New Rail Yards, Facilities Will Bring Jobs to Oakland

Redevelopment of former Army base will also relieve road congestion and improve air quality

CA-Oakland

There will be more than 12,000 total jobs attributed to OHIT and almost 4,000 direct jobs.

The City of Oakland and the Port of Oakland, in conjunction with private business partners, plan to create a vital international trade and industry center that will create jobs, increase global competitiveness, and provide a range of benefits locally, regionally, and nationally.  The strategic redevelopment of the former Oakland Army Base includes marine terminal improvements; a new intermodal rail terminal; trade and logistics facilities; and numerous other transportation infrastructure improvements.

The Port of Oakland’s Outer Harbor Intermodal Terminals (OHIT) Project, part of the larger Base redevelopment plan, is a $325 million redevelopment of 160 acres on the former Oakland Army Base.  It will create two new rail yards, accommodate 12,000 foot trains, minimize locomotive switching, and utilize state-of-the-art cranes.

“There will be more than 12,000 total jobs attributed to OHIT and almost 4,000 direct jobs,” according to Joseph Haraburda, President and CEO of the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.  “The direct local economic impact will be nearly $1.6 billion dollars of business revenue and more than $79 million in state and local taxes.”

The Chamber coordinated the Oakland Partnership — a public/private collaboration for the economic development of Oakland and its region — which emphasized the importance of the transportation and logistics industry as economic drivers.  The Oakland Partnership and other Northern California transportation coalitions all consider OHIT a top priority.
Oakland is the fourth busiest container port in the United States, handling 99 percent of the waterborne goods moving through northern California.

When completed, OHIT will offer green jobs as well as relieve congestion on roads, freeways, and rail lines adjacent to the Port.  Every freight train loaded at the port eliminates 750 truck trips.  The Port intermodal yards could eliminate 10,000 truck trips for every 3,500 intermodal containers unloaded and 3,000 intermodal containers loaded at the wharf.  Projections are that the rail diversion due to OHIT will remove approximately 1.5 million annual truck trips and more than 120 million VMT from regional street and highway networks.

“Our area’s outdated infrastructure needs projects like OHIT,” said Haraburda.  He added, that in order to be competitive domestically and internationally, the region needed bold projects that will improve the movement of goods.