Looking south from the corner of FM 1683 and Kingsland Boulevard — just south of Interstate 10 in Katy — the rumble of the approaching trucks comes before the rigs round the corner into view.

This Tuesday morning they come in waves of Kenworths, Volvos, Peterbuilts and Macks, some hauling goods, others heading empty to the concrete plant or the rail yard.

The trucks are part of Katy’s booming economy, but also one of its biggest growing problems.

“There have been some horrific accidents,” Katy Mayor Chuck Brawner said.

The reminders of the crashes are easy to spot on FM 1683. Two wooden crosses sit tilted in the tall grass next to the entrance to a truck yard.

All over Katy — and many other Houston-area spots — evidence of the large trucks is easy to see: eroded shoulders, cracked concrete, potholes capable of swallowing a Prius are all signs of loads too heavy for the roads they travel.

Getting a handle on the big haulers, however, means convincing state leaders to let Katy cite commercial vehicles, something that mostly is the domain of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

That could change soon in a handful of places. Lawmakers in Austin have filed eight bills related to commercial vehicle inspections granting specific police or sheriff’s departments the authority to enforce trucking rules. Requests have come from cities along the Mexican border and the bustling Permian Basin.

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Lawmakers are lined up to approve the requests, but remain skittish. Granting cities commercial truck oversight could, some fear, make some municipalities speed traps for trucks. So, they are taking the enforcement requests on a case-by-case basis.

Each of the bills would grant only specific cities — such as Katy — approval to equip and train commercial vehicle officers.

State Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, chairman of the state House Transportation Committee, said a “diminution in the presence” of Texas Department of Public Safety troopers has left many places where business is booming contending with busted streets and more trucks. Canales did not elaborate on the cause for fewer available officers, but previously has criticized past efforts by DPS to lay off troopers or offer incentives for early retirement to make up for sending an additional 250 troopers to the border, as ordered by state officials. Those decisions left fewer officers in other parts of the state.

“That has given rise to the number of accidents,” Canales said.

Heavy toll

Brawner said economic growth has come with a growing number of trucks in Katy-area roads. The city sits at the epicenter of Houston metro’s expansion, where so much of that traffic comes to and from Interstate 10. Three concrete plants operate inside city limits, along with a railroad yard that shifts aggregate materials to trucks. A lumber yard churns with activity, trucks going in and out.

Crashes involving heavy trucks in Katy increased to 69 in 2017, up from just 14 in 2010, according to Texas Department of Transportation data. Meanwhile, crashes in the region increased from 6,241 in 2014 to 7,555 in 2017.

A single DPS trooper oversees commercial vehicle enforcement outside Harris County. Pressed by officials, the trooper recently cracked down on trucking to demonstrate the need for more enforcement.

“We asked for them to do a check on (U.S.) 90, in between Brookshire and Katy,” Brawner said. “They went out there for a short period of time, one trooper, and made eight stops of heavy trucks, issued two weight citations, four weight warnings and another 21 warnings to these trucks operating on our roads in an unsafe manner.”

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Statewide, the Department of Public Safety oversees commercial motor vehicle enforcement, but allows counties and municipalities under certain conditions to have officers trained in trucking regulations who can cite drivers for noncompliance.

In the most urbanized parts of Houston, there are specific divisions aimed at trucking violations. Harris County Sheriff’s Office has a 10-member enforcement unit.

Police in suburban communities circling Houston have far smaller teams, opting to have one or two officers handle all commercial vehicle inspections.

Smaller departments, meanwhile, are reliant on state troopers, something that is causing concerns in some communities. Practically every county around Harris County has faced some effects of increased truck traffic. Though much of it has been confined to state roads, some counties also have reported rising truck use of county-built roads.

Reporting rare

Trucking industry officials are supportive of more enforcement, provided the police follow the rules, too, and properly report their revenue.

“What we want is transparency,” said Dana Moore, director of policy and government relations for the Texas Trucking Association.

U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded Texas — via the Department of Public Safety — roughly $60 million in the past two fiscal years as part of the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program. The grant is aimed at funding commercial vehicle enforcement, including training local police and deputies eligible to weigh trucks or properly enforcement regulations.

In Texas, 65 municipalities and five counties participate in the program, with applicants trained by DPS through the MSCAP program. Dozens of other counties have deputies trained to verify truck weights.

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Those agencies with commercial vehicle officers are expected to remit any revenues to the state comptroller, once they collect 110 percent of the annual cost of their program from the previous year. Local police are supposed to split any fine written for 5,000 pounds more than the maximum allowable weight of the vehicle with the state.

Since 1996, only 10 agencies have remitted payments to the comptroller for commercial vehicle fines, according to a preliminary list compiled by the trucking association. None of the 18 Houston-area agencies have ever reported excess fine revenue to the state.

Lawmakers tightened reporting requirements in the program during the 2017 legislative session, but rules established by the comptroller for reporting all revenue are just now beginning to kick in, Moore said.

“We all want safer roads and everyone to follow the rules, because the violators hurt the honest trucking companies that are doing it the right way,” Moore said. “With the enforcement, we believe an agency that wants to get in, that they have an actual need for it. Reporting to the comptroller’s office how much money they are bringing in. Doing that lets us know that agency is there for safety and not revenue.”

Brawner said Katy is not in it for the money. The city’s tax base, compared with other places, is rather lucrative.

“Katy is very blessed with the income it has coming in,” Brawner said. “This is not a revenue source for us. It is a personal safety issue for our citizens.”

The city expects to invest about $30,000 in equipment, mostly portable scales. Training should take a few months, Brawner said.

The officer will focus on local streets, Brawner said, leaving the freeway to state troopers and Harris County officers.

He added he does not expect any of the businesses to balk at the extra attention, or for truckers to take their business elsewhere.

“Our job is not to bankrupt them. Our job is not to make it so them cannot make a living,” Brawner said of the drivers. “You just want them to come into compliance.”

dug.begley@chron.com

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