$336m Railroad Trench Project Kicks Off Construction

San Gabriel Trench Project will eliminate traffic delays, collisions and reduce emissions at four railroad crossings; create 8,900 jobs
 Federal, state, local and railroad officials gathered before an audience of more than 150 people today to kick off construction of a concrete-walled railroad trench reaching 30 feet deep, 65 feet wide and 1.4 miles long through the City of San Gabriel.  The grade separation project will separate trains from vehicles, eliminating vehicle delays and deadly collisions at four crossings and reducing emissions from idling cars and trucks forced to wait for passing freight trains.

 Street bridges spanning the San Gabriel Trench will be constructed at Ramona Street, Mission Road, Del Mar Avenue and San Gabriel Boulevard, which are used daily by nearly 90,000 motorists. Once completed in 2017, cars, trucks and emergency vehicles will no longer need to wait for an average of 18 trains per day, projected to increase to 61 trains per day by 2025 if a second track is installed as planned by Union Pacific Railroad.
The project is an investment in the Alameda Corridor-East Trade Corridor, which accommodates about 60% of the port containers moved from the nation’s busiest container ports in the San Pedro Bay to the rest of the country via the region’s rail network.
 
“In addition to reducing congestion and improving air quality, this vital project is an important link in our regional strategy of moving cargo containers by train rather than in diesel trucks on our freeways,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor, ACE Board Member and current MTA Board Chairman Michael D. Antonovich.

 “The ACE Construction Authority is delivering on roadway-railway projects that will benefit our community by reducing vehicle congestion, improving air quality and improving shipping routes that benefit the entire nation,” said Congresswoman Judy Chu. “The San Gabriel Trench Project is one of the most complicated projects ACE is undertaking, but its efforts to protect the San Gabriel Mission while improving transportation infrastructure are critical to the preservation and rediscovery to the unique history of our region. I am proud to work in Congress to secure federal funding for freight projects like ACE that create vital infrastructure for a thriving future.”

“Los Angeles County’s sales tax for transportation was essential to funding the completion of the design plans for the San Gabriel Trench project, and the ACE Construction Authority can be provided the resources needed to complete other grade separation projects if voters approve Measure J on the November 6th ballot,” said Duarte Mayor John Fasana, the San Gabriel Valley’s representative to the LA County Metro Board of Directors