UCI to Study Links between Freight Traffic and Pollution, Health Risks Near Southern California Ports
Irvine, Calif., Feb. 28, 2008 -- Pollution and public health concerns around the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports are being targeted by researchers at UC Irvine’s Calit2-affiliated Institute of Transportation Studies, who have received a grant to study commercial traffic patterns along routes serving the ports and evaluate alternative freight strategies that could help alleviate traffic and improve the quality of life for nearby residents.
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Novel, state-of-the-art models for simulating traffic and generating and dispersing road- and rail-vehicle emissions will allow researchers to better analyze the environmental impact of port operations. The results will be compared with socio-economic data to link freight traffic and air pollution levels to the relative health of local communities.
Alternative freight operation strategies to be analyzed include truck-only lanes and roadways, use of alternative fuels like biodiesel or hydrogen for trucks, electrified locomotives, and route shifting. Analyses could help determine how to best minimize environmental and health impacts of port activities on residents – particularly those living in the largely modest-income, minority communities along the transportation lines. These communities are especially vulnerable to health problems aggravated by toxic, diesel-fueled emissions dispersed by freight traffic.
The Long Beach and Los Angeles ports already handle about 40 percent of the nation’s container trade, and the volume of containers passing through the two ports has been projected to double in the next 20 years. The increase would profoundly affect this key freight gateway and growth could be halted unless solutions to landside congestion and air quality issues can be found.
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“The California Air Resources Board’s assessment that air pollution from goods movement now represents a major public health threat is quite shocking,” said Institute of Transportation Studies Director Stephen G. Ritchie, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at UCI who also is the project’s co-principal investigator. “We hope our study will generate new insights that will be helpful in mitigating the environmental and health impacts of freight corridor operations at the ports.”
The research team includes six faculty experts in engineering, economics, planning and public health. The team will focus efforts on the three major freight pathways that provide access to and from the San Pedro Bay ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach: The Harbor (110) and Long Beach (710) freeways, which accommodate thousands of trucks daily, and the Alameda Corridor, a 20-mile, rail-cargo expressway between the ports and the city of Los Angeles that currently carries about 50 trains each day.
The research, which is scheduled to receive about $220,000 in funding over the course of two years, is sponsored by the University of California Transportation Center, which is jointly funded by the California and U.S. Departments of Transportation.
“The ports are an essential gateway to the nation’s economy,” said co-principal investigator Jean-Daniel Saphores, an ITS affiliate and professor of civil and environmental engineering, of planning, policy and design, and of economics at UCI. “It is critical to improve their environmental performance so they can operate in a more sustainable way.”
ITS is a research unit established by the University of California to promote education, research and training in the transportation field. Irvine, Berkeley and Davis campuses all have ITS branches.
The institute at UCI includes a diverse group of faculty, students and staff representing the schools of business, engineering, social ecology, social sciences, and information and computer sciences, and strives to stimulate interdisciplinary research on contemporary transportation issues.
Media Contacts
Jason Mednick, 929.824.5951, jmednick@uci.edu