BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: AB 349
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: chesbro
VERSION: 2/10/11
Analysis by: Carrie Cornwell FISCAL: No
Hearing date: June 14, 2011
SUBJECT:
Vehicle lengths on Highway 101
DESCRIPTION:
The bill extends from January 1, 2012 until January 1, 2017 the
time during which oversized trucks transporting livestock may
travel on Highway 101 in Del Norte, Humboldt, and Mendocino
counties.
ANALYSIS:
Most large trucks on the highway are truck tractor-trailer
combinations. Typically, a truck tractor pulls a semi-trailer.
A semi-trailer is a trailer that is constructed so that some
part of its weight and load rests upon or is carried by another
vehicle, usually a truck tractor. A kingpin is the main pin
used to connect a trailer to a tractor truck. The distance from
the kingpin to the rear axle, referred to as KP-RA length,
determines the width of the turning radius of the
tractor-trailer. Generally, any increase in the wheelbase of
any vehicle in a combination of vehicles will result in more
roadway used to complete a turn.
Existing law :
§Prohibits any combination of vehicles coupled together,
including any attachments, from exceeding a total length of 65
feet, with certain, specified exceptions.
§Provides an exemption to the length limitation until January 1,
2012, for licensed carriers of livestock on portions of Highway
101 in the counties of Del Norte, Humboldt, and Mendocino, if
the travel is necessary and incidental to the shipment of
livestock. The exemption allows a truck tractor - semi-trailer
combination of up 70 feet provided that the distance from the
kingpin to the rear axle does not exceed 43 feet.
AB 349 (CHESBRO) Page 2
§Requires that by January 1, 2011, the California Highway Patrol
(CHP), in consultation with the Department of Transportation
(Caltrans), report to the Legislature with a comprehensive
study of the effect that this exemption has on public safety.
This bill :
1.Extends until January 1, 2017 the exemption from length limits
for livestock carriers on portions of Highway 101 so that
trucks up to 70 feet in length and with a kingpin to rear axle
distance of up to 43 feet can travel there.
2.Repeals the requirement that CHP report to the Legislature on
the public safety effect of the exemption (bullet #3 above).
BACKGROUND:
Highway 101 is the primary north-south route serving the north
coast of California but there are curves on this section of
Highway 101 that long truck-trailer combinations cannot maneuver
without crossing over the centerline of the highway into
on-coming traffic. As a result, Caltrans determined that truck
tractor-semitrailer combinations that exceed specified length
requirements could not travel on SR 101 in Humboldt, Del Norte,
and Mendocino Counties.
Until 1999 these length restrictions on highways leading into
and out of counties of Del Norte, Humboldt, and Mendocino made
the travel of most interstate trucks there illegal. Then in
1998, representatives of the livestock industry contended then
that these restrictions were diminishing their ability to do
business. They contended that the regulations denied two of the
north coast counties, Humboldt and Del Norte, full access to
available livestock trucking opportunities. To address their
concerns, AB 2426 (Strom-Martin), Chapter 711, Statutes of 1998,
created a two-year length limit exemption period for livestock
carriers of up to 70 feet in total and 40 feet from kingpin to
rear axle to travel on portions of Highway 101. The bill also
required that the CHP conduct a study on the possible safety
impacts of the exemption. Several bills since have extended or
expanded length limit exemption as follows:
AB 1474 (Cardoza), Chapter 911, Statutes of 1999, added one
more year to the exemption and gave CHP until July 1, 2001 to
complete the study and report to the Legislature.
AB 349 (CHESBRO) Page 3
AB 220 (Strom-Martin), Chapter 413, Statutes of 2001,
continued the exemption until January 1, 2004 and instructed
the CHP to conduct a second study on the possible safety
impacts, which was never issued.
SB 127 (Chesbro), Chapter 188, Statutes of 2003, extended the
sunset date until January 1, 2007 and required CHP to conduct
a third study on the safety impacts, which was issued on March
20, 2006.
SB 1224 (Chesbro), Chapter 449, Statutes of 2006, extended the
sunset date until 2012 and required CHP to continue the
comprehensive study of the effect of the exemption on public
safety and to make recommendations on future exemptions by
January 1, 2011.
SB 773 (Wiggins), Chapter 444, Statutes of 2007, increased the
size of the livestock trucks from 40 to 43 feet from kingpin
to rear axle. Concerns about these even longer vehicle
combinations, which would cross even farther into the lane of
on-coming traffic, prompted discussion between this committee
and Caltrans about completing improvements to Highway 101 that
would make the exemption obsolete. Caltrans reported then
that it would be able to complete improvements prior to the
January 1, 2012 sunset date in existing law. Unfortunately,
this turned out not to be true.
Throughout this 12-year period, Caltrans has maintained that
sections of this highway are "geometrically inadequate for use
by truck tractor and semi-trailer combinations with a ÝKP-RA]
length over 32 feet and a combined vehicle length exceeding 65
feet." Longer vehicles cross over into the oncoming lane of
traffic or go off the roadway when rounding curves in the
highway. This is known as "off tracking." This problem can
only be resolved through structural improvements to the highway,
which would be both expensive and raise significant
environmental considerations. Until 2008, three sections of
Highway 101 in these counties presented such problems.
Today, just one section, a 1.1 mile segment through Richardson
Grove State Park, results in these longer vehicles off tracking.
In this location the highway narrows to a two-lane road with
large old growth redwood trees adjacent to the traveled highway.
Caltrans had scheduled the Richardson Grove curve correction
project to be completed by December 31, 2011, but Caltrans now
AB 349 (CHESBRO) Page 4
reports that delays in the project development process have
postponed the onset of project construction until late 2011 with
project completion slated for the summer of 2012. Once the
curve correction at Richardson Grove is completed, Caltrans will
lift the truck-trailer length restriction on the entire Highway
101 route segment.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . The author contends that extending the length
exemption, as this bill would, will allow north coast cattle
ranchers to continue to be able to move livestock in a cost
effective manner while Caltrans and concerned parties resolve
issues regarding the curve correction project at Richardson
Grove. If the exemption is not extended, the author notes
that it is highly likely that the current exemption will
expire before Caltrans can complete the curve correction
project, which will make the route impassable to livestock
haulers, further straining the north coast's economy. The
author notes that this bill merely does what several previous
bills have done by extending the sunset date to allow the
continuation of commerce until such time that Caltrans
completes necessary updates to the highway route. Proponents
also note that CHP attributes no collisions to the exemption.
2.Highway safety . Existing law required CHP, in consultation
with Caltrans, to report to the Legislature by the first of
this year on the public safety impacts of the existing length
limit exemption for livestock trucks on Highway 101. CHP
notes that no accidents have occurred as a result of the
exemption, but notes that:
CHP cannot ignore the fact that Caltrans' studies have
shown that portions of U.S. 101 are not sufficiently
designed to handle the longer vehicle combination
lengths. A permanent exemption of this type has the
potential of establishing a precedent for other
exemptions in the future and could result in increased
damage to rural highways and increased safety hazards
due to longer truck tractor and semitrailer
combinations having to cross into oncoming lanes while
negotiating curves on narrow highways. As soon as the
realignment project on U.S. 101 in Richardson Grove is
complete the exemption provided ? will be obsolete? .
3.Timing of CHP report . When staff of this committee inquired,
AB 349 (CHESBRO) Page 5
CHP found that it had not released the report that existing
law required it to by January 1 of this year. CHP provided
the report electronically to this committee on May 19 and
released it generally the next week. The report, summarized
above in comment #2, expresses CHP's concerns about the
Highway 101 truck length limit exemption and about it serving
as a precedent for other highways. This committee's hearing
will be the first on this bill that includes the results of
CHP's study, the requirement for which this bill deletes.
4.Five years ? This bill extends the length exemption for five
years, but Caltrans expects to complete the Richardson Grove
curve correction project in a much shorter time. The author
or the committee may, therefore, wish to amend the bill to
provide for a shorter sunset date.
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 71-0
Trans: 13-0
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday, June 8,
2011)
SUPPORT: California Cattlemen's Association (sponsor)
County of Humboldt (sponsor)
California Farm Bureau
OPPOSED: None received.