BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: AB 1361
SENATOR ALAN LOWENTHAL, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: Portantino
VERSION: 5/13/09
Analysis by: Carrie Cornwell FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: June 16, 2009
SUBJECT:
Commercial vehicle ban: State Route 2
DESCRIPTION:
This bill bans large commercial vehicles on a segment of State
Route (SR) 2 in Los Angeles County and the City of La Ca?ada
Flintridge.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law designates the California state highway system
through a description of segments of the state's regional and
interregional roads that are owned and operated by the
Department of Transportation (Caltrans).
Existing state law establishes maximum length, width, and weight
limits for a variety of vehicles and vehicle combinations on the
state's roads, as follows:
The total length of a combination of vehicles (tractor and two
trailers) is limited to 65 feet;
Vehicle width is limited to 102 inches; and
Combinations of vehicles may not exceed a total weight of
80,000 pounds, while lower maximum weights apply for certain
vehicles based on their number of axles and the stances
between axles.
Caltrans may close segments of highways to long or heavy
vehicles if those highways cannot safely accommodate vehicles of
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a given length or weight based on the design of the highway.
When Caltrans could not ban large vehicles on highways because
of the design of the highway, the Legislature has sometimes
either enacted a ban or provided authority for a ban. For
example, existing law bans trucks over 9,000 pounds on
Interstate Route 580 (I-580) between Oakland and San Leandro,
and it permits Caltrans and the Santa Clara County to ban
vehicles over 9,000 pounds on SR 85 between Cupertino and San
Jose.
This bill :
1.Bans commercial vehicles with three or more axles or a gross
vehicle weight of five tons (10,000 pounds) or more on the
segment of SR 2 between Interstate 210 in the City of La
Ca?ada Flintridge and County Route N4 (Big Pine Highway) in
the County of Los Angeles.
2.Exempts the following vehicles from this ban:
Authorized emergency vehicles
Vehicles operated by publicly or privately owned public
utility
Caltrans' vehicles
A transit bus servicing facilities accessible only from
that segment of SR 2
A tow truck providing assistance to a vehicle accessible
only from that segment of SR 2
A commercial vehicle that is making deliveries to or
from, or servicing property, that is located within the
city limits of La Ca?ada Flintridge or is accessible only
from this portion of SR 2.
A commercial vehicle involved in a motion picture or
television production conducting activities along or
adjacent to this portion of SR 2.
1.Requires Caltrans to erect signs to give notice of the ban at
each end of this segment of SR 2 and any other points Caltrans
deems necessary.
2.Imposes a penalty of $1,000 or a specified greater amount
based on the weight of the vehicle for violating the ban and
dedicates the proceeds, upon appropriation by the Legislature,
to improving the safety of this portion of SR 2.
AB 1361 (PORTANTINO) Page 3
3.Is an urgency measure.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . The author points out that the portion of SR 2 that
runs through Angeles National Forrest and into La Ca?ada
Flintridge is a winding highway with grades as steep as seven
percent in some locations. Some assert that these road
conditions have contributed to accidents on this segment of
highway since at least 1951. As an example, the author cites an
April 2005 accident in which a dump truck lost its brakes on
SR2 and careened into the protective retaining wall just in
front of a popular restaurant in La Ca?ada Flintridge. In
another instance, in September 2008 a truck slammed into seven
cars in the parking lot of the same restaurant after its brakes
failed. In April of this year, yet another run-away truck
slammed into cars and eventually into a bookstore, taking the
lives of a father and daughter. The truck driver in that
accident was arrested for gross vehicular manslaughter and
felony reckless driving.
After those deaths both the city and Caltrans agreed to place a
90-day ban, which expires in July, on commercial trucks along
the mountainous portion of SR 2 in order to provide the
Legislature time to pass a more permanent solution. This bill
is that permanent solution.
The author asserts that it is only a matter of time before the
driver of another large truck, who is unaware of the dangers
of SR 2, wears down his or her vehicle's brakes and causes
another accident. The author is carrying this bill to make
"long overdue preventative measures to protect the citizens of
La Ca?ada Flintridge and its visitors from another similar
incident."
2.Why 10,000 pounds ? Other bans on large vehicles, including
that on I-580 in Alameda County and that on SR 85 in Santa
Clara County, prohibit vehicles in excess of 9,000 pounds.
This bill instead chooses to set the ban at 10,000 pounds or
greater or more than three axles. The author indicates that
this number came from local discussions between Caltrans, the
California Highway Patrol, local businesses, and elected
officials.
3.Penalty amount and use . This bill imposes a fine of $1,000 for
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driving a vehicle over 10,000 pounds on the specified segment
of SR 2. With penalty assessments this $1,000 fine would
become a total assessment of approximately $3,800.
In addition, the bill dedicates revenues from the base fine,
upon appropriation by the Legislature, to improving safety on
this segment of SR 2. It is unclear, however, how this revenue
would be so dedicated, as no special accounting method exists
to separate these revenues out from others received for
traffic fines, or whether such a dedication would be
appropriate given that fine revenues are already dedicated to
various state and local law entities. The committee may wish
to amend the bill so that fine revenues derived from
violations of the ban this bill imposes are allocated in the
same manner as other traffic fines imposed in state law.
4.Urgency clause language . The urgency clause in this bill
states that this portion of SR 2 "has contributed to numerous
accidents involving large commercial vehicles since 1951? ."
By stating this conclusion, the bill prejudges a matter
pending in the state courts that stems from the accident that
occurred in April of this year, in which Caltrans is being
sued. It may be more appropriate to leave this matter to the
courts and instead state that the urgency clause is needed
because this is a dangerous section of highway for large
vehicles, which are temporarily banned by Caltrans, but which
can only be banned permanently through an amendment to state
law. The committee or the author may wish to amend the urgency
clause language in this bill to refer to the need to make the
temporary ban on large vehicles on SR 9 permanent rather than
to draw a conclusion about the cause of accidents that have
occurred on this segment of SR 2.
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 75 - 0
Appr: 15 - 0
Trans: 13 - 0
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday,
June 10, 2009)
SUPPORT: City of La Ca?ada Flintridge (sponsor)
California Contract Cities Association
City of Lakewood
City of Palm Desert
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Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation
Authority
Approximately 50 individuals
OPPOSED: None received.