Congressmen Seek Truck Weight Exemption for Wisconsin Highway

Two U.S. congressmen from Wisconsin introduced legislation to allow trucks heavier than 80,000 pounds now running on U.S. Highway 41 in that state to continuing using the road if it becomes an interstate next year.

Reps. Tom Petri and Reid Ribble, both Republicans, introduced the bill late last week. It would allow Wisconsin to continue issuing permits to trucks in excess of 80,000 pounds that run the highway.

American Trucking Associations and the Wisconsin Motor Truck Association are backing the measure.

“It’s a big issue for us,” said Thomas Howells, president of the WMTA. “All we’re asking for is trucks that are over 80,000 pounds be allowed to use the road as they are now.”

U.S. 41 runs from Milwaukee into Michigan, but the section Wisconsin wants designated as interstate stretches 142 miles between Milwaukee and Green Bay.

On some stretches of the highway, 9,000 to 14,000 trucks travel every day, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

Trucks over 80,000 pounds are barred from interstates, expect where Congress grants exemptions or grandfathers in roads added to the interstate system.

“All kinds of trucks use Highway 41 to transport timber, scrap materials, and agriculture products throughout our state, and these goods and products are often sent across the country using this roadway,” said Petri, who is chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s highways subcommittee.

The state is seeking interstate designation from the Federal Highway Administration but will abandon its application if the permitting authority bill is not passed because the state does not want heavier trucks forced onto secondary roads, state officials said.

Congress allowed Wisconsin such permitting authority when U.S. 51 became Interstate 39 in the 1990s, state DOT officials said.