11:30am | With the long-awaited release of the Draft Environmental Impact Report for BNSF’s new railyard along the Western border of Long Beach, informed stakeholders of the community as well as port-watchers are wondering: when will the rest of the picture come into focus? No less than six port infrastructure proposals that have been recently completed or are currently under environmental review are in the immediate environs of West Long Beach. This does not even include projects within the port itself, such as the new Inner Harbor Pier-S proposal or the massive Middle Harbor Terminal expansion currently underway.
While these varied projects will affect Long Beach’s Westside, the neighborhood will see even more immediate impacts from the billions of dollars of infrastructure investment in support of the movement of goods from the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. Unfortunately, the magnitude of these railroad and freeway projects is apparent to only the most informed members of the public, few of which will be directly impacted by the projects themselves. To provide a broad overview of these proposals and point interested readers in the right direction (there are hyperlinks to project descriptions), in what follows are bried descriptions of those various infrastructure projects surrounding West Long Beach.
1-Intermodal Container Transfer Facility (ICTF)
This proposed project would expand the existing Union Pacific Railroad-operated railyard, doubling its capacity while shrinking its operational footprint. The nearly 240-acre cargo transfer facility lies just over the western border of Long Beach, between Willow Street and Wardlow Road. The increased capacity (from 1.3 million TEU to 2.8 TEU) would be obtained by realigning tracks and replacing rubber-tired gantry cranes with larger, wide-span gantry cranes. (A TEU or “twenty-foot equivalent unit” is one common unit of cargo capacity, corresponding approximately to a single cargo container.) An important aspect of this proposal is that the entry gate would be shifted from Willow Street to Alameda Street, significantly reducing use of the Terminal Island Freeway north of Pacific Coast Highway.
2-Southern California International Gateway (SCIG)
This new proposed cargo transfer facility, slated to be over 150 acres in size and located just south of the Intermodal Container Transfer Facility, would be operated by the BNSF Railroad. It would be developed adjacent to West Long Beach, next to the Southern California Edison right-of-way between Pacific Coast Highway and Willow Street. The new railyard would employ rail-mounted, wide-span gantry cranes to maximize a 2.8 million TEU annual capacity. The proposal also includes replacing the train bridge over Willow Street and reconfiguring Pacific Coast Highway at the Terminal Island Freeway to facilitate truck movement.
3-On-Dock Rail Support Facility
This proposal would expand the existing Pier B railyard to serve a projected increase in port rail traffic. The over-100 acre facility would provide staging tracks up to 10,000 feet long. This would allow the facility to accommodate 8,000-10,000 foot long container trains for storage, as well as staging for surrounding rail facilities. The project would encompass the southern portion of the Westside Industrial Area below Anaheim Street, effectively expanding the Port of Long Beach northwards. Possible alternatives would remove or realign West 9th Street between the I-710 Freeway and the border of Long Beach and Los Angeles.
4-Schuyler Heim Bridge Replacement and Expressway
This proposal, from the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority, would involve replacing the Schuyler Heim Bridge with a fixed-span bridge and add an expressway between Ocean Boulevard on Terminal Island and Alameda Street, two miles away. The existing (and structurally deficient) lift bridge would be replaced with a fixed bridge. Additionally, Henry Ford Avenue would be replaced by a raised viaduct, providing grade separations at three intersections and five railroad crossings. This new bridge and expressway would directly connect Terminal Island with the Alameda Corridor, making the Terminal Island Freeway even more redundant.
5-Interstate 710 Freeway Expansion
This proposed 18-mile-long freeway expansion from the Port of Long Beach to the railyards of East Los Angeles would greatly facilitate the movement of goods. While the final configuration is still being determined, current proposals include separated truck facilities and carpool lanes. The scope of the freeway expansion would likely include improving six key interchanges with east-west freeways, as well as other major arterials between Ocean Boulevard and SR-60. Additional potential components to the proposal include realigning Shoreline Drive downtown to expand Cesar Chavez Park, as well as removing the Wardlow Road off-ramp on the Westside of Long Beach.
6-Gerald Desmond Replacement Bridge
A new cable-stayed bridge is being constructed to replace the current Gerald Desmond Bridge, which spans the Back Channel of the Port of Long Beach. The higher clearance of the new bridge will allow larger cargo ships into the Inner Harbor area, one result of which is the Pier S Proposal. The replacement bridge will also significantly expand capacity by adding travel and service lanes, as well as bicycle and pedestrian facilities. Southern California Edison transmission lines will be relocated as part of the project. The Gerald Desmond Replacement Bridge project also includes reconfiguring freeway and arterial interchanges approaching the bridge.
The Question: There is little doubt that the billions of public and private dollars being invested in these varied port infrastructure projects described above would result in significant economic development for the region and the nation. These six projects would create a critical mass of modern transportation, significantly expanding the capacity and efficiency of the port complex, but their impact is borne by a focused geographic area. Is there are larger strategy for mitigating the collective environmental impact of these projects on West Long Beach? Is there a grand vision for improving the quality of life for those residents and stakeholders most impacted by these projects?