By John Crawley

WASHINGTON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Long-haul Mexican trucks will be permitted to operate freely on U.S. roads as early as Friday, 13 years after a cross-border trade agreement lifted restrictions on where they could haul goods, officials said.

U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat and chairman of the House of Representatives subcommittee on road safety, said on Thursday the Bush administration had told him the 1-year pilot program would start then. Other lawmakers also said it would be as early as Friday.

Mexican trucks are currently restricted to areas just inside the U.S. border crossings where goods are loaded on American trucks.

Transportation Department officials are awaiting a report on Mexican truck safety and certification from the agency's inspector general to be sent to Congress before moving ahead with lifting the restrictions.

But congressional staff briefed on the watchdog's report found no signs the inspector general, Calvin Scovel, would halt the program. "I don't think there are any major stop signs here," said one aide.

A Transportation Department spokesman would only say the program could not start until Scovel had spoken on the matter.

The 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement expanded cross-border trucking, but the Clinton administration never complied. A special NAFTA tribunal ordered it done in 2001.

Since then, the Bush administration and Congress have wrangled over inspections and driver qualifications as well as what companies could participate. Labor, safety and environmental groups have waged legal battles, losing their bid for an emergency court order to stop the program on Aug. 31.

Under the pilot, Mexican trucking companies that have met safety, licensing, and other U.S. requirements can operate their rigs throughout the country. Proponents say this will reduce costs and speed shipments. The administration expects about 100 companies operating 540 trucks to participate.

But DeFazio and other Democrats, including the House Transportation Committee chairman, Rep. James Oberstar of Minnesota, argued that Mexican truckers still do not meet safety and other criteria demanded by Congress.

A Transportation Department funding bill approved by the House in July would effectively end the pilot program on safety grounds. But the Senate is not expected to vote on its version of the bill until next week. And it remains unclear if lawmakers would terminate the project once it has begun.

"Safety concerns remain real today," Oberstar said, noting among other things that Mexican drivers do not have the same rest rules as U.S. truckers and could cross the border tired.

The Teamsters union, which represents about 100,000 long-haul truckers and does not want to lose driver and transportation logistics jobs, said the administration has been secretive about the start-up plans and is not prepared.

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