New, more productive transportation technol- 

 ogies will permit more efficient use of waterfront 

 space. A greater flow of trade and transportation 

 can take place using less area, thus releasing 

 valuable waterfront property for housing, open 

 space, or recreation purposes. New technology can 

 be applied to reduce the polluting of harbors and 

 estuaries. 



Any concentrated effort at port and urban 

 waterfront development and redevelopment must 

 involve several groups and will require a high 

 degree of cooperation between local governments, 

 regional planning groups, private interests, and the 

 Federal agencies. An effective program can be 

 visualized as having three major and closely related 

 components: 



—comprehensive surveys of regional port- 

 transportation requirements 



—development of action plans for port, harbor and 

 waterfront area renovation 



—integration of transportation and waterfront 

 renewal planning with programs for conservation 

 of estuarine resources 



' --.- ■ >ii, 



Figure 9. An innovation in cargo handling 

 which may have an impact on port requirements 

 is Lighter-Aboard-Ship (LASH). Such a vessel is 

 now under construction, (courtesy of Pacific Far 

 East Lines, Inc.) 



Comprehensive surveys are needed to determine 

 the optimum number and spacing of ports and 

 the harbor and specialized terminal facilities re- 

 quired to accommodate changing vessel and cargo 

 handUng technology. The surveys cannot be con- 



fined to harbor or port development only. They 

 must involve detailed analyses of trends in indus- 

 trial growth and location, commodity movements 

 and fleet composition; identification of implica- 

 tions, by regions, of projected economic activity, 

 traffic movement and vessel size; analysis of port 

 cargo handhng and associated facilities, including 

 all foreseeable technology required to accommo- 

 date prospective traffic; plus evaluation and re- 

 commendations for financial participation by 

 states, local political entities, and commercial and 

 industrial interests. 



The studies should explore all technological 

 alternatives of traditional harbor deepening, in- 

 cluding installation of offshore transfer facilities or 

 use of lightering vessels. Such alternatives may 

 greatly reduce both the financial and ecological 

 costs of accommodating supercarriers. 



As short and long-range transportation require- 

 ments become identified for harbor and port areas, 

 companion plans can be developed for rehabilita- 

 tion of land areas adjacent to harbors, including 

 consoUdation and relocation of cargo handling and 

 industrial facilities. The potential for offshore 

 handling of petroleum commodities, coupled with 

 the sharply rising use of containers, should provide 

 many opportunities for land clearance and rehabil- 

 itation. 



This is not to argue that waterfront operations 

 must be sheltered from pubUc view. To the 

 contrary, where the waterfront use is for port 

 faculties, the drama of docking and loading and 

 unloading ships has a special fascination for both 

 the local audience and tourists. 



Such operations could be made readily accessi- 

 ble to the public from observation galleries which 

 could include dock-side restaurants and educa- 

 tional exhibits. Whatever use is made of water- 

 fronts is enhanced if access is easy and attractive. 

 Where waterfronts are devoted to transportation, 

 the street or rail arteries could avoid the waters' 

 edge or be designed with tunnels, decks, depressed 

 grades, or other techniques that can contribute to 

 ease of public access to the area. 



Based on the material developed in this chapter, 

 a National port requirements study has been 

 identified by the panel as a primary need. This 

 recommended study is further described in 

 Chapter 9. 



III-73 



