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Despite the current economic downturn, trade activity is straining the capacity of ports both in California and much of the rest of the nation. Measured by TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit containers), October activity at the Port of Los Angeles was the busiest in its 114-year history, while Port of Long Beach also broke its previous record reached this year in September.
The state ports play a crucial role in combating income inequality by supporting one of the state’s largest remaining centers of higher wage blue collar jobs. Yet, state transportation infrastructure spending continues to underinvest in one of the few areas where California retains a strong competitive advantage for these types of jobs. Driven by the climate change policies, the state’s infrastructure investments focus more on projects such as public transit—which even prior to the current downturn saw dramatic drops in ridership even as the systems were expanded—and High Speed Rail which has few if any prospects of either reducing emissions or benefiting lower income residents.
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