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Heavier-trucks bill is praised, booed in Senate

Truckers, along with timber and farm interests, are squaring off with railroads, police and environmentalists.

By Conrad Defiebre, Star Tribune

Last update: April 11, 2007 - 1:00 AM

Allowing heavier trucks on Minnesota highways would make the roads more dangerous and wear them out faster, says a coalition of peace officers, local officials, environmentalists and the American Automobile Association.

Nonsense, says Sen. Tom Saxhaug, DFL-Grand Rapids, sponsor of a bill advancing in the Legislature that would allow seven-axle rigs to haul up to 106,700 pounds of timber or farm products -- 18,700 pounds more than the current maximum.

"More weight means better traction and better braking," Saxhaug said. "More weight means fewer truck trips on the highway, so there's fewer accidents and less fuel burned. And there would be less weight per axle and less damage to the roads."

Saxhaug is backed by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) as well as forest and agricultural industry groups that he said are seeking a better economy for rural Minnesota by challenging the railroads' dominance in moving heavy loads. At a State Capitol news conference called by critics of Saxhaug's initiative Tuesday, railroads were mentioned only once -- as being 10 times more fuel-efficient than trucks per ton of payload, according to Matt Hollingshead, president of the Sierra Club of Minnesota.

But Blois Olson, an organizer of the group called the Minnesota Alliance for Safe Highways, acknowledged that railroads are part of the coalition.

Legislative battles between trucks and trains are nothing new. The truckers won one round in 2004 when they got permission to run heavier loads of timber, but only from forests to mills. "It's been working for three years," Saxhaug said of that measure, known as "first haul."

Now Saxhaug's "second haul" bill, Senate File 438, would extend the higher weight limits to all state and county roads. The bill wouldn't affect the interstate system in Minnesota, where federal law limits loads to 80,000 pounds. But Saxhaug said passage of his measure could contribute to efforts by U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., to allow heavier trucks on Minnesota interstates, too.

But opponents say higher weight limits would further damage an already deteriorating highway system.

"Increasing a truck's weight to 90,000 pounds results in a 42 percent increase in road wear," said Rep. Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, citing a July 2006 article in Governing magazine. "That means pavement designed to last 20 years will wear out in seven. MnDOT reported just two years ago that a 20 percent increase in truck weight would almost double fatigue to bridge decks, beams and trusses."

Bill Gillespie, executive director of the 8,500-member Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, said heavier loads make trucks more likely to tip over or jackknife, more difficult to stop in an emergency and a greater risk to passenger vehicles.

"Trucks are heavy enough," added Mathew Hodapp, a crash analyst for the State Patrol. "If you allow them to get any heavier, they will be more dangerous and you will see more crashes."

Conrad deFiebre • 651-222-1673 • cdefiebre@startribune.com

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