Legislation to increase the per-axle weight limit on logging trucks is in line for a Senate vote and has powerful groups for and against it.
The Alabama Forestry Association leadership says the proposed Senate Bill 110 is needed because current per-axle limits, and the citations drivers get for being over limit, are hurting their industry, driving up costs and slowing productivity.
“This is a bill that is very much needed to keep our loggers in business,” sponsor Sen. Jack Williams, R-Wilmer, said in a February Senate Agriculture and Forestry Committee meeting.
The proposal, which has 16 co-sponsors in the Senate, could get a Senate vote this week, Williams told Alabama Daily News on Friday.
But there is also significant opposition, including the Alabama Department of Transportation, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and the Association of County Commissions of Alabama, who say the proposal is bad for Alabama roads and public safety.
The bill does not change the maximum allowed weight of a logging truck — 80,000 pounds. But it increases the maximum per axle weight. Depending on the type and size of trees or logs they’re carrying, more weight usually rests on the back axles. The legislation increases the tandem axle limit from 34,000 pounds to 44,000. All the weight limits on trucks include a 10% tolerance allowance. So, 44,000 pounds could mean 48,400 pounds and still be legal.
“Forty-eight thousand pounds on two axles will create ruts and potholes that will certainly deteriorate the progress we’ve made since you passed Rebuild Alabama,” county association Executive Director Sonny Brasfield told the Senate committee. Rebuild Alabama is the gas tax increase and resulting road work lawmakers approved in 2019.
“We don’t have a single road in Alabama, at the county level, that is designed to carry (48,000 pounds),” he said.
At the same public hearing, Skylar Clark, president of Heritage Timber Company, told lawmakers that proponents aren’t trying to change the total weight of trucks, but they need more per-axle flexibility.
“We’re getting a lot of tickets where these trucks are under gross weight, so under 88,000 pounds, but are getting an over-axle ticket,” Clark said.
The state transportation department said last week that increasing the axle weight as allowed in SB110 and the similar House Bill 204 by Rep. Donna Givens, R-Loxely, would likely lead to increased overall truck weights.
“This is the latest in a long history of efforts by the Forestry Association to increase log truck axle weights and get more exemptions from state laws,” ALDOT deputy director George Conner said in a press release. “The issue of legal truck weight limits is complex, but our analysis clearly shows you can’t increase axle weight without increasing total weight. It’s unsafe and it will cause immeasurable damage to Alabama’s roads and bridges.”
The forestry industry has an annual economic impact of $36 billion, according to the Alabama Department of Commerce. There are more than 110 production facilities, including sawmills and paper pills around the state. They’re often major employers in rural counties.
Forestry Association President and Chief Executive Officer Chris Isaacson told Alabama Daily News there are some “wildly exaggerated” claims about road maintenance in this debate. He said loggers are currently having to haul smaller loads more frequently because of existing limits. That puts more wear and tear on Alabama roads.
“(Senate Bill 110) will require roughly 10% less loads to haul the same volume of lumber,” Isaacson said. “There is a maximum amount of volume we’re going to move every year, so it’s just a matter of whether we haul it on 1,000 trucks or 900 trucks.”
The single-axle weight limit would increase under SB110 to 22,000, plus the 10% allowance. Issacson said Alabama’s axle limits are below some other southern states, including neighbor and competitor Georgia.
The bill also limits the number of trucks that could be pulled over at temporary, roadside weight checkpoints to three at a time. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency opposes that.
“If three trucks are placed out of service for serious violations, we would be forced to let other trucks pass—potentially allowing unsafe vehicles to remain on the road,” ALEA Government Affairs Director Sam Adams told the Senate committee last month.
Williams said there have been instances of as many as 20 trucks pulled over along a highway, creating a safety hazard and delaying loggers.
“We’re just asking for a bit of leeway,” Williams, who is running for Alabama agriculture commissioner in 2026, said about his bill.