MASON CITY — The Cerro Gordo County Board of Supervisors this week approved a resolution opposing a bill filed in the Iowa Senate dealing with the transportation of raw forestry products on primary and non-primary highways.

The legislation would allow the Iowa Department of Transportation to issue annual permits to forestry industry haulers for loads of up to 130,000 pounds on non-primary highways without the knowledge of or notice given to those agencies that own the roads.

County Engineer Brandon Billings says the bill would take away the authority to control the use of the county’s roads.

 

Billings says the bill would greatly impact traffic.

 

 

Cerro Gordo County owns and maintains non-primary highways and 156 bridges, with many of those bridges either aging, structurally deficient, or functionally obsolete.  The supervisors say the county does not have the finances to repair or replace the bridges which would be subject to accelerated deterioration by the increased loads.