AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
Currently, the Overweight Corridor Program provides an optional procedure for the issuance of a permit by certain port authorities for the movement of oversize or overweight vehicles carrying cargo on certain state highways. Allowing shippers to load containers to their maximum carrying weight helps reduces transportation costs and provides an incentive for ocean carriers and shuttle services to call on those port authorities.
An additional benefit of the Overweight Corridor Program is that it makes highways and roads safer for local traffic, lowers truck emissions, and reduces highway maintenance costs. The savings will make manufacturers and affected port authorities more competitive and will encourage the retention and investment of jobs in the areas surrounding the port authority and in the state as a whole.
H.B. 1305 amends current law relating to the issuance of oversize or overweight vehicle permits by certain port authorities.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Section 623.210, Transportation Code, to provide that this subchapter provides an optional procedure for the issuance of a permit for the movement of oversize or overweight vehicles carrying cargo on state highways located in counties contiguous to the Gulf of Mexico or a bay or inlet opening into the gulf and adjacent to at least two counties with a population of 550,000 or more; or bordering the United Mexican States.
SECTION 2. Amends Section 623.211, Transportation Code, to redefine, in this subchapter, "port authority."
SECTION 3. Amends Section 623.212, Transportation Code, to authorize the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to authorize a port authority to issue permits for the movement of oversize or overweight vehicles carrying cargo on state highways located in counties contiguous to the Gulf of Mexico or a bay or inlet opening into the gulf and adjacent to at least two counties with a population of 550,000 or more; or bordering the United Mexican States.
SECTION 4. Amends Section 623.219, Transportation Code, as follows:
Sec. 623.219. ROUTE DESIGNATION. (a) Requires the Texas Transportation Commission (TTC), for a permit issued by a port authority located in a county that borders the United Mexican States, with consent of the port authority, to designate the most direct route from the Gateway International Bridge or the Veterans International Bridge at Los Tomates to the entrance of the Port of Brownsville using State Highways 48 or 4 or United States Highways 77 and 83 or using United States Highway 77 and United States Highway 83, East Loop Corridor, and State Highway 4. Makes a nonsubstantive change
(b) Requires TTC, with the consent of the port authority, for a permit issued by a port authority located in a county that is adjacent to at least two counties with a population of 550,000 or more, to designate the most direct route from:
(1) the intersection of Farm-to-Market Road 523 and Moller Road to the entrance of Port Freeport using Farm-to-Market Roads 523 and 1495;
(2) the intersection of State Highway 288 and Chlorine Road to the entrance of Port Freeport using State Highway 288; and
(3) the intersection of State Highway 288 and Chlorine Road to the entrance of Port Freeport using State Highways 288 and 332 and Farm-to-Market Roads 523 and 1495.
(c) Creates this subsection from existing text and makes no further changes.
SECTION 5. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2011.