Port Security Applied Policy Project - Belfer Center for Science and ...

Problem 2: Inaccessibility of the Port Complex
Consequently, many emergency response personnel will need to drive to the port
complex from other locations throughout Los Angeles County. As shown in Figure 2, the
110 Harbor Freeway and 710 Long Beach Freeway are the only major roadways into the
port area. These freeways carry more than 32,000 cargo trucks to-and-from the port each
day. Analysts project that the traffic will reach 91,000 trucks by 2020. 83 With freeway
congestion in mind, Los Angeles Fire Department Battalion Chief Louis Rupoli, who
works within the port complex at Station 49, cited concern that first responders may
experience significant delays while trying to get to the port complex after a terrorist
attack. 84
For example, downtown Los Angeles, where both the Los Angeles Police Department
and the Los Angeles Fire Department are headquartered, is about 27 miles from the Coast
Guard’s headquarters at Terminal Island. Therefore the estimated time of arrival for
vehicles traveling in mild traffic at 55 miles per hour on the Harbor Freeway between
these two locations is about 30 minutes. If a terrorist attack occurred during rush hour or
if the general population panicked and flooded the roadways, first responders and
reinforcements with vital equipment would be significantly slowed in gaining access to
the port. Professor Martin Wachs, the Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies
at UC Berkeley and former Transportation Advisor to Mayor Richard Riordan, advises
that one can “assume twice or three times the travel time under congested conditions”
between downtown and Terminal Island. 85 That is to say, what was a 30-minute trip
could take from one to one-and-a-half hours. Like civilian drivers, first responders could
do little to expedite this trip. 86
Local policymakers have already begun to address the Long Beach Freeway’s traffic
problems, but there are no short-term solutions. In addition to needing more traffic lanes,
the 1950’s-era infrastructure has outdated interchanges and narrow or non-existent
shoulders, all of which could also hinder the movement of emergency responders. 87 State
Assemblyman Alan Lowenthal from Long Beach and other officials are mounting a
campaign to rebuild the 18-mile southern stretch of the Long Beach Freeway to the port
complex. 88 A local stakeholder advisory group estimates that the project could cost as
much as $6 billion and take at least a decade to complete. 89
83
Don Jergler, “Freeway Change Debated,” www.presstelegram.com, 4 April 2003. Available from
http://www.presstelegram.com/Stories/0,1413,204~21474~1297180,00.html; Internet; accessed
7 April 2003.
84
Louis Rupoli (LAFD Battalion Chief), interview by Seth Jacobson, San Pedro, CA, 10 January 2003.
85
Martin Wachs (Director, UC Berkeley Institute of Transportation Studies), “RE: Los Angeles Port
Security,” Email to Seth Jacobson, 4 March 2003.
86
Brian Taylor, Email.
87
Deborah Schoch, “Designs Offered to Keep Freight Moving,” Los Angeles Times, 21 March 2003,
sec. B.
88
Deborah Schoch, “Hearings Set on Retooling of Long Beach Freeway,” Los Angeles Times,
27 March 2003, sec. B.
89 Ibid.
Allen, Clampitt, Hipp, and Jacobson 33