California Funds $1.5 Billion in Port Infrastructure Upgrades

California is investing more than $1.5 billion to modernize and upgrade the state’s key ports.

California Governor Gavin Newsom yesterday announced that $1.2 billion will fund 15 projects, creating an estimated 20,000 jobs and increasing the capacity to move goods throughout the state’s global trade gateways while lessening environmental impacts on neighboring communities.

Administered by the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA), $350 million was also awarded to 13 projects that eliminate street-level rail crossings to make critical lifesaving safety improvements, reduce emissions and keep goods and people moving.

Projects receiving funding will help boost capacity to move goods through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach—the busiest ports in the Western Hemisphere—as well as enhance all major trade centers throughout the state—from San Diego to the Central Valley to the Bay Area. The high-priority grade separation projects, the majority of which are funded through the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program, will improve safety and reduce conflicts and delays at railroad crossings, helping enhance the state’s freight and passenger rail systems.

The funding—particularly the investments in zero-emission projects, which account for nearly 40% of the Port and Freight Infrastructure Program awards—builds on a partnership between the governments of California and Japan announced this March to collaborate on strategies to cut planet-warming pollution at seaports and establish green shipping corridors as part of the state’s broader strategy to aggressively combat and adapt to climate change.

The investments also follow the California Transportation Commission’s recent approval of $1.1 billion for infrastructure improvements on high-volume freight corridors as part of the Trade Corridor Enhancement Program (TCEP)—for a total state investment in supply chain infrastructure of more than $2.6 billion in the past week.