Caltrans Truck Permit Office Faces an Audit

An audit of Caltrans’ truck permitting office won approval Wednesday from a legislative panel, which allocated $47,000 for scrutiny of the troubled department.

The office, which grants permits for oversize commercial vehicles, has been under fire for a series of routing errors by Caltrans employees, one of which resulted in the July death of a Westminster man.

Sen. Betty Karnette (D-Long Beach), chairwoman of the Senate Transportation Committee, said she asked for the audit because of continued safety concerns. While Caltrans increased staffing and began double-checking all approved permits after the July accident, Karnette and others say they think problems remain.

“I think this audit will allow an outside group to come in and really look at the process,” Karnette said Wednesday. “I’m really anxious to get this safety problem resolved, and this is one way to speed up the process.”

Caltrans officials first described as highly unusual the mistake that led to the July fatality, when a Westminster man was crushed in his car on the Riverside Freeway in Anaheim after a truck hit a bridge and lost its cargo. But an internal Caltrans review of permits turned up at least 24 similar errors in the last 3 1/2 years, and a California Highway Patrol investigation uncovered nine others.

Concerns about the permitting office heightened again in October when a temporary bridge near Lompoc collapsed just seconds after a truck weighing twice the legal limit crossed it. The truck driver had a valid permit for the route.

At a Senate hearing just weeks before the bridge collapse, two permit writers testified that just such an accident was imminent. Describing an outdated computer system, poor communication with maintenance operations and intense pressure to quickly approve permits, the Caltrans employees said they thought only a fraction of existing safety problems had come to light.

An oversize permit is required for any truck heavier, longer, wider or taller than the legal limit on state roads. About 200,000 such permits were issued last year.