BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: ab 1101
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: chesbro
VERSION: 1/14/14
Analysis by: Carrie Cornwell FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: June 10, 2014
SUBJECT:
Vehicle lengths on Highway 101
DESCRIPTION:
The bill extends indefinitely 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-semitrailer
combinations. Typically, a truck tractor pulls a semitrailer.
A semitrailer 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 truck tractor. The distance from
the kingpin to the rear axle is referred to as KP-RA length.
Generally, any increase in the wheelbase of any vehicle in a
combination of vehicles will result in more roadway used to
complete a turn, including an increase in the KP-RA distance for
truck tractor-semitrailer combinations. Thus, a semitrailer
with a longer KP-RA distance is more likely to go into an
adjacent lane or alternatively off the road when rounding a
curve.
Existing law :
Prohibits on California routes any combination of vehicles
coupled together, including any attachments, from exceeding a
total length of 65 feet, with various semitrailer lengths
allowed depending on the KP-RA distance and on the specific
route.
Provides an exemption to the above length limitation until
January 1, 2015, for licensed carriers of livestock on
portions of Highway 101, which is a California route, in the
AB 1101 (CHESBRO) Page 2
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-semitrailer combination of up
to 70 feet, provided that the KP-RA distance does not exceed
43 feet and the semitrailer is not more than 48 feet long.
(Elsewhere Highway 101 qualifies as a federal terminal access
route, which allows for semitrailers of up to 48 feet and sets
no limit on overall length.)
This bill deletes the January 1, 2015 sunset date on 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
KP-RA distance of up to 43 feet can travel there until:
1.All route improvements are completed without any pending legal
restraints; and
2.The Director of the Department of Transportation (Caltrans)
determines and declares that Highway 101 in the counties of
Del Norte, Humboldt, and Mendocino can accommodate these
vehicle combinations.
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 center line of the highway into
oncoming traffic. As a result, Caltrans determined that truck
tractor-semitrailer combinations that exceed a total length of
65 feet and a KP-RA distance of 32-feet could not travel on
Highway 101 in Humboldt, Del Norte, and Mendocino Counties.
Until 1999, these length restrictions 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 California Highway Patrol (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 1101 (CHESBRO) Page 3
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 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
oncoming 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 (then) existing law.
Unfortunately, this turned out not to be true.
AB 349 (Chesbro), Chapter 172, Statutes of 2011, extended the
sunset date until
January 1, 2015.
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. Without this exemption, Caltrans
restrictions along Highway 101 will severely limit the ability
of livestock producers to effectively participate in
intrastate and interstate marketing and transport of cattle.
AB 1101 (CHESBRO) Page 4
2.Highway safety concerns . Throughout the 15-year period the
length exemption has existed, Caltrans has maintained that
sections of Highway 101 are "geometrically inadequate for use
by truck tractor and semi-trailer combinations with a [KP-RA]
length over 32 feet and a combined vehicle length exceeding 65
feet." Longer vehicles allowed under the exemption in this
bill 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 are
expensive and raise significant environmental considerations.
SB 1224 (Chesbro) of 2007 required CHP, in consultation with
Caltrans, to report to the Legislature on the public safety
impacts of the length limit exemption for livestock trucks on
Highway 101. CHP made this report in 2011. While stating
that no accidents have occurred as a result of the exemption,
the report further noted 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.
3.The last 1.1 miles . Until 2008, three sections of Highway 101
stretching over 30 miles in Del Norte, Humboldt, and Mendocino
counties resulted in the exempted cattle truck
tractor-trailers off tracking and crossing into oncoming
traffic or going off the road. Caltrans constructed
improvements to two of those sections, so today just one
section, a 1.1-mile segment of Highway 101 through Richardson
Grove State Park in Humboldt County, 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. Elsewhere Highway 101
qualifies as a federal terminal access route, which allows for
semitrailers with KP-RA of up to 40 feet.
AB 1101 (CHESBRO) Page 5
Caltrans had scheduled the Richardson Grove curve correction
project to be completed by December 31, 2011, but litigation
brought by opponents of the project has delayed the start of
construction. In June 2011, the U.S. District Court in San
Francisco imposed a preliminary injunction, putting the
project on hold until a hearing in December 2013. Caltrans
prevailed in that hearing, but project opponents filed an
appeal. In February 2014, the Court of Appeal upheld most of
the Caltrans environmental impact report (EIR), but the court
found that a limited aspect of the EIR did not comply with the
California Environmental Quality Act, and required some
further clarification of the significance of the project's
impacts on redwood tree root zones. The limited ruling
vacated project approval. Currently, Caltrans staff are
reviewing the ruling and seeking to comply with it. As the
trial court will be involved again, Caltrans reports that
construction of the project is not likely to begin until at
least late 2015 and will not be completed until at least 2017.
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 78-0
Appr: 16-0
Trans: 15-0
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday, June 4,
2014.)
SUPPORT: California Cattlemen's Association (sponsor)
County of Humboldt (sponsor)
County of Mendocino
Rural County Representatives of California
OPPOSED: None received.