A bill to allow the logging industry to have higher per-axle weight limits on its trucks is expected on the Alabama Senate floor Tuesday.
Industry leaders have said Senate Bill 110 is needed because the current weight limits are unnecessarily restrictive and cost truck drivers and mills time and money.
But, armed with a new report confirming the Alabama Department of Transportation’s concerns about negative impacts on roads and bridges if the legislation passes, Sen. Clyde Chambliss said he’ll propose changes to the bill Tuesday.
“I do hope to have some type of compromise that is helpful to the timber industry, but also protects our roads and bridges,” Chambliss, R-Prattville, said. Chambliss’ district sees significant traffic from log trucks servicing the International Paper plant in Prattville.
Bill sponsor Sen. Jack Williams, R-Wilmer, said Friday he’d be ready to defend his bill, which has 16 Republican co-sponsors.
“I’ve got a rebuttal to everything they’ve said,” Williams told ADN on Friday.
Senate Bill 110 increases the tandem axle limit from 34,000 pounds to 44,000 pounds. It does not change the 80,000-pound maximum allowed weight of a logging truck. All the weight limits on trucks include a 10% tolerance allowance. So, 44,000 pounds could mean 48,400 pounds and still be legal.
Opponents include the Alabama Department of Transportation, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and the Association of County Commissions of Alabama.
The transportation department had previously said the increased axle weight limits would create an additional $150 million in maintenance needs for state and U.S. highways, a burden that would result in either higher deferred maintenance or reductions in projects to relieve congestion on crowded roadways.
When there was pushback on some of ALDOT’s information, Chambliss, chairman of the Legislature’s Joint Transportation Committee, asked the Alabama Transportation Institute at the University of Alabama to assess the department’s testimony. The ATI is a state-funded research facility.
“(The institute’s) findings confirm ALDOT’s conclusion that heavier axle loads will result in increased damage to Alabama’s bridges and roadways,” the recently released report says.
Key findings of the ATI report say:
- Heavier axles generate greater stress on bridge components, potentially exceeding design limits and requiring additional load posting, strengthening or redesign;
- Bridges may experience greater deflection or bending, increasing the risk of concrete cracking and misalignment of bearings, especially on older bridges;
- Repeated exposure to higher axle weights significantly increases the risk of fatigue-related damage, which could shorten the lifespan of steel and concrete bridge components.
“While ALDOT’s study did not fully explore long-term fatigue damage on bridges, ATI notes that such damage is a legitimate concern that warrants additional monitoring and research,” the report says.
The review also confirmed that pavement damage is not linked to total vehicle weight but rather to the weight of axles. Heavier axles increase pavement damage exponentially, following the “fourth power law,” meaning even small increases in axle weight will cause significantly greater damage.
Asked if he’d have amendments, a substitute bill or ask that it be carried over and not receive a vote Tuesday, Chambliss said he’d be ready for “all of the above.”
“Hopefully we’ll come to some agreement and be able to just move forward easily.”
Williams said the current limits lead to loggers being pulled over and ticketed, sometimes for things unrelated to weights, and driving up their insurance costs.
“We cannot get timber out of the woods because we don’t have the trucks,” Williams said.
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.
The Alabama Forestry Association is advocating for the bill and its President and Chief Executive Officer Chris Isaacson told Alabama Daily News that ALDOT and the institute report make some inaccurate assumptions. “They’re making the assumption with what they’re putting out there that, if this were passed, every truck that was hauling timber would now have increased weight on their axles. And that’s not true at all.”
Isaacson said the association’s point and request for the law change is that the nature of timber makes it impossible to control the weight on each axle. Depending on the type and size of trees or logs they’re carrying, more weight usually rests on the back axles.
“We’re simply trying to allow them to haul to the gross weight limit without being in violation of the axle limit,’ Isaacson said.
Isaacson also argues that SB110 would lead to fewer trucks on the road if they can haul more weight. That would reduce wear and tear.
There have been some compromises to date, Isaacson said. The original bill said ALEA could not pull over on state roads more than one truck at a time for road-side weight inspections with portable scales. Williams said that will be raised to three via a floor amendment.
Isaacson also said the bill’s impact will vary county to county and the association isn’t opposed to further studying possible effects.
Chambliss said his father’s job at the paper mill when Chambliss was a child “was a game changer” and a blessing for his family.
“I want to do everything I can to help the timber industry, so that’s the approach I’m taking with this. And I have to balance that with my engineering mind, education and experience. I’m really hoping that we can come to some type of compromise that will help the industry, but also not be detrimental to the roads and bridges. And I think we can get there.”