County urges House for traffic solutions
Office of Rep. Terri Leo Wilson. Chambers County Commissioner Pct. 4 Ryan Dagley and Sheriff Brian Hawthorne speak with Texas House District 23 Rep. Terri Leo Wilson about House Bill 4605, a bill aimed at creating a truck route for oversized vehicles transporting goods.
AUSTIN— Two Chambers County public officials recently testified before the House regarding traffic solutions, which, if passed, could greatly impact county roadway traffic regarding oversized and overweight vehicles.
On Thursday, May 1, Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne and Commissioner Pct. 4 Ryan Dagley, who originally wrote House Bill 4605, visited the Texas House, providing testimony supporting the bill.
“House Bill 4605 isn’t just good policy, it’s absolutely necessary for counties like ours,” Dagley said.
Introduced by Texas House District 23 Rep. Terri Leo Wilson, the bill is currently in the House Transportation Committee.
HB 4605 would promote collaboration between the Texas Department of Transportation and commissioners’ courts in specific counties, adding public input to the decision-making processes.
Commissioners would collaborate with TxDOT to create designated truck routes for oversized and overweight vehicles safely traveling through the county.
“This change does allow for more thoughtful and community-focused traffic planning that considers road durability, safety conditions and long-term maintenance,” Leo Wilson said.
As written now, the bill would apply to counties with a population less than 100,000 that contain a port or are within 15 miles of a port.
Dagley noted that the county is next to one of the busiest ports in the U.S., with about one-third of all containers going to the Port of Houston passing through the county.
“Every day our local roads bear the weight of oversized and overweight vehicles critical to our economy, but ones that were never meant to travel through school zones and neighborhood streets,” Dagley said.
Hawthorne, speaking on behalf of the county and the Sheriffs’ Association of Texas, noted that once the weight station was added off Interstate 10, oversized vehicles began taking FM roads to avoid the station.
During testimony, Dagley noted traffic on FM 3180 and FM 2354 within Barbers Hill Independent School District.
In a Facebook post, Hawthorne noted the above-mentioned and FM 1663.
“I appreciate Commissioner Ryan Dagley and Representative Teri Leo Wilson for taking a proactive approach to prevent the catastrophic events that are looming in the near future,” Hawthorne said in the post.
If passed as it stands, the bill would go into effect Sept. 1.