POSTED BY WILL SENTELL
CAPITOL NEWS BUREAU

A bill that would restrict 18-wheelers to the right lane on multi-lane highways statewide cleared a state Senate commit-tee Thursday.

"Obviously the issue is safety for the traveling public," said state Sen. Rob Marionneaux, D-Grosse Tete and sponsor of the measure.

The proposal, which is Senate Bill 139, cleared the state Sen-ate Transportation Committee 4-3 and next faces action on the Senate floor.

The legislation would limit big trucks to the right lane of multi-lane highways and the center or right lanes of high-ways with three or more lanes going in the same direction.

Trucks would be allowed to travel in the left lane for a "reasonable distance" when making a left turn, to pass a car or truck traveling below the speed limit or to allow to merge.

Marionneaux said a 19-mile stretch of Interstate 10 over the Atchafalaya Basin is the most notable stretch of high-way where 18-wheelers are re-stricted to the right lane and a maximum speed limit of 55 miles per hour.

He said that stems from a state rule, which was issued af-ter a 11-vehicle, five-fatality accident on the basin roadway in 2003 caused by truck driver's error.

Crash data since then, Marionneaux said, shows a re-duction in accidents on that stretch of I-10 even with higher traffic volume.

He said a 2009 study showed a 10 percent reduction in crashes where big trucks are limited to the right lane, and an even bigger drop in the rate of major accidents.

Kathy Gautreaux, executive director for the Louisiana Mo-tor Transport Association, op-posed the bill. She said the highway over the Atchafalaya Basin is an unique situation.

"What we are concerned about is a blanket application of truck lane restrictions," Gaut-reaux told the committee. "We are for safety but we want it to be for the right reasons."

Gautreaux said that it should be up to the state Department of Transportation and Devel-opment to decide whether and where to restrict trucks.

"We just want you to oppose this legislation," she said.

State Sen. Buddy Shaw, R-Shreveport, criticized the measure. "I don't understand the need for the bill," Shaw said. State Sen. Dale Erdey, R-Livingston and the sponsor of similar legislation in the past, said the key issue is how such a law would be enforced.

Shawn Wilson, chief of staff for the state Department of Transportation and Develop-ment, said one of the studies cited by Marionneaux said truck lane restrictions should be applied selectively. Under the bill violators would be subject to $500 fines.

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