SENATE BILL REPORT

                           ESB 5427

              AS PASSED SENATE, FEBRUARY 11, 1993

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

SPONSORS: Senator Loveland; by request of Department of Transportation

SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION

Majority Report:  Do pass as amended. 

     Signed by Senators Vognild, Chairman; Loveland, Vice Chairman; Skratek, Vice Chairman; Drew, Haugen, Nelson, Oke, Prentice, Prince, M. Rasmussen, Sellar, Sheldon, von Reichbauer, and Winsley.

Staff:  Mary McLaughlin (786‑7309)

Hearing Dates: February 3, 1993

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:

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 or more 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.

Appropriation:  none

Revenue:  none

Fiscal Note:  none requested

TESTIMONY FOR:

The bill minimizes the present damage caused by single tires and addresses the concerns of the trucking industry by providing certain exemptions for vehicles that cannot comply.

TESTIMONY AGAINST:  None

TESTIFIED:  PRO:  John Conrad, Barry Diseth, Dept. of Transportation; Larry Pursley, WTA; Eric Berger, County Road Administration; Craig Olsen, Assn. of WA Cities