Alameda Corridor General Manager Leaving For Private Sector; CEO Lauds Constributions
DECEMBER 15, 2000
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.”