The Alameda Corridor is located in South Los Angeles County. It is considered a 20 mile expressway , owned by the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority, and connects the national rail system to the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. . It virtually runs along Alameda Street, and is also known as the 710 Freeway, or the Long Beach Freeway. The project began in 1981, in response to control the amount of traffic that was building up in the City. The Ports Advisory Committee was created by the Southern California Association of Governments due to the concern of the ability of the ground transportation system to handle the increase of traffic in the port area. The cost of the project was $2.4 billion. The Alameda Corridor is known for its “Mid-Corridor Trench.” The trench is known for being a ten mile, below ground, triple tracked rail line. Along with being 10 miles long, it is 33 feet deep and 50 feet wide. This corridor is shared with two major rail companies: BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad, by trackage rights. The Alameda Corridor allows trains to divert almost 90 miles of ground level railway lines that were created in the early 20th century. With the growth of the City of Los Angeles, trains would have to stop at least 200 times getting from the port to the city, wasting precious cargo and transportation time. At present, the Corridor allows trains to travel at a speed of 40 miles per hour. The Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles purchased the Corridor in 1994 for a cost of $235 million. It began operation in 2002, and relieved much of the 710 congestion. In 2007, the Corridor carried over 17,000 trains and 4.7 million 20 ton containers. Plans have been announced to reduce the amount of emissions released by the trains in the Corridor by electrifying the corridor. Caltrans is in the process of working towards this goal. http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/alameda/ http://www.acta.org/about/history.asp http://www.acta.org/corridor_performance.htm