Federal Highway Administration Opens Key Portion of Alameda Corridor East in Los Angeles County |
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Federal Highway Administration
17 June 2016
FHWA 37-16
Friday, June 17, 2016
Contact: Nancy Singer
Tel.: 202-366-0660
Nogales Street Grade Separation to improve safety, movement of goods
ROWLAND HEIGHTS, Calif. – Deputy Federal Highway Administrator David S. Kim today joined state and local officials to cut a ceremonial ribbon to open the Nogales Street Grade Separation Project, which will improve safety, reduce noise and emissions, and enhance freight movement in Los Angeles County. The project is central to the $4.6 billion Alameda Corridor East Trade Corridor Improvement Plan in Southern California, which is using $125 million in federal funds, to connect the nation’s rail network to the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
“Projects like this make it safer and easier for people to get to jobs and to access essential services—and we need more of them nationwide to balance the needs of local residents and the business community,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said. “Our broader goal is to support projects that provide opportunities to people while improving their quality of life.”
The $88.7 million Nogales Street Grade Separation Project, which relies on $22 million in federal funding, separates the two major rail lines, BNSF and Union Pacific, from local highways in the City of Industry, a Los Angeles suburb. These east-west rail lines move freight between the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles running parallel with SR 60—also a critical freight highway and connector to the two ports. Running north-south, Nogales Street provides important access to SR 60 for the commercial shipping industry.
“The goal with this project is to ensure the safe and efficient travel of goods and people in Southern California,” said Deputy Administrator Kim. “The intersection, once considered most dangerous, is much safer with the potential for train-vehicle collisions now eliminated.”
According to the Department’s report “Beyond Traffic,” approximately 10 million trucks moved more than 13 billion tons of freight across America’s highways in 2012. It is estimated that by 2040, freight volume will grow to 29 billion tons—an increase of 45 percent.
Nogales Street carries more than 45,000 vehicles a day, and where it intersects with the railroad, between East Walnut Drive and San Jose Avenue, it halts the route’s traffic whenever crossing gates are down for the passage of more than 50 trains each day, of which nearly 80 percent are freight carriers. The new six-lane roadway underpass and double-decker railroad bridge will eliminate these sizeable traffic delays along with the potential for rail-grade crossing collisions. The project will also substantially reduce train horn noise and emissions from cars and trucks idling while waiting for trains to go by.
The overall Alameda Corridor East project proposes highway-rail grade separations at 131 crossings in four counties – Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside.