SoCal drayage plan proponents fail to tie up morning traffic

SoCal drayage plan proponents fail to tie up morning traffic File this under: You just can't count on Los Angeles traffic.
   A moving rally in support of a contentious truck re-regulation plan by the two Southern California ports Wednesday caused little impact for rush-hour commuters, frustrating one of the organizer's primary goals of jamming traffic to attract attention to their cause.
   The morning demonstration planned to rally what organizers described as 'more than 100 trucks' near downtown Los Angeles and then drive tail-to-tail along a 25-mile route on the Harbor (Interstate 110) Freeway to the Port of Long Beach headquarters.
   However, when the 40 or so trucks that actually showed up for the rally hit the freeway, hoping to encounter thousands of cars poking along at sub-surface street speeds, they found instead a wide-open highway.
   The convoy, led by a hearse to symbolize what Teamster-led organizer The Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports called a 'public health crisis' from port truck pollution, zoomed along the entire route at full speed.
   According to the California Highway Patrol, who had officers following the trucks, the convoy had minimal impact on the morning commute.
   The port truck plan, being developed jointly by the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, seeks to cut emissions from drayage trucks operating in the two ports by 80 percent over the next five years. Proposed to begin Jan. 1, the plan will offer licenses to truck companies that meet strict port-defined environmental, labor, financial and security criteria. Under the plan, truck companies without the license, and non-truck company affiliated drivers, will not be permitted to access the ports.
   The ports are expected to vote on approval of the plan in late July or early August.
   Transportation groups, while agreeing with the emissions reduction portions of the plan, have expressed opposition to the labor components that will force all drivers to become employees of port-licensed trucking companies and the way the plan will be financed.