priority in Southern California? Since candidate Bill Clinton promised to increase federal spending for public works as a way to stimulate the economy, that question has sent agency administrators and interest groups scurrying to compile lists of long-delayed projects that need funding.

But the here-today, maybe-gone-tomorrow prospects for a large influx of federal funds should prompt an effort of a slightly different sort: Rather than finding projects to match whatever funds Congress finally authorizes, local leaders should instead seek consensus on regional needs first and then look for funding--from available federal as well as state, local and private sources.

One clear and pressing need is major improvement in the movement of goods to and from local ports along the Alameda Corridor. The Alameda Corridor is the major rail route that links downtown Los Angeles with the harbor area, so named because it runs roughly parallel to Alameda Street.

The Alameda Corridor is an indispensable link in the movement of goods and services in and out of California. While the adjacent ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach handle more containers than any other port in the United States--and with 21st-Century efficiency--the pace on land slows considerably. The cargo transit system along the Alameda Corridor is needlessly inefficient and slow.

About half of the 2.2 million containers transferred onto or off a ship at the two ports in 1991 left or returned by rail. Most of those containers are transferred between ships and rail cars by truck.

One of the rail lines operates out of a terminal four miles from the harbor; the other two rail terminals are near downtown, more than 20 miles from the harbor.

Most of the existing routes are not grade-separated, meaning that mile-long freight trains must stop frequently as they move slowly through congested urban and industrial neighborhoods, reaching a top speed of 20 m.p.h. but often crawling along at 10 m.p.h., until they arrive at transfer depots for interstate truck and train lines.

Many of the remaining containers move to and from the port by truck along the Long Beach and Harbor freeways, already heavily congested with other commercial traffic and with commuters.

Together the two ports already generate 19,000 truck trips and 25 train movements per day. By the year 2020, truck traffic is projected to increase to a mind-boggling 49,000 daily trips and 90 daily train movements.

This traffic contributes enormously to regional freeway congestion and, unless alleviated, could easily undermine the competitive advantage our fair-weather ports have over Seattle and Oakland.

That’s why the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority (ACTA), which includes representatives from local governments along the route, last month wisely approved long-discussed plans to consolidate much of the rail traffic from the three existing lines onto a single rail corridor between the ports and central terminal facilities near the Vernon area in Los Angeles.

Much of the proposed 20-mile-long track will be submerged in a trench below street level. Grade separation, with bridges for cars, will alleviate much of the street congestion caused by the existing rail lines and permit non-stop travel to and from the ports.

Two big hurdles remain before construction can begin. First, the three railroads that use existing corridor lines--Santa Fe, Southern Pacific and Union Pacific--must reach agreement with port officials on sale of their right of way.

In these negotiations the railroads, known to drive a hard bargain, should remember that it is in their best long-term interests to agree to a reasonable price for the right of way.

The second hurdle is financing. ACTA estimates that the project will cost close to $1.8 billion, excluding purchase of the right-of-way property. The authority expects to use a combination of federal, state, county, port and private funds. The federal government may cover about half of the total cost; some of those funds may come from President Clinton’s proposed “investment plan.”

Improvement of the Alameda Corridor rail line is a pressing regional priority.