For the goods of the public.

Moving the staggering amount of goods that pass through the Southland's transportation system every day -- from containers of auto parts and computers to bulk molasses and coal and everything in between -- is an intricately choreographed task.

It combines the collectively cooperative efforts of three of the nation's largest railroads, literally hundreds of motor carriers, scores of distribution facilities and warehouses, and ocean and air shipping terminals. It almost goes without saying that all of these rely totally on the maintenance and smooth operation of a tightly woven system of roads, highways and rail right-of-way.

Forecasters plotting the growth of Southern California's economy and its growing importance to the economy of the region and the nation predict that the already overwhelming amount of cargo moving through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will skyrocket from last years record level of 99 million metric tons to 210 million metric tons by the year 2020 -- an increase of 121 percent.

Regional approach

Regional transportation experts, while delighted with the prospect of trade surging at record levels over the next 25 to 30 years, began several years ago to voice serious concerns about the capability of the region's transportation system to handle that projected growth.

In December, 1984, the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) proposed a regional planning committee be formed as the result of a two-year study on transportation access to both San Pedro Bay ports.

The outcome of the committee's recommendations was the development of the Alameda Corridor -- a 20 mile transportation channel designed to facilitate the movement of trucks and trains moving between the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and the inland distribution centers dispersed throughout the greater Los Angeles area.

According to the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority (ACTA), the agency charged with oversight of the project, the corridor will result in a 30 percent reduction in train operating hours, and a 75 percent reduction in the number of times trains have to stop to allow other trains to pass.

Reducing traffic jams

This, ACTA says, will reduce by some 90 percent the traffic jams caused by trains blocking intersections and throughways. This, ACTA claims, will eliminate more than 14,000 vehicle hours per day of delay by the year 2020 and an estimated 50 percent reduction in train-related noise and vibration in residential areas.

In addition, the agency says, the rerouting of trucks off of local freeways onto the corridor will reduce freeway congestion and dramatically reduce exhaust emissions. Reduced traffic delays at railroad grade crossing will lower the level of vehicle emissions even further, while the project increases the feasibility of electrifying the rail lines along the route.

The conceptual design for the $1.3 billion project has already been finished with the preliminary engineering work slated for completion early next year. The final design is expected a year later with construction -- some of which has already begun -- expected to swing into full gear by the end of 1994. Completion of the entire Alameda Corridor project is anticipated at the end of the decade.

Complicated project

"We're looking at a very, very complicated project with a lot of interests involved," says Gil Hicks, general manager of the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority. "It's a joint effort of both ports, the cities of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the six smaller municipalities that lie along the route, Caltrans, the L.A. County Transportation Commission, SCAG, and the L.A. County Board of Supervisors."

Not completely funded yet, the project has received substantial financial backing from the local government in the form of $40 million from the L.A. County Transportation Commission; $80 million from funds generated by Proposition 116 and a reciprocal $8 million from the Union Pacific, Southern Pacific and Santa Fe railroads; and $57 million from the federal Transportation Reauthorization Bill, a part of Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, signed into law by the president last December.

While the resulting $185 million falls far short of the proposed $1.3 billion needed to complete the project, Hicks is confident that funding will be provided as the importance of the project becomes clearer to those with their hands on the purse strings.

Growth response

"The ports are going to continue to grow and figures like those that are being projected can't be ignored," he says. "This project is vital to make sure that we can handle what's going to be coming our way."

The initial work on the project -- dubbed the Ports Access Demonstration Project, or PADP -- calls for the widening of Henry Ford Avenue and Alameda Street from four to six lanes between the Terminal Island Freeway (S-47), near the Port of Los Angeles, and Route 91 in Carson, with grade separations at Carson Street, Del Amo Blvd., Pacific Coast Highway, Sepulveda Blvd., Anaheim Street, and Alameda Street at Laurel Park Road.

One grade separation, at Rosecrans Avenue and Alameda Street, was completed and has been in use since last March.

The PADP also calls for the future extension of the widening of Alameda Street to continue as far north as the Santa Monica Freeway (I-10).

Railroad component

The railroad component of the corridor project is to consolidate the movement of the Union Pacific, Southern Pacific and Santa Fe railroads onto an improved right-of-way paralleling Alameda Street.

South of Route 91 the improvements will be at-grade (ground level) with east-west separations, while north of Route 91, two distinct options are being considered.

The first option is a grade-level rail line with east-west separations, while the second is a depressed (below ground-level) railway, with the tracks resting in a trench, 33 feet deep and 47 feet wide. Both options are being evaluated in an environmental impact report due out this month.

"Most of the railroad right-of-way along the corridor route is owned by the Southern Pacific Railroad and we're currently having some very positive meetings with them to acquire some of their property," says Hicks of ACTA. "We're getting very good cooperation from everyone involved and the smaller cities along the corridor are especially pleased with the benefits they see coming from the project. They find the reduced traffic congestion and opportunities for redevelopment particularly attractive."

Immediate benefits

The key to the entire corridor plan is the elimination of transportation bottlenecks that choke the free flow of goods moving into or through the Southland via both ports, states Don Wylie, director of trade and maritime services at the Port of Long Beach.

"This project isn't like the groundbreaking of a building where it's usefulness is seen only after it's finished and people can move in," he says.

"The whole corridor project is designed so that each component can be of immediate use. The Rosecrans/Alameda grade separation is a good example of that. It's already smoothing the flow of traffic through the area."

The Alameda Corridor "is the most crucial project affecting this regions ability to handle the surge in cargo that's expected over the coming decades," he says.

"The economic well-being of the entire region rests on our being able to find the most efficient ways possible to handle the amount of goods that's going to be passing through our ports. And the corridor is the first and best step in doing that."

Michael D. White is a Los Angeles-based journalist specializing in international trade and transportation.