WINCHESTER -- Farmer Matt Taylor hauls a lot of corn and beans to the market in the late winter and early spring.
"Because you can't do much else," he said.
A proposal before the Randolph County commissioners, however, would place weight restrictions on Taylor's loads on designated days during that time period. The "frost law" is an effort to protect Randolph County's rural roads when they are most vulnerable -- during a thaw.
"We saw it so bad this last spring," said Keith Newbauer, Randolph County highway superintendent. "A road can deteriorate in two days' time."
The frost law would apply to all heavy trucks and equipment, although farmers would probably be most affected as Randolph County is heavily agricultural. The county is home to 784 farms, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Newbauer estimated farmers would have to cut their semi loads in half to comply with the weight restrictions.
"We probably aren't going to make a lot of friends," Newbauer said.
Frost laws are commonplace in Michigan and even the northern counties in Indiana. The concept might soon catch on in central Indiana as agricultural and economic trends make it more difficult for local governments to maintain their roads.
"It may be the wave of the future," Randolph County Commissioner Bud Carpenter said. "Who knows?"
According to Newbauer, modern farm equipment is getting heavier, and roads designed in the 1940s are ill-equipped to handle the added load.
"Twenty years ago, there were maybe only one or two farmers in my area that had a semi truck," Newbauer said. "Now there's only one or two farmers that don't."
To make matters worse, funding for local roads, which comes through the state from a gasoline tax, is on the decline. The county lost $435,000 in road funding this year compared to 2009, according to Carpenter. The county simply can't afford to repave its roads and must save what it has.
"Our roads are falling apart faster than we can repair them," Carpenter said.
The Randolph County commissioners are still hammering out the details on their frost law.
Currently, the law would give the commissioners the authority to declare frost law weight restrictions at any time between Feb. 1 and April 1. The law would not be in continuous effect but would instead be enacted when weather conditions make it necessary, similar to a snow emergency.
"This is only going to take place four or five days at the most," Newbauer said.
The law would be enforced by the sheriff's office, and violators would be fined between $300 and $10,000.
The law also includes a provision that would allow farmers and businesses to apply for exemptions.
Randolph County authorities were eager to point out they were not trying to make life hard on farmers or businesses. They already have made a compromise that allows owner-operators of semis to drive their trucks home during a frost law period.
Carpenter said he expected the commissioners will discuss the frost law at their next meeting at 9 a.m. on Nov. 15. It might not come up for a vote until December, he said.
Taylor expressed concern about the law but said he didn't yet know much about it.
Scott Trennepohl farms in nearby Henry, Delaware and Madison counties and sits on the Indiana Farm Bureau Board, where he served on a committee that studied how to address the state's ailing rural road systems.
Farmers, Trennepohl said, are neither united for nor against frost laws, and the Farm Bureau has yet to take a formal position.
Farmers understand they have a responsibility to help prevent road deterioration, Trennepohl said. But he added the government must be careful not to get in the way of agriculture.
"The main thing is that we all just work together," Trennepohl said.
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