Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., have put language into pending legislation that would permit a one-year extension of the pilot program that exempts federal highways in Maine and Vermont from the 80,000-pound truck weight limit.


The pilot in effect allows trucks weighing up to 100,000 pounds to use Interstate highways in those states, a practice that the states say improves productivity and safety.

The pilot program, which has been under way for a year, is scheduled to end Dec. 18 unless Collins and Leahy prevail in their effort to extend it. They are taking on House legislators who recently passed a bill that would halt the program.

The extension is included in a proposed federal funding bill that the Senate is expected to consider later this week. If the Senate passes it, the measure will go back to the House but the House may not have the option of making any changes.