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February 28, 2005
Construction
Industry Advancement Fund and CDTOA
Dear Trustees
and CDTOA EC:
Following are some of
the major issues your Industry Transportation Consultant
has been dealing with to date.
Caltrans: Hours
of Travel, 24 / 7 implemented February 15, 2005.
This has many ramifications, including:
A) Re-thinking: Your company will
need to re-think your equipment transportation. You
will now have better and more efficient choices when
dispatching your equipment. You will soon be allowed
to move after evening curfew rather than having to wait
until 3:00am. The industry now has 9 more hours a day
available for them to plan equipment moves. We have
has gained 9 hours a day and 18 hours a day on weekends
or 81 hours a week-4212 hours of use, per unit, per
year.
Available time example: If a company similar to Pavement
Recycling has 20 trucks, over a period of 1 year, they
will have an additional 74,880 hours available for mobilization
of equipment. Currently when you run into evening darkness,
your parked and you have to go back at 3:00 am to complete
the move, not any longer.
B) Annual Permits, there will no
longer be a need for Green Weight Annuals, which allowed
you to travel from 12:01 am or 12 wide otherwise legal
weight statewide annuals. For years, most firms have
needed all three annuals in order to utilize as many
hours of travel available. Industry will no longer need
3 different annuals; the purple weight annual will cover
most operations. There will be a savings in Annual Permits
alone of approximately $422,000 annually. This is a
minimal savings compared to the major overall change.
C) Leveling the playing field.
There has been a problem that has gone on for years
in our industry regarding bootlegging equipment. How
many times have you been given last minute approval
to start a project and it's essential to get your equipment
in the dirt as soon as possible. In the past, movement
restrictions would not allow you to mobilize as quickly
as you needed. Here come the bootleggers-because they
didn't follow the rules, while legitimate transport
companies did. These companies, who operated legally
and safely, had to turn work down because they follow
the rules. Contractors and transporters will no longer
have to turn down loads because of these restrictions.
There will be no reason for any company to have needed
to bootleg equipment, Caltrans has leveled the playing
field and safety has been enhanced.
Who would benefit from this new plan?
The traveling public
Public transportation will benefit from these new regulations
because of lessened traffic congestion as more trucks
move onto highways during night hours. Consumers should
benefit from lower freight rates brought about through
reduced congestion costs. Air pollution will drop in metropolitan
areas as congestion is lessened.
Seventy percent of freight comes through our ports and
then leaves California for other parts of the country.
Now those loads will be on their way earlier and not contributing
to already impacted public traffic. Commerce will be able
to move more freely except for those curfew times (6:00
a.m. to 9:00 a. m. and 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in major
metro areas).
Contractors
Contractors will have greater working hour flexibility
to move equipment from job to job without encumbering
transportation restrictions. The result of this Caltrans
implementation will mean additional evening and weekend
moving time with fewer restrictions. Because of these
additional options and better utilization of equipment,
projects that have costly deadlines will not be as burdensome.
This will help keep the cost of construction lower for
consumers.
Specialized equipment haulers
This implementation will allow for better economical utilization
of equipment, more productive customer service, and allow
more hours for company drivers or additions to the company
work force.
For example, owners of a spread of 637E Cat Scrapers which
are purple weight will have approximately 351 additional
hours of travel a month, allowing more time for their
drivers. Lowbed trucks will no longer be required to park
at sunset and then start again at 3:00 a.m. There will
no longer be weekend travel restricted to 3:00 a.m. to
9:00 a.m. The curfew restriction will remain in curfew
areas during the week.
Route information under new rules
To date, most of the people taking advantage of the relaxed
regulations have been doing so through the issuance of
single trip permits. To completely take advantage of the
24/7 rule change, members of the industry will need to
update their Annual Permits by purchasing new annuals
showing 24 / 7 travel.
I realize that some of you may have annuals that are not
ready to expire and Caltrans understands that as well.
The agency is now selling these new 24/7 permits that
will allow one year beyond the expiration date of your
current annual at no additional charge. It is important
that you update your permits-law enforcement will enforce
what is on the face of your permit.
For example: If you annual permit expires 6/01/05, Caltrans
will issue a new one to expire on 6/01/06 that includes
24/7 travel privileges. While this a little additional
paperwork now, there is some very good news-in most cases
this new permit will become the only one required to travel
state roads.
As most of you know, the state controls movement based
on the size of your load and the quality of the roads
you will be using, following their route definitions:
Route Definitions:
Yellow Route - multi lane, such as a freeway.
Example: Interstate 5 or Interstate 10 etc.
Green Route - 12' wide lane, one direction
with 4' of paved shoulder, such as a highway. Example
Highway 395 or Highway 79
Blue Route - 11' wide lane, minimum 2' shoulder.
Brown Route - 10' wide lanes with some shoulder.
Red Route - restricted travel. Example:
Mountain Roads, Tolls Roads etc.
Travel on "Yellow Routes"
Without a Pilot Car
• Travel is authorized 24 / 7
With a Pilot Car
• All Permit vehicles/loads are authorized travel
24 / 7 until the loads width exceeds 16' 0". When
the loaded width exceeds 16' 0" on Yellow routes,
the load will be escorted by the California Highway Patrol
(CHP). The CHP in coordination with the District Traffic
Manager(s) (DTMs) will determine hours of travel.
Travel on "Green Routes"
Without a Pilot Car
• Travel is authorized 24 / 7
With a Pilot Car
• Daylight hours, including weekends; All permit
vehicles/loads are authorized travel until the loaded
width exceeds 15' 0". When the loaded width exceeds
15' 0" on Green routes, the vehicle/load will be
escorted by the California Highway Patrol (CHP). The CHP
in coordination with the District Traffic Manager(s) (DTMs)
will determine hours of travel.
• Hours of Darkness, including Weekends; All permit
vehicles/load are authorized travel during hours of darkness
until the loaded width exceeds 14' 0". When the loaded
width exceeds 14' 0", travel during hours of darkness
is not authorized.
Travel on "Blue and Brown Routes"
Without a Pilot Car
• Travel is authorized 24 / 7
With a Pilot Car
• Daylight hours, including weekends; All permit
vehicles/loads are authorized travel until the loaded
width exceeds 15' 0". When the loaded width exceeds
15' 0" on Blue and Brown routes, the vehicle/load
will be escorted by the California Highway Patrol (CHP).
The CHP in coordination with the District Traffic Manager(s)
(DTMs) will determine hours of travel.
• Weekend Travel; Travel is authorized on Saturday
and Sunday from one-half hour prior to sunrise to 12 noon.
Travel on "Red Routes"
Operational restriction, consult the "Red
Route Summary Table" for travel restrictions.
Uniform Pilot Car Requirements for Green
and Yellow Routes proposal submitted June 30, 2004.
This will affect portions or entire Green Routes such
as Hwy 18, Hwy 27, Hwy 30, Hwy 34, Hwy 38, Hwy 58, Hwy
79, Hwy 86, Hwy 111, Hwy 118, Hwy 138, and Hwy 395. For
the past 25 years plus, the Industry has been required
to have one pilot car escorting loads 100 feet or greater,
empty or loaded. Approximately 49 highways throughout
the State of California will benefit from this change.
(Another significant savings)
The difference between a Yellow Route and a Green Route
are the number of lanes. A Yellow Route has 4 lanes of
traffic and a Green Route has 2 lanes of traffic. They
both have 12' lanes and a paved shoulder width greater
than, or equal to, four feet. The Criteria of the cross
section of the Highway is identical. These two routes
are almost completely uniform except for the number of
lanes.
Pilot Cars will be required for loads exceeding 120 feet
in length, as they are on Yellow Routes. This will be
a considerable savings for approximately 95% on 9-axle
loads, a savings of approximately $200 plus per load in
time and pilot car expense for the Industry.
Another recent change on green routes, 2 pilot cars for
width required for loads 13' 1" - 14' 0" has
changed to one pilot car. (Another significant savings)
Los Angeles County:
One Stop Shop Permitting:
We have been working with Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich's
office and Nelson Nelson of the Public Works, Transportation
Division regarding broadening the use of their new computerized
permit system and to offer this service to other localities.
Significant savings to the industry
The City of Los Angeles:
City Council has approved for ordinance
changes.
- Annual Permits recently
expired on February 28th. The problem that Industry
was facing was that everyone's annuals all expired on
the same date and City staff was sometimes months reissuing
them. If you were issued an Annual Permit on November
1st, you paid for an entire year. They would not prorate
the permit. City Council has approved to have Annual
Permits expire 1 year after the date of issuance.
- Movement in the Rain
was approved by City Council on February 27, 2001. It
was approved with the following stipulation. "This
section shall remain in effect for only ONE YEAR, and
as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statue that is enacted before ONE YEAR, deletes or extends
that date" We requested that the sunshine clause
be lifted and this become a permanent ordinance change
to read that "it shall be unlawful for any person
to move, or to cause or permit to be moved upon any
public street or place any overload in rainy or foggy
weather, either day or night, when visibility is reduced
to less than 1,000 feet.
City Council approved Movement in the Rain permanently.
City of Monterey Park: I was contacted
by a member that was being charged $75 for a single trip
permit. We have contacted the city to make them aware
of the problem.
City of Culver City: I met with the
City's Public Works Department and Police Department.
The meeting was to understand why industry was obtaining
single trip permits for loads that didn't require them.
The City does have designated posted truck routes. CVC
35703 states "No ordinance adopted pursuant to Section
35701 shall prohibit any commercial vehicles coming from
an unrestricted street having ingress and egress by direct
route to and from a restricted street when necessary for
the purpose of making pickups or deliveries…."
Enforcement is not issuing citation for truck taking the
shortest route off a designated truck route (unrestricted
street). Citations being issued on a posted street constitute
a fine and 1.5 points against the driver's driving record.
Enforcement is issuing tickets according to the City Municipal
Code. This means only a fine and no points against the
driver's record.
Enforcement encourages drivers to stay on designated truck
routes and take the shortest route to their destination.
BNSF Railroad Crossings: There was
a misunderstanding with Staubach Global Services in Fort
Worth, Texas. They are contracted to issue permits on
the behalf of BNSF. They have agreed that under C.V.C.
35789, they have no authority to require a $250 permit
for heavy equipment to cross a public crossing.
Respectfully submitted,
Gregory D. Dineen
Industry Transportation Consultant
Cc: John Hakel, AGC Jim Burton, SCCA
Gary Futral, ECA Seth Hammond, MCOG
Richard Lambros, BIA Lee Brown, CDTOA
Aimee Shook, DCA
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