Alameda Corridor Agency Hires Industry Veteran as Director of Construction, Engineering.

Business Editors

LOS ANGELES COUNTY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 9, 2003

An industry veteran with 35 years' experience has been named Director of Construction and Engineering for the public agency that built the Alameda Corridor freight rail expressway and continues work on related transportation infrastructure projects.

John Doherty, who for seven years served as the Director of Construction for the agency's joint venture Alameda Corridor Engineering Team (ACET), begins work February 3 for the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority (ACTA), CEO James C. Hankla announced Thursday. Doherty, who will leave ACET to work for ACTA, succeeds Timothy B. Buresh, who is taking a position with the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Doherty will oversee all engineering design and construction management firms hired by ACTA, serving to ensure work is delivered on time and on budget. ACTA's current focus is building the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) Grade Separation, a mile-long bridge that will carry street traffic over Alameda Corridor mainlines, branch rail lines and Alameda Street in the Los Angeles port community of Wilmington. ACTA, which is managing design and construction under an agreement with the California Department of Transportation, is scheduled to select a prime contractor and begin construction in the next few months.

"John Doherty is a skilled engineer and construction manager who is intimately familiar with ACTA's mission and way of doing business, and he was instrumental in ensuring that the Alameda Corridor opened on time and on budget," Hankla said.

Hankla praised the work of Buresh. "A great deal of the credit for the successful completion of the Alameda Corridor on time and on budget rests with Mr. Buresh," he said.

"I have been honored to work on a project of such regional and national importance as the Alameda Corridor, and I look forward to continuing our tradition of delivering major projects on time and on budget," Doherty said.

Prior to his service on the Alameda Corridor, Doherty performed consulting roles on the Metrolink Commuter Rail Project, the Honolulu Rapid Transit Development Project and the California High Speed Rail Study with DMJM + HARRIS and Morrison-Knudsen. Doherty was formerly the Vice President of Operations of the Long Island Railroad, the nation's largest commuter railroad, where he served 24 years in various engineering, construction and operations capacities.

The $2.4 billion Alameda Corridor, a 20-mile freight rail expressway linking the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to the transcontinental rail yards near downtown Los Angeles, opened in April 2002 after five years of construction. By consolidating rail lines and eliminating grade separations, the project speeds the movement of cargo while reducing air pollution and traffic congestion. ACTA is a joint powers authority governed by the cities and ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.