Local Officials Have Apparently Discussed Potential For "Truck Inspection Facility" on 710 Fwy North of 405; Details Sketchy

One of the things that we would certainly want to do is make sure that it doesn't congest the Port any more than it currently is. If you're stopping trucks on the outbound side through an inspection station, we don't want to cause more congestion. One of the ideas I think that CalTrans and Highway Patrol were talking about is moving it up on the I-710 into a location that would allow for adequate pulloff and inspection of trucks and those kinds of things. I'm not familiar with a location right in the harbor that they've been talking about...

Madam Mayor, I'm going to make a statement too: Ditto. I want to stay with the fact that we are in a process of expanding the Port...I want to know when we're going to stop this Port expansion to the detriment of the community. I have some serious questions. One of the things you said, and not to chastise you sir, but you said we're going to put a truck inspection station out on the 710 because we don't want to congest the Port, so you'll put it in my backyard, and my neighbor's backyard...I think we need to change that thinking process. I think we need to look at our citizens, and the health of our citizens, over this robust expansion that we're going after, that nobody in the community in this city really wants. Your job is to create the best Port in the world and I understand that, but it's at the detriment of the citizens of this community, and we've got to start asking those questions.

I think over the past several years, the Port has tried to be a responsible environmental steward and to grow responsibly. The Intermodal Container Transfer Facility that was built in the mid 1980s was a forward thinking project to try to bring more cargo on rail. The Alameda Corridor was another project to try to encourage more traffic to go off the freeways and to get on on-dock rail. We're continuing to do those types of things.

The inspection station that you both referred to. That's not a Port-driven or directed project. That's either CalTrans or its the Highway Patrol. We're not encouraging that to be something that's initiated by the Harbor Dept. as far as an inspection station. That is not something that we would control. It's not something that's in our jurisdiction.

I think we are going to reach a point where there is going to be the ability to not be able to grow either physically or be able to handle more cargo. I think you're going to get to a saturation point where cargo will divert to other ports. I don't think we will continue to grow physically.