HOUSE BILL REPORT

                  HB 1272

             As Reported By House Committee On:

                       Transportation

 

Title:  An act relating to maximum gross weight tire factors.

 

Brief Description:  Setting tire limits on vehicles weighing over ten thousand pounds.

 

Sponsors:  Representatives R. Fisher, Schmidt, R. Meyers, Brown, Jones, Horn and Wood; by request of Department of Transportation.

 

Brief History:

  Reported by House Committee on:

Transportation, February 4, 1993, DP.

 

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION

 

Majority Report:  Do pass.  Signed by 24 members:  Representatives R. Fisher, Chair; Brown, Vice Chair; Jones, Vice Chair; Schmidt, Ranking Minority Member; Mielke, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Brough; Brumsickle; Cothern; Eide; Finkbeiner; Forner; Fuhrman; Hansen; Heavey; Horn; Johanson; J. Kohl; H. Myers; Orr; Quall; Sheldon; Shin; Wood; and Zellinsky.

 

Staff:  Mary McLaughlin (786-7309).

 

Background: "Super single radials" (wider tires) allow a vehicle to carry more weight on a single tire.  As a result of this advanced technology, the axle configurations on many trucks and truck/trailer combinations are being converted from four tires per axle to two tires per axle.  This conversion intensifies pavement rutting, thereby reducing the service life of highway pavements by 10 to 25 percent.

 

Summary of Bill:  Any axle manufactured after July 1, 1993, and carrying more than 10,000 pounds must be equipped with four tires.  Effective January 1, 1997, any axle carrying more than 10,000 pounds must have four tires, regardless of date of manufacture.  In lieu of the four-tire-per-axle requirement, an axle may be equipped with two tires limited to 500 pounds per inch width of tire, or in the case of a tag axle on a cement truck, 600 pounds per inch width.

 

The axle provisions do not apply to a nonliftable steering axle on the power unit, a tiller axle on a fire truck, or a nonreducible load operating under a Department of Transportation oversize/overweight permit.

 

The Department of Transportation with respect to state highways, and local authorities with respect to highways within their jurisdictions, may extend the statutory weight table from 105,500 to 115,000 pounds provided that the extension is in compliance with federal law and the 1997 axle and tire requirements.

 

Fiscal Note:  Not requested.

 

Effective Date:  Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

 

Testimony For:  Pavement damage is minimized and certain classes of vehicles that cannot comply with the tire provisions are exempted.

 

Testimony Against:  None.

 

Witnesses:  John Conrad, Department of Transportation; Michael Daniels, Washington State Association of County Engineers; Larry Pursley, Washington Trucking Association; and Duke Schaub, Associated General Contractors (with concerns).