State Panel to Quiz Caltrans About Truck-Routing Errors

A state Senate committee will quiz Caltrans officials next month about routing mistakes that have sent oversized trucks under low overpasses, causing several accidents since June.

Sen. Joe Dunn (D-Santa Ana), vice chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, said news accounts of errors by Caltrans workers who approved routing permits--including one that led to a fatal accident in Anaheim this month--have him concerned.

And news that growth in the number of permits has outstripped growth in Caltrans staff “has raised enough red flags that we felt a closer look is necessary,” he said.

In a letter to California Department of Transportation Director Jose Medina, Dunn and Senate Transportation Committee Chairwoman Sen. Betty Karnette (D-Long Beach) have asked the agency to appear at a special hearing Aug. 17 to address concerns about the permit errors.

Dunn earlier wrote to state transportation officials asking for information about permit procedures after a Westminster man was killed in a July 16 accident near the intersection of the Riverside and Orange freeways in Anaheim.

Caltrans had approved a permit routing a 15-foot truck westbound on the Riverside Freeway under the 14-foot, 10-inch La Palma Avenue overpass. The truck’s cargo--a 7,000-pound tank--was knocked off, crushing motorist Tam Trong Tran, 36.

But news that two similar accidents have occurred in Shasta County since June, causing no injuries but more than $10,000 in damage, prompted Dunn and Karnette to intensify the inquiry.

“As the chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, it’s my role to get answers from Caltrans on things that concern the state and the safety of the people of the state,” Karnette said. “We need to know if this is an anomaly.”

The letter asks Medina to discuss the three recent accidents, the agency’s permit track record, the growing number of permit applications, staffing and preventive measures.

Caltrans spokesman Jim Drago said that although he had not heard of the expanded request, the agency was already compiling information in response to Dunn’s initial letter and the agency’s own internal review.

“We look forward to the opportunity of going to the committee and laying it out about the program and anything we can do to improve public safety,” he said. “We all have the same goal--to protect public safety and to operate our system as safely and efficiently as possible.”

After the special hearing, committee members will discuss several options, including doing nothing, starting a formal investigation or auditing Caltrans permits, Dunn said.