Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine proposed legislation that will allow six-axle trucks weighing up to 100,000 pounds on all interstates highways in the state.
Currently, trucks weighing more than 80,000 pounds are restricted to secondary roads except for the Maine Turnpike from Kittery to Augusta. The Maine Republican's bill would allow states to bypass Congress and seek individual waivers of the interstate restrictions from the U.S. DOT.
Snowe says the Commercial Truck Safety Act would eliminate an inequitable government regulation permitting the heavier trucks to travel on some states' interstate highways and not others. In 27 states, trucks up to 100,000 pounds can travel on interstate highways, but in states like Maine, trucks weighing more than 80,000 pounds must either unload cargo or travel to their destination on winding secondary roads through numerous small towns and communities.
The bill would allow the secretary of transportation to establish three-year pilot exemptions on a state-by-state basis. Each participating state would be required to establish a safety committee, including department officials, highway safety advocates and trucking representatives, to determine whether the waiver should become permanent.
"Trucks belong on the highway," said Snowe, a member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, adding that the "current treatment of truck weights on interstate highways is a glaring example of a bureaucratic regulation creating both safety hazards on secondary roads and tangible barriers to job growth."
Snowe's not the only who wants to change the law to allow the heavier trucks on state interstates.
U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, a Maine Democrat, has a bill in the House allowing heavier trucks on interstates in Maine and other states, which has 51 co-sponsors. It was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, with co-sponsors that include U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
A Maine Department of Transportation report last fall concluded allowing trucks on all interstates would "increase traffic safety, improve the environment, increase business competitiveness and reduce transportation infrastructure costs at no cost to the taxpayer." It also noted that trucks use less fuel on the Interstate than on secondary roads.
Last December, a one-year federal pilot program allowing the heavier trucks to use all Maine's interstates lapsed.
Collins, top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee's transportation subcommittee, authored the pilot program and earlier this year introduced a bill to make it permanent.
Snowe noted that during the pilot program, there were 14 fewer truck crashes compared with the previous year and no fatalities involving the heavier tractor-trailer trucks.
The U.S. Department of Transportation declined to comment Thursday on Snowe's proposal. However, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood earlier this year described the concept as "not a bad idea" during a Senate hearing.
The major opponents include the railroad industry and several key lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.
The truck weight legislation would most likely be added to a pending renewal of a broader surface transportation bill. But in a year where the debt-ceiling debate and fiscal concerns have dominated discussion, there is no guarantee a final transportation bill will be passed anytime soon.
