FINAL BILL REPORT

                  SSB 5222

                           C 26 L 95

                      Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description:  Regulating length of log trucks.

Sponsors:  Senate Committee on Transportation (originally sponsored by Senators Owen, Haugen, Prince, Morton and Winsley).

Senate Committee on Transportation

House Committee on Transportation

Background:  The legal length of a semitrailer in a tractor/semitrailer combination is 53 feet.  For the logging industry, this restricts the length of logs that can be hauled on the public highways to 53 feet.

Some logging companies are seeking to increase the length of the logs that can be hauled.  An extra two to four feet gives the mill more options as to where to cut the log to achieve optimum quality.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) has recently granted the logging industry a waiver to the 53-foot restriction.  The waiver allows log trucks to transport 57-foot 2-inch logs under a special overlength permit for a fee of $10 per month.   The overall length of the vehicle is 65 to 75 feet, depending on the length of the tractor.  The waiver terminates June 30, 1995.  The purpose of the waiver is to give the industry time to seek a legislative solution.

Summary:  The legal overall length of a log truck and stinger-steered pole trailer is 75 feet, the same legal length as a truck/trailer combination.  Stinger-steered means the coupling device is located behind the tires of the last axle on a log truck.  

Votes on Final Passage:

Senate    47 0

House     97 0

Effective:  June 1, 1995