The Port and City of Oakland recently applied for a $40 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant through the U.S. Department of Transportation to help fund the first phase of the redevelopment of the former Oakland Army Base into a trade and logistics center. The TIGER III grant will be leveraged nearly 10-to-1 by local, state and private investment to launch the $438 million first phase of the OAB redevelopment, including:
• Construction of a new rail terminal on 40 acres of port property to enhance ship-to-rail connections and reduce truck traffic and emissions on local roads;
• Construction of new trade and logistics facilities for warehousing directly within the port area to help the port remain a competitive international gateway and to create more jobs in the region;
• Restoration of Oakland’s only deepwater break-bulk terminal to increase exports in support of President’s Obama’s National Export Initiative;
• Improvements to the backbone infrastructure of the former Oakland Army Base, including enhancements to Maritime Street and Burma Road, to support the overall OAB development; and
• Relocation of export-oriented recycling operations and trucking operations from impacted neighborhoods to the port area to benefit the local community and to improve these businesses’ operations.
If we are successful with our grant application, we will be able to create nearly 5,000 construction jobs in the near term and thousands more good blue-collar jobs in the long term,” says Oakland Mayor Jean Quan.
Port Executive Director Omar Benjamin says the project is competitive because it is intermodal – with rail, port and road components all focused on exports through one of the nation’s top five trade gateways. The project is leveraged nearly 10-to-1 with nonfederal matching funds and is supported by every level of government, including California Gov. Jerry Brown, U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer and U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee.”
Notification of TIGER III grant awards is anticipated by the end of the year. There is $527 million available nationwide, and DOT has received more than 1,000 applications totaling several billion dollars.
