The Port of Los Angeles and a range of elected officials and industry leaders joined U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg Sept. 7 to celebrate the award of a $20 million federal Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) infrastructure grant for a critical road-railway grade separation project at the Port. The port said the infrastructure investment, along with funds from the Jobs Act, will support rail-roadway separation to improve truck access and speed cargo flow through the area.

“There is so much… 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.

The new roadway configuration will streamline truck access to an important container and chassis-access facility on the port’s Terminal Island, reducing traffic delays, truck dwell times and greenhouse gas emissions from idling vehicles.  

The project will entail construction of a four-lane, rail-roadway grade separation, which will  allow unimpeded truck access to an 80-acre marine support facility on Terminal Island, a central location serving all terminals in the San Pedro Bay port complex. Currently, access to this facility for chassis and empty shipping container storage is impeded by several heavily used rail tracks and a tunnel with low vertical clearance, both of which will be addressed by the project.

The port says that, when completed, the new rail-roadway will connect trucks directly to the highway system in two directions, resulting in a reduction of 2,500 truck-hour delays daily; a decrease of more than 3,000 metric tons of emissions per year; and a reduction of 1,200 truck miles traveled per day, which will also decrease accident potential in the area. The project will generate 300 new jobs.

The $20 million award comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation RAISE discretionary grant program, which received more funding under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed by Congress in 2021. RAISE grants focus on planning and capital investments that support roads, bridges, transit, rail, ports and intermodal transportation.