Is Trucking Office Going Downhill?

Four years after reforms were recommended for a state office responsible for safely routing oversized loads on California freeways, a critical computer system is late and staffing is lower than ever, critics say.

The Caltrans Transportation Permits Office, which issues about 180,000 permits a year for oversized loads, has been controversial since the late 1990s, when several misrouted trucks ran into bridges and caused serious traffic accidents, including one that killed a Westminster man.

Over the last five years, the office has been the focus of government hearings, a state audit and pressure from state Sen. Joe Dunn (D-Santa Ana) to hire more staff and install a fully automated system.

Nevertheless, “Caltrans is not giving the permit offices the resources they need,” Dunn said. “The automated system was supposed to be in by now.... This is unacceptable.”

Also expressing concern is Mark R. Roberts, a Caltrans permit writer who wrote Dunn and the governor’s office to complain about staff shortages.

In his Nov. 19 letter, Roberts contended that staff cuts in his office in Sacramento, which issues permits for Northern California, “are detrimental to the safety of the public.”

“We are expected to still do 100% of the work with 40% of the staff,” Roberts wrote. “This in itself is out of touch with reality. The lack of concern from headquarters is nothing short of dereliction of duty to the people of California.”

In an interview with The Times, Roberts said similar staff shortages exist in Caltrans’ other permit office in San Bernardino. The unit is responsible for the southern half of the state.

Caltrans officials disagree with Roberts. “Caltrans believes the current staffing levels are appropriate,” said department spokesman Mark DeSio in a statement issued Wednesday. “Workloads are, and will continue to be, monitored.”

Roberts, however, said the Northern California office today has 11 employees -- less than half the number employed in 2000. Workers who used to process 25 permits a day now must handle about 40, he said.

The Caltrans office exists because truckers with oversized loads, such as boats, construction equipment, mobile homes or large pieces of machinery, must get permission to use state roads.

For each application, Caltrans must review the load, type of vehicle and proposed routes to make sure they can accommodate the move. Bridge characteristics, highway construction projects and road conditions are evaluated. Complicated requests can take several hours to approve.

Care must be taken, Roberts said, because errors in routing can have serious consequences. A May 2000 audit found that Caltrans had misdirected 30 oversized trucks on state highways from 1996 to 1999. In some cases, traffic accidents resulted, including a bridge collapse in Lompoc and the death of Tam Trong Tran, 36, of Westminster.

Tran was killed in July 1999 after a truck with large tanks struck an overpass on the Riverside Freeway near Anaheim. The vehicle had been granted a permit even though its load was 15 feet high and the overpass just 14 feet, 10 inches.

The audit concluded that the permit office was understaffed and the system of hand-processing permits raised the risk of human error. It recommended that Caltrans improve training, hire more people and develop a computer system to effectively block permits for vehicles too big for local conditions.

Although no accidents have been blamed on the unit in more than four years, Roberts said the continuing staff shortage threatened public safety.

“We are being asked to do twice what we used to, which could lead to serious mistakes,” Roberts said.

“Most people are very conscientious. We try to do a good job, and we try to handle the overload, but you can only do that for so long.”

Roberts said extra workers had been assigned to the unit, but with attrition, reassignments and the state budget crisis, the office had suffered a steady loss of employees.

Dunn, who has dealt with the permit office for almost four years, remains concerned about persistent understaffing and Caltrans’ apparent inability to solve the problem.

“We have been fighting over this for some time,” Dunn said. “Even during good revenue days for the state, the permitting department was often overlooked. During the lean years, the problem has become acute despite the threat to public safety. Caltrans has not given it the priority it deserves.”

Dunn heads a Senate subcommittee that reviews the budgets of a number of government departments, including Caltrans. The senator plans to conduct a “critical examination” of the permit unit early next year.

In addition to staffing, Dunn wants to question Caltrans about an automated system that was supposed to be installed in the permit office this fall.

The computer, which is behind schedule, is designed to evaluate road conditions with up-to-date information and issue permits to truckers over the Internet.

After several years of study and prodding by Dunn and other legislators, Caltrans agreed almost 18 months ago to completely automate the process. The $7.56-million system is now scheduled to go into operation by April.

The California Trucking Assn., which represents 2,400 companies, agreed that the permit office had been short-staffed for some time.

However, the organization has not lodged any formal complaints with Caltrans about delays getting permits or misrouted trucks for several years, said Stephanie Williams, vice president of the association.

Though the organization has not contacted the state directly, Roberts said individual trucking firms or their agents had complained directly to his office about permit delays -- some up to 24 hours.

Roberts said the proposed computer system would help if it can handle a high volume of permits as promised.

But staffing problems could persist, he said, as people learned the system and the technical problems were worked out.