A bill timber industry leaders hoped would increase the per-axle load limits on logging trucks, leading to fewer citations and more productivity for truck drivers, passed the Alabama Senate Tuesday without the increase provision.
As initially written, Senate Bill 110 by Sen. Jack Williams, R-Wilmer, would have increased the tandem axle limit from 34,000 pounds to 44,000 pounds. It did not change the 80,000-pound maximum allowed weight of a logging truck.
The weight change was removed from the bill in an amendment on the Senate floor.
Opponents of the bill, including the Alabama Department of Transportation and the Association of County Commissions of Alabama, had said the increased weight would significantly damage roads and bridges across the state and cost hundreds of millions of dollars per year in needed repairs.
Sen. Clyde Chambliss, R-Prattville, had previously said he’d be ready Tuesday to amend the bill.
He and Williams had a cordial conversation on the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon about Chambliss’ multi-part amendment but didn’t talk much about the weight limits.
Williams had previously said the current limits lead to loggers being pulled over and ticketed, sometimes for things unrelated to weights, driving up their insurance costs and putting some out of business.
“The process is cumbersome and sometimes ugly, but the process allowed us to be successful,” Chambliss told ADN after the 32-0 vote. “Working together, we were able to arrive at a bill that is beneficial to the affected parties. I’d like to thank Sen. Jack Williams for working through the process to arrive at the Senate-passed bill. Hopefully, we can continue to work together on items that we just couldn’t get done this time.”
As passed, the bill says that no more than five trucks can be pulled over at once at temporary weight checkpoints on roadways. Williams had previously said he’d heard of instances of 20 trucks pulled over at once, causing a safety hazard along the highway and delays.
On the Senate floor, Williams said truck drivers usually need to haul four loads a day to be profitable.
“If they get hung up for an hour (at a weight check station), they lose a load,” he said.
The bill now also outlines immediate actions a driver can take if he thinks he was erroneously written a ticket for an overweight truck.
The bill now moves to the House.
“(The amendment) alleviates ALDOT’s concern about accelerating damage to Alabama’s roads and bridges,” ALDOT spokesman Tony Harris said. “We appreciate everyone working together toward a compromise, especially the leadership of Sen. Clyde Chambliss for taking a very objective position to protect our transportation infrastructure.”
County commission members from around the state were in the State House Tuesday to watch the bill’s progress.
“We’ve made enormous progress since 2019 when Rebuild Alabama was passed,” ACCA Executive Director Sonny Brasfield told ADN about the gas tax increase to fund road projects. “But adjusting the axle weights in such a large measure would have us back significantly and we just could not agree to that under any circumstances.”