The next step in formalizing the Port of Long Beach (POLB)’s $84 million Green Port Gateway Project (GPGP) began this past Tuesday with a kick-off celebration at the port’s facilities.

POLB has identified a multitude of projects that are needed in order to increase the efficiency of its on-dock rail capacity–the GPGP, within the Middle Harbor Terminal, being one of them. On-dock railing essentially eliminates truck trips by having rails directly haul containers to and from terminals.

The project will add some 29,000 feet of additional tracks that will create a third set of rails at the Ocean Boulevard/710 rail junction, infamously known for its bottleneck congestion since all rail traffic converges onto two railways. In addition, more than 300 jobs during its 21 months of construction will be generated along with a support rail yard for Pier F that will ultimately serve the Middle Harbor once completed.

The project, headed by Ames Construction in Corona, is expected to finish in July of 2014.