Other Agencies with Actions or Authorizations:

Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service

Department of the Army, US Army Corps of Engineers - Regulatory

Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Description:

The City of Long Beach (COLB), acting by and through its Board of Harbor Commissioners (BHC), is proposing to construct the 12th Street Alternative in the POLB. The purposes of the proposed Project for the reconfiguration and expansion of the Pier B On-Dock Rail Support Facility are to: (a) Provide a sufficient facility to accommodate the expected demand of cargo to be moved via on-dock rail into the foreseeable future; (b) maximize on-dock intermodal operations to reach the long-term goal of 30 to 35 percent of cargo containers to be handled by on-dock rail; (c) provide a facility that can accept and handle longer container trains; and (d) provide a rail yard that is cost effective and fiscally prudent.

The proposed Project would be constructed in three phases over an estimated seven years and has an estimated opening year of 2025. Components of the proposed Project would include:

• Adding 31 yard tracks and five arrival/departure tracks, thereby expanding the yard from an existing 12 tracks (2 main line tracks, 10 yard tracks, and no arrival/departure tracks) to a total of 48 tracks (2 main tracks, 41 yard tracks, and five arrival/departure tracks);
• Providing for up to 10,000-foot long receiving/departure tracks;
• Widening the existing rail bridge over Dominguez Channel to accommodate one additional track; and
• Constructing an area for locomotive refueling within the yard.

Realignments and closures of some roadways would be required. Pier B Street would be realigned to the south, its geometrics would be improved, and two lanes of traffic in each direction would be provided.

• The realignment of Pier B Street would require the reconstruction of two intersections, at Anaheim Way and Edison Avenue.
• The existing at-grade 9th Street railroad grade crossing would be closed and the Shoemaker ramps removed.
• Pico Avenue would be realigned to the west beginning at the I-710 ramps south to approximately Pier D Street, allowing space for four additional tracks between Pico Avenue and the I-710 freeway.
• Areas needed for new rail tracks would require the closure of portions of 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th streets and Edison, Jackson, Santa Fe, Canal, Caspian, Harbor, and Fashion avenues between Anaheim Street and Pier B Street, in the City of Long Beach.
• Portions of Farragut, Foote, Cushing, Macdonough, and Schley avenues would be closed in the vicinity of existing railroad right-of-way (ROW) in the City of Long Beach.

The proposed Project would be located in two POLB Planning Districts (the Northeast Harbor and North Harbor); the site also includes the Wilmington-Harbor City Community Plan Area of the City of Los Angeles. The Project site is generally situated between Dominguez Channel to the west, Interstate 710 (I-710) to the east, Ocean Boulevard to the south, and Anaheim Street to the north. The proposed Project area includes rail tracks that extend west beyond the Terminal Island Freeway (State Route 103) to just west of Dominguez Channel, where they connect with the Alameda Corridor, and also south as far as Ocean Boulevard. In addition to privately owned property, a variety of public agencies own property within the Project site and in its vicinity, including the POLB, COLB, City of Los Angeles, Port of Los Angeles, Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroads; Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority; Los Angeles County Flood Control District; and Southern California Edison.