Panel Calls for Study on Freeway Truck Ban

A Los Angeles City Council committee Thursday called for a study on banning trucks from the Ventura Freeway during rush hours while the freeway is being resurfaced and widened.

But a Caltrans official said “a more reasonable solution” may be simply to ask truckers to alter their schedules voluntarily so that pickups and deliveries are made before or after the rush hours, as was done successfully during the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Jerry B. Baxter, deputy director of the state Department of Transportation in Los Angeles, said Caltrans nonetheless is “very enthusiastic” about the proposed study, which was approved by a 3-0 vote of the council’s Transportation and Traffic Committee.

‘At What Expense?’

“Anything that’s going to help move traffic, we’d like to look at,” Baxter said after the meeting. “The issue is: At what expense?”

He said a decision on the truck ban, which would have to be approved by the California Transportation Commission, will depend on the availability of alternate routes and the economic effect on the state.

The truck ban was proposed last week by Councilmen Michael Woo and Zev Yaroslavsky as a way to reduce traffic during the four-year Ventura Freeway renovation, scheduled to begin early next year. Trucks now account for 7.7% of the 270,000 vehicles traveling the freeway, daily, Baxter said.

Authorization Expected

The full council is expected to authorize the study, which would be conducted by government officials and representatives of the trucking industry.

Among his concerns about the proposal, Baxter said, is the lack of a convenient alternate route for trucks. There are no surface streets parallel to the freeway west of Calabasas.

Another concern is the effect on other freeways and surface streets. Baxter said he already has heard from a few Simi Valley residents concerned about the diversion of truck traffic from the Ventura Freeway to the Simi Valley Freeway.

Baxter told the committee that Caltrans has drawn up its own plan to keep traffic from getting any worse on the freeway--without banning trucks--during the construction period. The plan calls for, among other things, building a surface street north of the freeway connecting Parkway Calabasas with Warner Center and opening another lane for traffic on Ventura Boulevard by prohibiting parking during the morning and evening rush hours.

Caltrans did not study a truck ban before it came up with its plan, Baxter said, because “our goal was to try to ensure, during construction, that we didn’t make conditions worse. We didn’t have a goal to make it better.”

No Trucking Representatives

Noticeably absent from the committee meeting were representatives of the trucking industry.

An official of the California Trucking Assn., which represents about 2,500 freight hauling businesses with about 35,000 vehicles operating in the Los Angeles area, said last week that the organization would oppose such a ban.

“This will not only inconvenience the truckers, but the users of trucking services,” said George Smith, a director of the association. “It will drive up the cost of transportation and that added cost will trickle down to the public.”

“It’s not going to quadruple the price of lettuce,” Yaroslavsky said Thursday. “If that’s the case, maybe we should ban automobiles, and the price of lettuce will come down 75 cents.”

Adding a Lane

Caltrans plans to add a lane to each side of the freeway between the Hollywood Freeway and Parkway Calabasas as well as replace the pavement at Valley Circle Boulevard, starting early next year.

Under the Woo-Yaroslavsky proposal, the task force studying the issue would be convened by the city Department of Transportation and include representatives of Caltrans, the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, the California Highway Patrol, the Los Angeles Police Department, Southern California Associations of Government and the trucking industry.

The motion asks for a progress report from the group within 30 days.