Road to Lamy Could Get Weight Limit

Santa Fe County officials are considering crafting an ordinance to introduce a weight limit for vehicles on County Road 33, the thoroughfare that trucks would use to access the Lamy train station. The county, which took over road maintenance from the state, hired a private engineering firm to conduct tests on the road in response to plans by Oklahomabased Pacer Energy Marketing to use it for tanker trucks that would offload crude oil onto train cars. Lamy residents have been rallying against the plan, cit- ing concerns with potential spills, noise and property values.

There was little state or local officials could do to regulate the deal that allows Pacer to lease sidings of the train tracks there from Santa Fe Southern Railway. But county officials believe they have the authority to implement a weight-limit ordi nance that they say would protect the county's investment.

County spokeswoman Kristine Mihelcic says that based on the test results from the engineering firm, the county is likely to consider an ordinance at the end of April that would restrict individual loads to 26 tons. County Public Works Director Adam Leigland is working on a preliminary draft of the ordinance with the county's legal department, she says. Pacer officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the weight of their tanker trucks, but reports on file with the federal government show that the gross weight range of the vehicle class that covers tanker trucks—which includes empty vehicle weight and payload capacity—is between 33,000 and 80,000 pounds, or 16.5 and 40 tons.

Santa Fe Reporter