Port of LA Nets $20M Federal Infrastructure Grant

Image via Port of Los Angeles.

The Port of Los Angeles has been awarded a $20 million federal infrastructure grant to pay for a road-railway grade separation project.

The project calls for building a four-lane, rail-roadway grade separation, allowing for trucks to have easier access to an 80-acre marine support facility on Terminal Island, the port said. Currently, high traffic rail tracks and a tunnel with a low-height clearance has made it harder to access the facility for chassis and empty shipping container storage, according to the port.

The project is expected to improve that access.

When it’s done, the new rail-roadway is expected to link trucks to the highway system, a move that could lower as many as 2,500 truck-hour delays a day, over 3,000 metric tons of emissions annually and 1,200 truck miles traveled daily. The project is also expected to yield 300 new jobs.

“We’re proud to be here marking such important progress being made, but also recognizing that there is so much more to do to fix the supply chains that were torn up by the pandemic and to make them more resilient for years to come – and right here we have a great example of that,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who lauded the award Sept. 7 with port, civic and industry representatives.

“We are delighted to formally celebrate the award of $20 million to the Port of Los Angeles to reduce trucking delays and allow freight trains to move goods more rapidly, reducing shipping costs as part of the fight against inflation,” Buttigieg said.

By Karen Robes Meeks