Local elected officials will kick off construction of a roadway underpass project under ACE Construction Authority at a hazardous railroad crossing. This $75.9 million project will eliminate traffic delays, collisions, and noise at the crossing.
WHAT: Federal, state and local officials will gather to kick off construction of a four-lane roadway underpass with double-track railroad bridge to replace a hazardous and congested railroad crossing at Baldwin Avenue in the City of El Monte. Baldwin Avenue carries 28,000 vehicles per day, connects Interstates 10 and 210 and is crossed by a daily average of 20 Union Pacific freight trains. Project cost is estimated at $75.9 million. Once completed in 2015, the project will eliminate crossing collisions and delays for emergency responders. The project will reduce vehicle emissions from idling cars and trucks waiting for trains, create 1,370 jobs over two years of construction and eliminate train horns and gate alarms. Two collisions have been logged at the crossing over the last 10 years. The project is an investment in a program of grade separations along the Alameda Corridor-East Trade Corridor, which accommodates about 60% of the containers moved from the nation’s busiest container ports in the San Pedro Bay to the rest of the country via the region’s rail network.
WHEN: 11 a.m., Friday, February 1, 2013
WHERE: Construction site at 4216 Baldwin Avenue, El Monte (immediately northeast of the railroad crossing located on Baldwin Avenue between Valley Boulevard and Lower Azusa Road)
WHO: Congresswoman Judy Chu, State Senator Ed Hernandez, Assembly-members Ed Chau, Roger Hernandez, Norma Torres, Chris Holden and Ian Calderon, FHWA Associate Division Administrator Rick Backlund, California Transportation Commissioner Fran Inman, Caltrans District Director Mike Miles, Duarte Mayor & MTA Director John Fasana, MTA Chief Executive Officer Art Leahy, San Gabriel Councilman David R. Gutierrez, El Monte Mayor Pro Tem Norma Macias and other elected officials and community leaders.