Goods Movement
The SCAG region is the national gateway for goods, with the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach (POLA/POLB) accounting for 40% of the containers entering the country and 24% of exports. The Goods Movement industry plays a vital role in the local economy with 1 out of every 7 jobs in Southern California involved in international trade. The SCAG region is highly competitive in Goods Movement with its extensive network of seaports, airports, roadways, railways and intermodal transfer facilities. Despite the recent economic downturn, international trade will continue to have a strong economic impact over the long term with container volumes expected to grow three fold by year 2035.
More than 75% of containers that are arrive at the ports wind up getting transported by trucks. Truck trips are expected to more than double on major freeways by 2030. The rise in container volume at the ports will also see projected increases in the number of freight trains, which is expected to double as well by 2025. The movement of containers from the ports bound for local and national markets poses serious concerns about congestion and air quality, which has significant impacts for businesses and residents throughout the region.
SCAG and its federal, state and local partners are making
investments in the transportation infrastructure to handle
current and future demand. Some of these investments are being
directed at improving the flow of goods from the ports to
warehousing and distributions centers located inland and in
neighboring states. As investments are being directed to deal
with capacity constraints in the transportation system, SCAG and
its partners are looking to employ Intelligent Transportation
Systems (ITS) to improve the efficiency in which goods are
transported using the existing infrastructure. These ITS projects
deploy technology strategically to improve the flow of goods
through better communications, data sharing, and coordination.
The application of ITS to Goods Movement builds upon the
successful examples of ITS delivering benefits to drivers through
traveler information and trip planning, as well as active
management of traffic on arterials and freeways.
To learn more about goods movement services in the region, view
the information in the Good Movement Regional ITS Architecture Elements and
the Recommended Goods Movement Subregional ITS Architecture Elements documents.