Floyd County joins opposition to road weight limit state law change

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com 

Floyd County supervisors voted Tuesday morning to join numerous other county boards across the state in opposing a bill being considered in the Iowa Legislature that would allow some heavier truck loads on county roads.

The three supervisors unanimously approved a resolution citing the county’s opposition to Senate Study Bill 1045 and Senate File 184.

The bill would make a change to Iowa Code that would allow trucks hauling heavy raw forest product loads such as logs, posts, wood chips, sawdust, fuel wood, mulch, Christmas trees and other products, to get a state permit to cross primary and nonprimary roads.

Dusten Rolando, county engineer for Floyd and Chickasaw counties, said current legal load limits on county roads and bridges are 80,000 pounds.

“This basically says that someone can get a permit from the (Iowa) Department of Transportation for up to 130,000 pounds, … and not even have to talk to me as the county engineer to go over our bridges or our roads,” he said.

Allowing that size load will have a foreseeable effect, he said. “You’ll see some of our structures fail.”

Heavy loads could weaken a bridge, for example, that could later fail when someone else is driving over it.

“And then who’s responsible, who’s liable?” Rolando asked.

One consequence of the law might be the federal government requiring counties to analyze all bridges to see which ones can handle the extra load and post weight limits on those that can’t, he said.

Some county bridges are already posted with weight limits if the county knows they can’t handle the usual 80,000-pound loads.

“The cost of putting up a couple of signs and advance warning signs is $1,000 a sign, but it depends on how many bridges I have to do there. That’s not the expensive part,” Rolando said.

“The expensive part might be having every structure analyzed in the county. With 168 structures, you’re talking anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000, depending on the in-depth review that’s gonna be required if this passes,” he said. “I don’t think anybody’s realizing this.”

Rolando said there is already a process in place for anyone who wants to run a large load over county roads.

“They can get an oversized, overweight permit through my office, and then we’ll say, hey, don’t take this route because of a bridge here, or we can analyze it individually as it comes up,” he said.

With the state DOT issuing the permits, the counties won’t know when or where the heavy loads are traveling, he said.

Rolando said the resolution was based on one he saw at a recent Iowa State Association of Counties meeting, and he expects that every county engineer in the state will encourage his or her county board of supervisors to pass the resolution.

Many counties have already passed this or a similar resolution opposing the proposed law change.

Also at the board meeting Tuesday morning, the supervisors:

• Awarded a certificate of appreciation to County Treasurer Frank Rottinghaus, from the Iowa State Association of Counties, for 25 years service to Floyd County. Rottinghaus took office in 1993.
• Approved an agreement proposal with Casey’s Marketing Co. for the county to use the former Casey’s store property on Gilbert Street for parking during construction of the law enforcement center project.

There is no charge for the use, but the county would be responsible for mowing and snow removal. The agreement would run between May 1, 2019, and May 1, 2021, and could be terminated by either party with five day’s notice.

• Accepted a bid from Bruening Rock Products of Decorah for 95,050 tons of crushed rock to resurface certain county gravel roads. The lone bid was for $11.6999 per ton, for a total of $1,112,075.