Trucks and Clean Air

Late on a weekend evening, when the freeways are not clogged and traffic races along, it is possible to drive from Pasadena to Irvine in an hour. But Monday through Friday, during the rush hour, the freeways and streets of Los Angeles slow to a crawl. Traffic to a city is like blood to the body; without good circulation they both begin to die. Just as the middle-age man who suffers from hardening of the arteries must change his diet and exercise, so the people of greater Los Angeles must take dramatic steps to deal with worsening traffic and smog.

Mayor Tom Bradley has announced a plan to relieve congestion by restricting truck traffic during rush hour. The plan would bar 70% of large, heavy-duty, three-axle trucks from operating on city streets from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. In cooperation with the mayor, the South Coast Air Quality Management District will consider regulations that would require major shippers and receivers, defined as those who receive five large trucks a day, to stay open for a certain number of hours at night.

The plan does not apply to the freeways but, because a high percentage of heavy trucks end up on city streets, officials believe truck traffic on the freeways will be reduced as well. Recent attempts by Connecticut and New York to restrict heavy trucks on major highways was ruled a violation of the interstate commerce regulations. Heavy trucks account for only 4.4% of the Los Angeles region morning rush hour but are involved in more than one-half of the major accidents that snarl traffic and give commuters fits.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District reports that large trucks make up only 4% of the registered vehicles in the Los Angeles Basin but produce 17% of the air pollution. When freeway speed is increased from 30 m.p.h. to 55 m.p.h. ozone and carbon monoxide from cars and trucks is reduced by 40%. Clearly, unclogging the streets and freeways would help Angelenos breathe better.

The mayor’s plan is modeled after a voluntary arrangement used during the 1984 Olympics when commercial deliveries were made mostly at night. If approved by the City Council--where the plan may face vigorous opposition from trucking and retail business groups--the program will affect thousands of businesses and workers. Such major companies as S.E. Rykoff foods, Federal Express Corp., United Parcel Service of America, Boys Market and Jack in the Box have expressed support for the proposal. Other trucking companies and shippers/receivers question the need for a mandatory program, arguing that heavy-truck traffic is a small percentage of the problem.

Clearly, the rest of the commuting public will have to make sacrifices as well. During the next few years, all companies with more than 100 employees at a single work site in the South Coast Basin--Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and part of San Bernardino counties--will have to submit a ride-sharing program to AQMD. When the program is fully implemented in 1991 freeway congestion could drop by a quarter. Another important measure is for large and medium size businesses to stagger the beginning of the workday between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m.

The traffic and smog problem is beyond easy, painless solutions. Strong measures, like the proposed truck ban are required. Curbing trucks at rush hour, requiring a certain percentage of mandatory car-pooling, and staggering the beginning of the workday would all contribute to making traffic flow at the speed limit instead of literally inching along. Without change, Los Angeles will strangle itself as well as its citizens.