HOUSE BILL REPORT

                 ESB 5427

             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:  Senator Loveland; by request of Department of Transportation.

Brief History:

  Reported by House Committee on:

Transportation, March 18, 1993, DP.

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION

Majority Report:  Do pass.  Signed by 23 members:  Representatives R. Fisher, Chair; Jones, Vice Chair; Mielke, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Brough; Brumsickle; Cothern; Eide; Forner; Fuhrman; Hansen; Horn; Johanson; J. Kohl; R. Meyers; Miller; H. Myers; Orr; Patterson; 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 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 (DOT) oversize/overweight permit.

The DOT 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:  The bill reduces the pavement 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.

Witnesses:  Senator Loveland, prime sponsor.