March 5, 2005

Growing concerns stall trucking bill

Governor, legislators have reservations

By John Cheves
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

FRANKFORT - Growing concerns over the threat posed by overweight trucks -- including public reservations expressed by Gov. Ernie Fletcher -- stalled a controversial bill that would authorize more of the 60-ton rigs on Kentucky roads.

House Bill 8, backed by politically powerful road builders and already approved by the House, still is expected to resurface Monday for a Senate floor vote.

But the day after the bill was rammed through a Senate committee, Fletcher and Democratic and Republican senators separately discussed their fears that lives could be lost and roads ruined by letting gravel, rock and sand trucks haul at 60 tons, 50 percent heavier than the state's general 40-ton limit.

Currently, only coal trucks enjoy that exemption, which has prompted complaints about inequity by road builders who rely on gravel.

Fletcher and the lawmakers said they especially worry about the risks of massive gravel trucks rolling through urban areas. Sixty-six counties -- including Fayette and Jefferson -- already have designated overweight-truck roads that 60-ton gravel trucks could use under the bill.

"I want to make sure we don't open communities to overweight trucks," Fletcher said at a news conference. Cities and counties "need to have a say about the traffic and the routes. And I want the (state) Department of Transportation to be sure about ... roads for overweight trucks, which roads could accommodate them.

If the legislature does not "fix" the bill, the governor said, he might not sign it into law.

All day yesterday, lobbyists for Lexington and Louisville worked the halls outside the Senate chamber, urging senators not to vote for the bill. Lexington's public safety commissioner sent a letter to Fayette County lawmakers in the Senate and House warning that it "would increase the risk of traffic fatalities, injuries and accidents."

Senators also united across party lines to file a slew of amendments that could be considered Monday.

Among those is a plan to exempt Fayette and Jefferson counties, filed by Sen. Ernesto Scorsone, D-Lexington, and Sen. Julie Denton, R-Louis-ville. Even if their amendment passes, they'll both vote "no" on the bill, they said.

"In terms of road safety and road damage, this is just bad public policy," Denton said. "I haven't heard anyone over here who can explain to me why we're pushing so hard for this."

Critics say the bill is being pushed for the benefit of Leonard Lawson, a leading road builder whose family in recent years has given $76,000 to state legislative campaigns and $96,000 combined to the state Democratic and Republican parties.

Lawson has not returned calls seeking comment.

Fletcher, who has taken $13,000 from the Lawson family as congressman and governor, said the road builder has not approached him.

"I haven't talked to Leon-ard for several months," Fletcher said.

Sen. Tom Buford, R-Nich-olasville, said he's dismayed that legislative leaders seem more interested in pleasing campaign donors than listening to the many people who don't want to share the roads with 60-ton trucks.

"We're hearing, 'Oh, this won't cause more than two or three additional traffic deaths a year,'" Buford said. "Well, that's some cold comfort if it's your loved one who gets crushed under the wheels of an overweight gravel truck on New Circle Road."

Sen. Brett Guthrie, chairman of the committee that hastily approved the bill Thursday, yesterday said changes made by his panel should have appeased critics.

Under the committee's revisions, overweight gravel trucks would be restricted to established coal-hauling roads that are densest in Eastern and Western Kentucky, and new routes couldn't be easily established in urban territory.

Guthrie conceded that the bill still would let coal and gravel truckers expand onto local roads, including city streets. It would require that truckers make arrangements with local governments to help pay for road damage caused by their huge rigs.

However, the bill allows the Transportation Cabinet to overrule any local government that refuses to allow the overweight trucks, if local officials are deemed "unreasonable." The word "unreasonable" is not defined in the bill.

Rebecca Langston, Lexington's public safety commissioner, told Fayette County lawmakers in her letter that that loophole strips cities and counties of the power they need to protect their citizens and roadways.