10/03/2018- A new bill introduced by Senator Tom Casperson is raising some red flags for the Menominee County Road Commission. Senate Bill 396 amends the Michigan Vehicle Code to allow logging trucks to operate on unpaved county roads unrestricted by seasonal weight limits. Darrell Moilanen is the Engineer/Manager of the Menominee County Road Commission. He says the Commission has now gone on record opposing that bill.
The proposal would require log truck operators to secure a bond of $2000 per mile for potential damage. But, Moilanen says that’s not sufficient to cover the cost of having to repair any of the county’s 565 miles of gravel road.
The Menominee County Road Commission has forwarded a recommendation to the County’s Board of Commissioners to join other UP counties in passing a resolution opposing the legislation. Casperson’s bill was recently approved by the Committee on Transportation and referred on to the Committee of the Whole.