Plan to Ban Trucks During Peak Hours Clears Hurdle

Mayor Tom Bradley’s proposal to ban trucks from Los Angeles city streets during peak hours was approved Thursday by a City Council committee. But even if the innovative plan receives the backing of the full council, implementation still may be six to nine months away.

Bradley proposed the truck ban in September, 1988, but it remained bottled up in committees as trucking interests lobbied heavily against it.

Councilman Nate Holden, chairman of the council’s Transportation Committee, on Thursday called the plan a “great idea,” but said he still had many questions about how it would work.

One of the chief unresolved problems is whether changes in the city’s noise ordinance would be necessary to allow for late-night and early morning deliveries, he said.

Nevertheless, Holden and Councilman Hal Bernson, the other member of the Transportation Committee present, voted 2 to 0 to approve the plan.

The proposal now goes to the full council with a recommendation that the city’s Department of Transportation be given funds to hire additional staff to work out the logistics of the plan.

Bill Bicker, the mayor’s transportation specialist, said it may be six to nine months before all the details are worked out and the plan takes effect.