Letter: More intermodel transit needed in region

Thank you for allowing members of the public to voice their position on transportation.
This is my 50th year in transportation in Santa Clara Valley, starting after my junior year at Cupertino High, when I went to work for SPRR’s trucking subsidiary in San Jose.
This urban area (Silicon and Salinas Valleys) is the largest one on the North American continent without intermodel facilities. We used to have them in San Jose and Salinas, where tonnage could be diverted to TOFC/COFC rail service from highways.
Since axle weight is the single-largest factor in road surface and bridge support deterioration, why don’t our local “authorities” restore intermodel service to this region?
If tonnage is routed via intermodel service to North American, Canadian or Mexican destinations from this region, the trucks must deliver the containers to UPRR’s and BNSF’s ramps in Lodi and Fresno. Conversely, for westbound tonnage, we current deramp tonnage at those ramps and truck the loads to regional destinations.
Is VTA, COG, TAMC, SCCRTC, and other MPOs policy against intermodel service, the largest source of air pollution in the region?
How much industry, commerce, business and jobs have been lost since abandonment of the local “piggyback ramps” in Silicon & Salinas Valleys?
Unelected joint power authority “directors” call the policy a “success.”
Isn’t it just the opposite?
Joseph P. Thompson, Gilroy