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On Dec. 4, Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority's (ACTA) governing board directed the authority to develop and support projects designed to move freight more efficiently around southern California, ease truck congestion, and improve air quality and highway safety.

Although the Alameda Corridor provides an uninterrupted express railway to move freight between the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and connecting railroads and rail yards, ACTA board members believe an improved regional intermodal network is needed to move local cargo to major southern freight-distribution centers.

The board directed ACTA to work with the ports, shippers, wholesalers and retailers to expand the intermodal distribution system's operating hours; develop a proposal to optimize existing on-dock rail capacity; evaluate the viability of a regional shuttle-train operation; continue to work with Caltrans to plan the State Route Expressway/Commodore Schuyler Heim Bridge project; and participate in goods-movement studies with Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and other agencies.

The board also mandated that the authority help develop a new near-dock facility designed to load containers that would be moved by rail via the Alameda Corridor to eliminate trucks destined for downtown rail yards. Although Union Pacific Railroad operates a near-dock facility in L.A.'s harbor area, Burlington Northern Santa Fe is considering a facility in the Wilmington area.

"These proposed projects could significantly improve the region’s goods-movement system while reducing truck congestion on local freeways," said ACTA Chief Executive Officer John Doherty in a prepared statement.