BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 349|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 349
Author: Chesbro (D), et al
Amended: 6/16/11 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 8-0, 6/14/11
AYES: DeSaulnier, Gaines, Harman, Huff, Kehoe, Lowenthal,
Pavley, Simitian
NO VOTE RECORDED: Rubio
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 71-0, 3/25/11 (Consent) - See last page
for vote
SUBJECT : Vehicles lengths on Highway 101
SOURCE : California Cattlemens Association
County of Humbolt
DIGEST : The bill extends from January 1, 2012 until
January 1, 2015 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
CONTINUED
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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
1. Prohibits any combination of vehicles coupled together,
including any attachments, from exceeding a total length
of 65 feet, with certain, specified exceptions.
2. 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.
3. 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, 2015 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
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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
State Route 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 requires 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, adds
one more year to the exemption and gave CHP until July 1,
2001 to complete the study and report to the Legislature.
AB 220 (Strom-Martin), Chapter 413, Statutes of 2001,
continues 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, extends
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, extends
the sunset date until 2012 and requires CHP to continue
the comprehensive study of the effect of the exemption on
public safety and to make recommendations on future
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exemptions by January 1, 2011.
SB 773 (Wiggins), Chapter 444, Statutes of 2007,
increases 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 Senate Transportation and Housing
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 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.
Highway safety . Existing law required CHP, in consultation
with Caltrans, to report to the Legislature by the first of
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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? .
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/15/11)
California Cattlemen's Association (source)
County of Humboldt (source)
California Farm Bureau
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author's office contends that
extending the length exemption, as this bill allows 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's office notes that it is
highly likely that the current exemption will expire before
Caltrans can complete the curve correction project, which
makes the route impassable to livestock haulers, further
straining the north coast's economy. The author's office
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.
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ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson,
Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani,
Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Hall,
Harkey, Hayashi, Roger Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso,
Huffman, Jeffries, Knight, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma,
Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell,
Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Portantino,
Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Torres, Valadao, Wagner,
Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Allen, Donnelly, Gorell, Jones, Lara,
Nielsen, Norby, Swanson, Vacancy
JJA:do 6/15/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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