A BILL to amend chapter seventeen-c of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding thereto a new article, designated article seventeen-a, relating to creating the extended weight natural resources and natural resources byproduct haul road system; prescribing the criteria for determining the system; providing that the secretary of the department of transportation determine the system; providing for promulgation of rules for ascertaining data for determination of system; determining vehicles used on system; requiring decals indicating use of system; prescribing decal fees; prescribing requirements for requests for decals and prorating fees; providing for impoundment of vehicles operated in violation of the weight limits prescribed herein; providing for cooperative agreements between users of the system and the state; and providing for reduction of weight and speed limits by secretary.

The extended weight natural resource or natural resource byproduct haul road system shall consist of any public highway, as defined in section two, article one, chapter twenty-four-a of this code, in this state over which quantities of natural resource or natural resource byproducts in excess of fifty thousand tons were transported during the calendar year.

The secretary of the department of transportation shall, on or before the first day of December of each year, certify such public highways, or portions thereof, as fulfill the criteria hereinabove, as the extended weight natural resource or natural resource byproducts haul road system when used in this article.

The total tons of natural resource or natural resource byproducts transported by motor vehicles over any public highway shall be determined by the secretary pursuant to rules promulgated under the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of this code.

Any vehicle, when registered with a declared gross weight of eighty thousand pounds and when transporting natural resource or natural resource byproducts over public highways which are part of the extended weight natural resource or natural resource byproducts haul road system or portions thereof may be operated at the weights as set forth herein in excess of the maximum gross weight prescribed in section nine, article seventeen, chapter seventeen-c of this code and any other maximum weight limitations on any public highway by paying the corresponding decal fee as set forth below:

(a) The decal authorized by this article will be issued by the secretary. Application shall be made on forms prescribed and furnished by the department. This application shall contain at least the following information:

Any motor vehicle transporting natural resource in violation of the weight limits provided for by this article for which the extended weight users' tax has not been paid as evidenced by an affixed extended weight users' decal or which is not being operated in accordance with the provisions of a cooperative agreement shall be deemed in violation of this article. The secretary may impound said vehicle until such time as the extended weight users' tax and all costs incurred in the impoundment and storage of the vehicle have been paid.

(a) Upon application the department of highways shall enter into cooperative agreements with any person engaged in the mining, processing, transporting or sale of natural resource providing for the transportation of natural resource in vehicles exceeding the maximum weight limits on the state-maintained system. Such cooperative agreements shall provide for an equitable apportionment of the incremental costs for design, maintenance, construction or reconstruction of those roads and bridges, except those roads and bridges which are part of the federal interstate highway system, resulting from the transportation of natural resource by trucks transporting natural resource in excess of the maximum weight limits on the state maintained system and covered by the cooperative agreement. Nothing contained herein shall affect the continuing validity of any existing agreement.

(a) The secretary, in respect to state and federal highways, may prescribe, by notice as provided in subsection (b) of this section, load and speed limits lower than the limits prescribed in this code whenever in his judgment any highway may, by reason of its design, deterioration, rain or other natural causes, be damaged or destroyed by motor trucks or semitrailer trucks, if their gross weight or speed exceeds certain limits. The secretary may, by like notice, regulate or prohibit the operation of motor trucks or semitrailer trucks on state highways or county roads for limited periods of specified days, or parts of days, if their load and speed exceed those limits, whenever, in his judgment, such regulations or prohibition is necessary, by reason of traffic density or intensive use by the traveling public, to provide for the public safety and convenience on the highway.