Port operation altered to reduce truck traffic
Mar 2, 2005 10:03 AM, from staff and wire reports
Union Pacific is modifying its near-dock container transfer operation near the Port of Los Angeles to reduce truck traffic in and out of downtown Los Angeles CA. The change will help eliminate an estimated 500,000 truck trips annually from Los Angeles-area highways such as Interstate 710.
Union Pacific's Intermodal Container Transfer Facility (ICTF), four miles from the port, will load and unload nearly all LA Basin international marine containers not handled on dock. This eliminates the need to truck international containers to other Los Angeles-area intermodal ramps via busy highways.
International containers will continue to make the four-mile trip from the port to the ICTF via truck. However, once at the ICTF, international containers will be transferred to railcars and then travel through the Alameda Corridor to destinations across the United States--favorably affecting traffic congestion and air emissions in the LA Basin.
The new container handling policy will consume most of the ICTF's capacity. To accommodate anticipated growth at San Pedro Bay ports, Union Pacific and port authorities are considering expansion of the ICTF to handle an estimated 1.6 million marine containers annually.
