U.S. Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) last week introduced a bill "to keep dangerously heavy and large trucks off the nation's roads."


The "Safe Truck and Operations and Preservations Act," or STOP Act, would keep the current limit of 80,000 pounds for tractor-trailer trucks on Interstate highways in place and establish a maximum length of 53 feet for trucks. The senators say these measures will improve safety and prevent excessive strain on the nation's roads, tunnels and bridges.

The bill appears to be in response to lobbying last week by the trucking industry and others, asking Congress to adopt several demonstration pilot projects relating to larger trucks.

"Last year's tragic bridge collapse in Minneapolis demonstrated how fragile our already-deficient bridges and roads are, and we should not be putting even heavier trucks on them," Lautenberg said. "But that is exactly what some trucking company interests are proposing-- even bigger and heavier trucks on our roads. If there was ever a recipe for disaster, this is it."

"It defies common sense to let big trucks become super-giant trucks. Missouri drivers are already stressed by the presence of so many big trucks," McCaskill said. "There are safety considerations along with the reality of increased fuel costs that require us to say no to even bigger commercial trucks on our roads."

The bill would extend the current weight limit and freeze on triple-trailers to the entire 160,000-mile National Highway System, while still allowing exemptions, including for firefighting equipment. The NHS includes both Interstate highways and smaller national highways. The bill was first introduced in 2003. After winning a key Committee vote on the bill, trucking companies backed off their efforts to allow bigger trucks on the nation's roads, according to the senator's office. Lautenberg also wrote the original law that limiting the spread of triple-trailer trucks to only a handful of states.