A train at the Pier B railyard at the Port of Long Beach. In September 2018, the port approved a plan to reconfigure the location to add more on-dock rail capacity. (File photo courtesy of the Port of Long Beach)
A quarterly update on the Pier B rail project at the Port of Long Beach will take place during a public meeting next month.
An additional public meeting, meanwhile, will also be announced soon to discuss the demolition of Shoemaker Bridge ramps in the Port of Long Beach — part of the ambitious Pier B on-dock rail facility — that is set to take place this summer.
The Pier B On-Dock Rail Support Facility project team will update the public on the overall status of the effort during a virtual quarterly community meeting at 10 a.m. March 4, a Wednesday.
The meeting can be joined via computer, phone and other mobile devices. A recording will be posted at polb.com/PierB for those unable to participate. Go to the port’s Zoom site to register.
Requests for translation must be received by Monday, Feb. 23. Contact Alice Castellanos at 562-283-7720 or alice.castellanos@polb.com for translation or assistance registering for the event.
The planned Pier B On-Dock Rail Support Facility is the centerpiece of the Port of Long Beach’s rail capital improvement program and a key part of POLB’s “Green Port” vision. It will shift more cargo to on-dock rail, where containers are taken to and from marine terminals by trains. Moving cargo by on-dock rail is cleaner and more efficient, as it reduces truck traffic. No cargo trucks would visit the facility.
The facility will be built in phases and as each is completed, capacity and operations will increase. Construction began in 2024 and the entire project is expected to be complete in 2032.
A separate meeting will also be announced soon about a project to demolish the ramps connecting the Shoemaker Bridge to the North Harbor Area, a key part of the Pier B development.
The planned demolition will take place this summer and will remove the Ninth and 10th streets on- and off-ramps crossing over the 710 Freeway. The current schedule calls for those ramps to be permanently closed this spring.
The ramps are not heavily used, officials said, and alternate routes will be available in the area, including via Willow Street, Pacific Coast Highway, Anaheim Street, Ocean Boulevard and the Queensway Bridge.
Motorists, officials said, will still be able to access the Shoemaker Bridge from West Seventh Street, West Third Street, West Ocean Boulevard and West Shoreline Drive, east of the Los Angeles River.
The work will require three temporary weekend closures this summer: first, the northbound 710, then the Shoemaker Bridge, and finally, the southbound 710. Those exact dates have not been set.
Now a $1.8 billion project, the Pier B rail facility is the centerpiece of the Port of Long Beach’s rail capital improvement program.
New port CEO Noel Hacegaba hailed POLB’s move toward cleaner, more efficient rail transport of cargo during his first State of the Port address on Jan. 15.
“(The Pier B project has) already catalyzed new synergies within the rail network that will add speed, predictability and reliability to the nation’s transportation system,” Hacegaba said. “We started a trend here in Long Beach by offering the most advanced, seamless connection to the nation’s railroads and now our partners are joining us to take it to the next level.”
Currently, he said, the average time from ship to train is just under four days.
“With Pier B, our goal is to get that down to 24 hours,” Hacegaba said. “Speed to market is the key to our success and rail connectivity is the key to our future. That’s why we are acting with urgency.”
A groundbreaking ceremony for the project took place in July 2024, and drew 500 people and several guest speakers, including former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.