Cargo fee to raise funds for harbors

Los Angeles and Long Beach harbor commissioners Monday approved a cargo fee to help raise $1.4 billion over seven years for highway, bridge and rail projects intended to ease traffic and improve air quality.

The fee of about $15 will be assessed on every 20-foot container entering and leaving the ports beginning Jan. 1, 2009. Funds generated will be used to match Proposition 1B funds, which California voters approved in 2006 to help pay for major transportation and air-quality improvement projects.

“The fee is essential to the ports’ progress in cutting the amount of traffic congestion and diesel pollution at the ports,” said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in a statement.

In December, the ports approved a separate cargo fee of $35 per loaded container to generate about $1.6 billion to help replace and retrofit old, polluting trucks.

-- Louis Sahagun