Washington ? President Bush gave the go-ahead Wednesday for Mexican trucks to travel U.S. roads beyond commercial border zones where they have been restricted while inspection sites and new regulations were put in place.

The decision comes nearly a year after Bush said he wanted to allow Mexican trucks on U.S. roads, in compliance with a provision of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The president “has made very clear we feel we have an important obligation to our neighbors to the south to live up to our international obligation and also have an important obligation to ensure American roads are safe, and his action today takes both of those into account,” said White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan.

The trucks and buses won’t be on U.S. highways until the Department of Transportation can review applications from carriers. It must then grant qualifying carriers provisional operating authority, the DOT said in a statement.

Dave Longo, a Transportation Department spokesman, said the first Mexican trucks could be on U.S. roads “within a month or so.”

“President Bush has made good on his commitment to open the border to international trucking and cross-border regular route bus service. This will help increase trade between our countries,” Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said in a statement.

Bush’s decision also comes just after a visit by Secretary of State Colin Powell with Mexican President Vicente Fox in Mexico, where immigration and other binational issues were discussed in a Cabinet-level meeting of the two countries.

Bush’s action Wednesday modifies a 1982 moratorium that banned Mexican trucks from the United States.

In response, Mineta ordered the transportation department’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to act on 130 applications received so far from Mexican-based carriers and bus companies that want to move cargo across the U.S.-Mexican border or provide regular service between Mexico and the United States.

“Mexican carriers and drivers must meet the same standards as U.S. operators,” Mineta said.

Last year an estimated 63,000 Mexican trucks crossed the U.S.-Mexican border, making 4.3 million crossings, officials said.

Mexican trucks were to have gained full access to U.S. roads beginning in 2000 under NAFTA, signed by the United States, Mexico and Canada in 1993.

But Congress delayed their entry twice amid concerns about safety and pressure from labor groups. An arbitration panel ruled in 2000 that the United States was violating NAFTA by refusing to comply with that provision, but it also allowed the United States to impose safety measures.

Bush pledged to comply with NAFTA and Congress agreed after much debate. But Congress also required that more inspectors be hired and full inspection sites be built at busy ports. It also required Mexico to limit truckers’ driving hours and create a commercial drivers license database.

Carriers will be required to have alcohol and drug testing in place to pass the safety audit.

Staff dedicated to the safety and inspections of the carriers was increased to 252 people, including 144 safety inspectors, 67 auditors and 41 safety investigators.

Much of that had been expected to be done by midsummer.

Many Mexican trucks already travel across the border, the majority through Texas ports of entry. But they are restricted to commercial zones in the four border states of Texas, California, Arizona and New Mexico.

Carriers will be allowed to make only international trips and not trips between U.S. points.