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Capitol View®
Tim Pugmire

Stillwater lift bridge bill still up in the air

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Two Republican legislators say they want to improve safety and reduce traffic congestion by banning heavy trucks from the Stillwater lift bridge.

Rep. Matt Dean, R-Dellwood, and Sen. Ray Vandeveer, R-Forest Lake, are sponsoring legislation that would impose a new weight limit of 26,000 pounds for trucks using Highway 36 to cross the St. Croix River. The current limit is 80,000 pounds. Dean says several accidents involving large trucks have closed the bridge for repairs. He says too many trucks are driving through Stillwater to avoid the weigh stations on Interstate 94.

"The city of Stillwater has recently done saturation studies that have pulled these trucks over to find out why they're there and if there's anything wrong with them," Dean said. "Over half of the trucks that were pulled over had things wrong with them , from weight to improper load to problems with the vehicle itself."

The mayor of Stillwater, Ken Harycki, agrees. He's also concerned about the traffic jams caused by truck traffic.

Getting these trucks out of downtown Stillwater, out of a tourist destination where we have over a million tourists a year visting us, is very important," Harycki said. "It's obvisouly just an accident waiting to happen."

Dean's bill cleared the House Transportation Policy Committee this week. Its next stop is the Commerce Committee. The Senate version of the bill, sponsored by Vandeveer, is waiting for a floor vote.