By Ron Thaniel
October 20, 2003

At a Board Meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, September 29 to October 1st, Long Beach Mayor Beverly O'Neill opened a set of panels discussing freight management and sustainable car usage.

O'Neill was joined at the meeting by the Conference's Executive Director Tom Cochran, Metropolis President Barcelona, Spain Mayor Joan Clos and host Istanbul Mayor Ali Mufit Gurtuna as well as international mayors and policy experts.

O'Neill, Advisory Board Chair of the Conference of Mayors noted that the history of her California city, like Istanbul, has been marked by an amazing amount of change, development and progress.

"Long Beach has a history of only 120 years while Istanbul's history stretches back more than two millennium. And from the beginning, trade was key to Istanbul. In the same way, trade has also been key to the history of Long Beach," O'Neill said.

In her remarks, O'Neill outlined strategic steps Long Beach and other U.S. cities have utilized to strengthen local economies, which are connected to international trade and the movement of freight and people to invigorate their economies.

However, fundamental to the exchange of ideas, Mayor O'Neill highlighted strategies utilized in U.S. cities to reduce the unsustainable and harmful impacts caused by freight movement and over reliance on the automobile.

The U.S. Freight Mobility Best Practice: Alameda Corridor

Focusing the international mayors and other participants on what is considered an international freight movement best practice to reduce overall congestion and related health consequences, O'Neill described the successes of Long Beach's Alameda Corridor, which connects the port of Long Beach with the transcontinental rail yards, and railroad mainlines near downtown Los Angeles.

The Port of Long Beach is one of the largest and most successful ports in the world. It is the second busiest port in the Western Hemisphere and covers more than 3,000 acres. It includes seven major container terminals, 81 working berths, more than 60 of the largest cargo cranes in the world and one of the deepest main channels in the world.

Half of the imported cargo moving through Southern California is sent by rail to the eastern half of the United States. With huge vessels and terminals moving unprecedented volumes of cargo, it became necessary to address the rail capacity of the region. As more trains moved from the Southern California ports, they blocked vehicles along the roadways that they crossed. And for safety reasons the trains had to move slowly as they crossed the roadways. More trains led to even more congestion. And more congestion led to even slower trains. The $2 billion Alameda Corridor sought to address this. Built as a dedicated rail corridor separated from street traffic, the Corridor is a 20-mile long expressway for trains.

O'Neill closed by stating that "the Alameda Corridor has demonstrated that a project can provide direct benefits to a region's quality of life while enhancing the economic benefits of international trade.

Key Benefits:

• Highway traffic delays and congestion significantly reduced.
• Rail, vehicular, and pedestrian traffic operations safer.
• Significant economic and environmental benefits realized.
• Railroad operations significantly improved.
• 77 percent reduction of track-miles.
• Elimination of conflicts at nearly 200 at-grade highway crossings.
• State-of-the-art train and traffic control systems.

Metropolis Association

Established in 1985, the Metropolis is an international network of global cities. While individually different, these major metropolises from around the world share modern-day concerns about issues such as urban planning and development, the economy, health, major environmental issues, transportation, infrastructure and communications.

Objectives of Metropolis

1. To foster cooperation between cities in dealing with problems that face major metropolises.

2. To represent the great metropolitan regions of the world, in collaboration with international organizations, other city organizations and civil society.

3. To facilitate an exchange of knowledge within the network of members.

Air Transportation was provided by American Airlines, the Conference's official airline sponsor for the Metropolis meeting in Istanbul. American Airlines, a member of the Mayors Business Council, also provided air transportation for the 2000 Transatlantic Summit of Mayors in Lyon, France, and the 2001 Transatlantic Summit of Mayors in Berlin Germany.