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LOS ANGELES COUNTY –
Gill V. Hicks, General Manager and Chief Operating Officer of the Alameda
Corridor Transportation Authority (ACTA) and a key architect of the rail cargo
expressway project, has announced that he will leave the agency at the end of
the year.
Hicks has been instrumental in transforming the Alameda
Corridor from a concept, to a planning project, to a full-scale construction
project. Before joining ACTA as its first general manager when the public agency
was formed in 1989, Hicks authored a Southern California Association of
Governments (SCAG) study calling for a rail cargo expressway linking the ports
of Long Beach and Los Angeles to the rail yards near downtown Los Angeles.
He later managed the activities of the Alameda Corridor
Task Force, a 20-member SCAG panel charged with developing an implementation
plan for the Alameda Corridor.
“With the Alameda Corridor project in full-scale
construction, now is a good time for me to pursue opportunities in the private
sector,” Hicks said. “I am grateful for the opportunity to work on a project
of such importance, and I am confident that we have put in place an efficient
organization and a team of professionals that will complete the Alameda Corridor
on time and on budget.”
Hicks said he plans to form a consulting firm specializing
in transportation-related projects.
Los Angeles City Councilman Rudy Svorinich, Jr., Chairman
of the ACTA Governing Board said: “As the heart of the Alameda Corridor, Gill
Hicks has worked tirelessly to make this project the national priority what it
is today. In the past seven years,
it has been a privilege to work with him.”
ACTA Chief Executive Officer James C. Hankla praised Hicks
for his leading role with the Alameda Corridor.
“The importance of Gill Hicks to the Alameda Corridor
project cannot be overstated,” Hankla said. “He wrote the concept paper
calling for the Alameda Corridor, helped form the agency that is building the
project, and led ACTA during the critical years of securing the necessary
financial and political support, and planning and commencing construction. We
will obviously miss his multiple and varied skills.”
A tribute to Mr. Hicks is scheduled for the ACTA Governing
Board meeting of Thursday, January 11, which begins at 9 a.m. in the 6th
Floor Board Room at the Port of Long Beach, 925 Harbor Plaza, Long Beach.
ACTA is a joint powers agency that includes the cities and
ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. The $2.4 billion project will speed the
flow of cargo and ease traffic congestion by eliminating conflicts at more than
200 at-grade railroad crossings. Construction began in May 1997, and the Alameda
Corridor remains on schedule to open in April 2002. Congress has identified the
Alameda Corridor as a “project of national significance.”
CONTACTS:
PHIL HAMPTON (562) 435-5551
BERNIE EVANS (310)
233-7480
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