New U.S. Rule May Collide With L.A. Plan for Truck Ban : Transportation: The federal regulation is designed to help interstate truckers. The mayor wants to keep big rigs off roads during rush hour.

Mayor Tom Bradley’s plan to ban most large trucks from city streets during rush hours may be imperiled by a new Federal Highway Administration rule intended to aid interstate truckers, federal officials said Friday.

Bradley’s plan, approved last November by the Los Angeles City Council, is an attempt to cut traffic congestion and air pollution and would be the first of its kind in the nation.

But the new federal rule, published in June, requires that truckers have unimpeded access to cargo terminals so that they can drop off and pick up their shipments. It also requires that truckers be allowed access to streets within at least one mile of freeways and highways so that they can stop for food, gasoline and repairs.

Kevin E. Heanue, director of planning for the Federal Highway Administration in Washington, said Friday that Bradley’s plan to place time restrictions on trucks may run afoul of the new rule. However, he said the administration cannot reach a conclusion about the plan’s legality until it is completed.

“We would have to look at the authority and rationale,” Heanue said. “Trucks have just as much right to congested road space as other vehicles.”

Bradley’s plan has not taken effect and it may not be ready until some time next year, Assistant City Atty. Shelley Smith said. The city attorney’s office and the South Coast Air Quality Management District are still working on the details, she said.

While Bradley’s plan need not be submitted for federal approval, officials said they could seek a court order to halt its implementation on grounds that the plan interferes with interstate commerce.

Despite the new rule, Smith said she is “optimistic” that the federal government will approve the plan.

But publication of the rule has buoyed the hopes of the California Trucking Assn., which has vehemently opposed the rush-hour restrictions since Bradley made the proposal nearly two years ago. The association has threatened to sue the city if the plan takes effect.

“We believe (federal) law does not permit a local authority to restrict traffic in that manner,” said Elmer Brown, a consultant for the association. “This adds more weight to what we’ve said all along.”

Deputy Mayor Mark Fabiani said Friday he believes that the city can make a strong case for the legality of Bradley’s plan. A rush-hour ban may be permissible for safety considerations, Fabiani said. State engineers are now putting together statistics that would bolster such an argument, he said.

Under the federal rule, states and localities can restrict truck traffic only for reasons of safety.

Fabiani said the city may also argue that congestion is a safety consideration.

However, the federal government has rejected that argument in the past. “Congestion per se is not a recognized exception,” Heanue said.

In 1982, over the objections of some Eastern states that cited safety concerns, federal officials opened all interstate highways to tandem trucks.

The city will also argue that the rush-hour restrictions are not an “unreasonable” burden on truckers, Fabiani said. “If we were saying no trucks can ever use the road,” he said, “that’s clearly unreasonable.”

Fabiani said the city is doing everything it can to accommodate truckers, including changing the hours the port is open for pick-ups and deliveries.

If all else fails, Fabiani said, the city will push for congressional action to change the law or grant an exemption to Los Angeles.

Steve Guhin, a planning official in the highway administration’s California office, said the potential conflict between the rule and the Los Angeles ban is a “sticky” question.

“We’re kind of in the middle right now because we don’t have anything specific to take an action on,” Guhin said.

If the plan is not satisfactory, he said, the federal government will probably seek an injunction in federal court.

“There’s been a lot of discussion,” he said, “and everybody’s watching it.”

The new rule is an addition to the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982, which imposed a common set of regulations that all states must follow regarding interstate trucking. At the time, a number of “barrier states” had restrictions on truck size that made it impossible for certain vehicles to traverse the country.

The law is grounded in constitutional prohibitions against states interfering with interstate commerce.

One official said Friday that the Los Angeles rush-hour ban could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court in a test of competing rights.