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Months after the proposal was first advanced, the Legislature’s Facilities and Infrastructure Committee is recommending adoption of a county road preservation law, one that incorporates revisions based on public input during months of study.  Last Friday the committee, by votes of 4-0, with Legislator Leslyn McBean-Clairborne excused, supported the proposed local law and recommended that it be put to public hearing before the Legislature August 16.

The proposed law would amend the County Code to regulate certain temporary “high-frequency, high-impact truck traffic” on County roads, which carries the potential to cause road damage.  The proposed amendment was first advanced and discussed at a public hearing in January, then delayed to permit further work by the Facilities and Infrastructure and Government Operations Committees.  The committees sponsored a series of public information sessions on the proposed law.

The proposal recognizes that impending major development efforts “may result in extraordinary, high intensity traffic to and from development sites, causing significant and measurable damage to County roads that jeopardizes the health and safety of residents and others who use those roads.”  The law seeks to fairly assess costs to those responsible for damage, and to give the policy the force of law, with the plan establishing weight, type, and frequency thresholds, and a system of permitting and bonding to cover potential damage for those who exceed those thresholds.

Much of the committee discussion focused on the thresholds, revised since the law was first proposed.  The committee recommended a threshold of more than 1,000 truck trips to and from a project site over the course of a project, involving trucks with a gross weight of more than 30 tons.  (The initial version had specified a frequency of 10 trips per day, four or more days per week, with a weight limit of 20 tons, later decreased to 5 trips per day with a 30 ton limit.)  The recommended law also now includes the option of voluntary road use agreements as an alternative to the permitting process, and it excludes school buses, law enforcement, fire fighting, and military, and vehicles performing municipal road work.  Agricultural operations were already excluded.

The Government Operations Committee will also consider the proposed law before it reaches the full Legislature.  County Administrator Joe Mareane told the committee he and Highway Manager Bill Sczesny are also in discussion with town officials to focus on implementation and how, through working with the engineering community, a consistent standard assessing road condition and damage might be developed.

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