[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 4728-4729]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        THE ALAMEDA CORRIDOR: A MODEL FOR PUBLIC WORKS PROJECTS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. STEPHEN HORN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 16, 2002

  Mr. HORN. Mr. Speaker, today, I want to pay tribute to one of the 
most successful public works projects in our nation's recent history. A 
$2.4 billion engineering masterpiece that will greatly bolster U.S. 
trade with Asia and Latin America and benefit our economy well into the 
future. The project, which covers a large portion of my district in 
Long Beach, California, is a 33-foot deep, 50-foot wide trench that 
allows freight trains to travel underground to and from the ports of 
Long Beach and Los Angeles to downtown Los Angeles.
  The 20-mile long corridor eliminated more that 200 railroad crossings 
and erected 30 new bridges. It will provide residents and travelers 
throughout southern California with much needed relief from traffic 
congestion and air and noise pollution. The corridor also reduces 
travel time for trains by more than half--allowing for increased trade 
goods to flow in and out of the ports.
  The Alameda Corridor celebrated its grand opening on April 12th. I 
joined with my congressional colleagues, Reps. David Dreier and Juanita 
Millender McDonald, as well as my good friend Secretary Norman Mineta 
and many other public officials who contributed significantly to the 
project's completion on schedule and within budget.
  Since planning for this project began in the eighties and continued 
throughout the early nineties, many hands contributed to its progress. 
But few were as instrumental in giving this project its wings. One of 
them was my predecessor, former congressman Glenn Anderson. He was 
chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Public Works. He 
gave excellent support to the Alameda Corridor when he was in good 
health. Former Congressman, and now Secretary of Transportation Norm 
Mineta followed him as chairman and continued with strong support. And 
Gil Hicks, without question, is the visionary who started the ball 
rolling with the planning group.
  I also want to mention another one of Norm Mineta's colleagues . . . 
Federico Pena, the former Secretary of Transportation. Without his 
judgement on putting up the money, nothing would have happened 
throughout the nineties. Other strong supporters were then Speaker Newt 
Gingrich, then Senate Majority

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Leader Bob Dole, and then Governor Pete Wilson. Every one of them was 
very helpful. And particularly the Congressional delegation from Los 
Angeles County. We had all sorts of things going at that time. The 
County was experiencing deep unemployment at the time. With the end of 
the Cold War, the major airplane manufacturing firms, and hundreds of 
suppliers closing their doors. The C-17 was the only airplane under 
production. But Mayor Riordan of Los Angeles and Mayor O'Neill of Long 
Beach persevered. They both came to Washington on numerous occasions. 
They were always successful in garnering support from the White House. 
With these people oiling the wheels, a lot was accomplished by a lot of 
people. And the winds of trade from Asia and Latin America are moving 
up that corridor and democracy is thriving. I want to thank all these 
fine people for what they have done. This project would not have 
happened without their hard work. The Alameda Corridor will serve as a 
model for congested cities across the country for years to come.

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