Senior Reporter
FHWA Seeking Comment on Truck Size and Weight Study
The agency is in the process of preparing its final report to Congress on the study of certain safety, infrastructure and efficiency issues surrounding the potential effects of allowing larger and heavier trucks on U.S. highways.
FHWA said the final report will address differences in safety risks, infrastructure impacts and the effect on levels of enforcement between trucks operating at or within federal truck size and weight limits and trucks legally operating in excess of federal limits. It also will compare and contrast the potential safety and infrastructure impacts of alternative configurations to the current regulations and estimate the effects of freight diversion due to these alternative configurations.
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In June, Transportation Under Secretary Peter Rogoff told congressional leaders that data collected for the study were so limited that the Department of Transportation could not recommend any changes to current federal policy.
The $2.3 million technical report was released June 5, but Rogoff said in a letter that the research “revealed very significant data limitations that severely hampered FHWA's efforts to conclusively study the effects of the size and weight of various truck configurations.”
“At this time, the department believes that the current data limitations are so profound that the results cannot accurately be extrapolated to predict national impacts,” Rogoff wrote. “As such, the department believes that no changes in the relevant truck size and weight laws and regulations should be considered until these data limitations are overcome.”
