Beef Up Truck Load Safety

Gov. Gray Davis has recommended beefing up the Caltrans division that scrutinizes permits for oversized trucks using the state’s highways. The increase in staffing is overdue and a matter of public safety, as was apparent after a horrible accident in Orange County last year.

Davis has recommended that the state spend more than $900,000 to hire 15 more workers to ensure that oversized trucks will be properly routed under bridges and overpasses. The office currently has 34 employees, not a sufficient number, working on permits for oversized loads.

In the last four years, Caltrans’ permit-writing office has made nearly three dozen errors. Trucks were routed onto roads with bridges and overpasses too low for passage. The worst example occurred in July: A motorist was killed on the Riverside Freeway in Anaheim when the load on a truck was knocked off and fell onto his car. The bridge involved was 2 inches lower than the cargo.

There appears to be little opposition to Davis’ request for the extra staff, which is fortunate. A bipartisan legislative committee has also agreed to spend $47,000 to audit the permit-writing operation.

One area that needs attention is Caltrans’ computer system, which was described in testimony to the Legislature last year as badly out of date. The man who developed the computer system estimated it was only 60% complete. The maps that the permit writers use often are on paper rather than in a statewide computerized database.

The same Caltrans division also has put trucks on a bridge not sturdy enough for their weight. In October, a temporary bridge near Lompoc collapsed just after a truck crossed. The truck weighed 89 tons, more than twice the bridge’s capacity. In the two weeks the bridge was open, the permit writers allowed at least six overweight trucks to cross.

Getting the computers working as they should will not be easy or cheap, as reforms in other states illustrate. Texas, for example, spent a decade planning its system, which now can quickly check the most popular routes. But the effort is necessary. California’s oversized loads have increased greatly in recent years. Safety measures must keep pace.