Committee leaves big rigs bill idling

BOISE - The battle of the big rigs continued in the House Transportation Committee Thursday, ending in no decision after a bruising hearing.

The committee postponed action until Monday, after taking testimony for almost three hours on legislation that would give local highway districts the option of designating routes for trucks weighing up to 129,000 pounds.

Idaho Forest Group, which owns five sawmills in the state - including mills in Grangeville and Lewiston - proposed the bill.

"We operate and compete in a local, regional and global market," said Robert Boeh, vice president of government affairs. "Some of our neighboring states provide their businesses with higher-limit routes. We think this bill will allow us to be more competitive."

The current weight limit on most Idaho roads is 80,000 pounds; that can increase to 105,500 with a permit. Several industry groups said 129,000-pound loads would help them cut costs by reducing the number of trips needed to transport their goods.

A 10-year pilot project in southern Idaho concluded that heavier trucks caused no significant effects to safety or infrastructure. However, Clearwater County Commissioner Stan Leach said roads in northern Idaho have a different character altogether.

"I can see where this idea might work in southern Idaho, where roads are relatively flat and straight - but those aren't words used in northern Idaho," he said.

Leach didn't think any roads in Clearwater County could meet the safety or engineering standards needed to support heavier loads, but that wouldn't stop companies from lobbying.

"We have two mills located near state highways," he said. "If this were to pass, I suspect they'll apply pressure on us to make those (local) roads available, because they'll feel at a competitive disadvantage to mills that happen to be located on state roads."

Wally Burchak, co-owner of KBC Transport in Kooskia, said the committee should take the time to talk with commercial vehicle safety inspectors before voting on the bill.

"There isn't a person in this room who can say this won't compromise safety," he said. "I'm the only one who's testified today who's in the transportation business. All the individuals who are trying to push this through don't run trucks up and down the highway."

Before a local jurisdiction could designate a 129,000-pound route, it would at least have to consider safety and engineering standards established by the Idaho Transportation Department, but Burchak said those standards don't take into account snow, ice, wind and other weather conditions.

Some speakers also worried local jurisdictions could be sued if a road met the engineering standards but, for whatever reason, the district declined to designate it as a heavy truck route.

Rep. Paul Shepherd, R-Riggins, wondered why a district would take that stance.

"If the road is safe, why wouldn't you want them to use that route?" he asked one speaker. "This bill doesn't give (truckers) the right to use a route unless it's adequate and safe, so what's the problem?"

The legislation has already been approved in the Senate. The House Transportation Committee will take more testimony Monday before voting on the bill.

---

Spence may be contacted at bspence@lmtribune.com or (208) 791-9168.