(The following article by Erin Sherbert was posted on the Stockton Record website on October 31.)
STOCKTON, Calif. — There is a way to get more than 260,000 big rigs off area highways during peak commute times each year: Put them on trains.
The San Joaquin Council of Governments, the county’s transportation planning agency, wants to create a rail shuttle to ship cargo between the Port of Oakland and the San Joaquin Valley.
This would clear the trucks off highways during rush hour, which also improves air quality, council officials say.
The council’s board will consider whether to begin studying and implementing a rail shuttle at its December meeting, said Wil Ridder, COG’s regional planner.
The plan would link the Stockton, Modesto and Fresno markets with the Port of Oakland via rail. It would also look at a potential rail extension to Bakersfield.
With a rail shuttle, truckers would not have to travel clogged highways to make deliveries. Instead, the shuttle would ship cargo to local stations and freight hubs. From there, truckers would pick up the cargo and drive it a short distance to its final destination, officials said.
“Conceptually, it’s a great idea,” said Mike McWeeney, vice president for VPL Transport Inc., a Lodi-based trucking company that ships to the Port of Oakland. “If we could get more containers off the Altamont Pass, it would definitely help shippers.”
Initially, the rail shuttle is projected to divert about 60,000 trucks a year from regional highways, officials said. If the shuttle system is successful, they said it could eventually take as many as 260,000 trucks off the Bay Area and Central Valley highways annually.
That’s good news for the commuters who blame traffic on trucks.
“The more trucks they can get off the highways, the better,” said Mountain House resident Jon Rubin, who commutes across the Altamont Pass, a heavy truck route. “When I go over the Altamont Pass — the more trucks I see the slower the traffic is moving.”
The study will look at possibly running the shuttle on existing rail lines, including Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe. Another option is to use the Altamont Commuter Express train at night, when commuters are not using it, Ridder said.
Project manager Dan Smith said initial operating cost estimates are about $ 7 million a year. Where that money will come from remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, the Port of Oakland has started its own program to get trucks off the highways during peak commute hours. The port has extended its gate hours at one of its international marine terminals to allow truckers and shippers to make deliveries up to 2:30 a.m.
They hope to get about 300 truckers off the highway during rush hour. If it is successful, the port will likely open the other seven international terminals for late-night deliveries.