Rep. Barragán Hosts Secretary Pete Buttigieg at Port of Los Angeles to Celebrate $20 Million Infrastructure Grant

Pete Buttigieg, Eric Garcetti and Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán celebrate Infrastructure Law’s RAISE Grant at POLA. Photo by Arturo Garcia-Ayala

SAN PEDRO — Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán (CA-44) Sept. 7, hosted Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg at the Port of Los Angeles to celebrate the $20 million Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity or RAISE Grant awarded to the Port of Los Angeles.

Regional projects awarded RAISE Grants this year are:  

• The funding, part of President Biden’s Infrastructure Law passed last year, will fund construction of a four-lane, rail-roadway grade separation that will eliminate a significant truck access impediment to an important container terminal support facility located on Terminal Island, at the center of the Port of Los Angeles-Long Beach or POLA-POLB complex. This infrastructure improvement will help the Port of Los Angeles decrease emissions, reduce container dwell time, decrease truck turn time, increase cargo and enhance the safety of truck drivers in and around the port.
• $15 million for the Inglewood transit connector project
  This project will complete an approximately 1.6-mile fully-elevated, automated transit system with three stations to fill a critical gap in the region’s transit system on segments along Market Street, Manchester Boulevard and Prairie Avenue.

Currently, access to the San Pedro Bay port complex 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.

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.

Also in attendance were Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, executive director, Port of Los Angeles Gene Seroka and union representative, Joe Buscaino CD15 councilmember, International Longshore and Warehouse Union or ILWU Local 13 Sal DiCostanzo.

Senators Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla (both D-Calif.) Sept. 6, announced that eight local governments, transit agencies and tribes in California will receive more than $119 million in grants from the Department of Transportation or DOT. This funding comes from the RAISE discretionary grant program. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that the senators voted to pass last year increased the funding available for the RAISE program.

RAISE projects are reviewed and selected by DOT based on merit. Projects are evaluated on statutory criteria of safety, environmental sustainability, quality of life, economic competitiveness and opportunity, state of good repair, partnership and innovation. New this year, under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, 2022 RAISE applications were also evaluated on the criteria of mobility and community connectivity. DOT assesses projects for universal design and accessibility for travelers, and considers how proposals increase mobility for freight and supply chain efficiency.