House, Senate Delegates to Finalize Highway Bill

Congressional transportation leaders said they will meet this week to produce a multiyear highway bill that ensures infrastructure projects around the country are funded and reforms the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program.

A bill is expected to be ready for President Obama to sign by Thanksgiving. Current funding authority for highway programs expires Nov. 20.

“With this historic piece of legislation, Congress can end a wasteful cycle of short-term extensions and help to put America back on the map as the best place to do business,” said Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the surface transportation committee, shortly after the Senate voted, 82-7, on Nov. 10 to negotiate the terms of a multiyear highway bill with House lawmakers.

Before the vote, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), the ranking member on the surface transportation committee, acknowledged that senior transportation staffers were “already speaking” on what a final highway bill would look like.

Earlier this month, the House passed a six-year highway bill. The Senate passed its version in July. While both bills would authorize highway and transit programs for six years, each bill has a funding structure of about three years and differs on various policy provisions.

Overall, the highway bill lawmakers are looking to finalize would call on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to make “corrective actions” to the CSA ratings program. During a review of CSA by the National Research Council, certain CSA scores would be removed from public view.

The legislation also would establish a graduated commercial driver license program designed to kick off the process of allowing drivers between the ages of 19 years, 6 months and 21 to operate trucks in interstate commerce.

The Senate also voted last week to call on the highway bill’s negotiators to delay approval of twin 33-foot trailers nationwide. Under that nonbinding motion, sponsored by Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the secretary of transportation would be tasked with assessing the safety benefits of extending the length of trucks allowed on federal highways to twin 33-foot trailers. The allowable length, outside of a series of exemptions, is twin 28-foot trailers.

The multiyear highway policy bills currently under consideration do not include provisions related to twin 33-foot trailers. Provisions pertaining to the twin 33s are included in the fiscal 2016 transportation appropriation bills up for consideration next month.

“Thirty-eight states say these longer trucks are not safe, and they tell us that they don’t want them on the highways and byways,” Wicker said in a statement. His effort is backed by various advocacy groups.

But Ed Patru, a spokesman for the Coalition for Efficient and Responsible Trucking, a trucking industry group, criticized Wicker’s motion to instruct lawmakers.

“For the past five years, twin 33s have moved goods day-in and day-out along the nation’s third-busiest toll highway, the Florida Turnpike, without a single accident. That 1.5 million-mile, real-world experience demonstrates conclusively that these trucks are safe and that they can help dramatically reduce avoidable truck congestion and prevent accidents,” Patru said.

American Trucking Associations backs the nationwide authorization of twin 33s. ATA spokesman Sean McNally told Transport Topics the federation “continues to believe a modest increase in trailer length would lead to tremendous benefits, not just to highway safety but to the economy and the environment. We are disappointed the Senate has chosen to vote against this safe and efficient vehicle and in support of fear-mongering special interests.”

ATA also joined 39 transportation groups last week in calling on transportation leaders to boost federal investments in transportation projects, even if that means settling for a bill that authorizes programs for a shorter duration.

“As currently written, the proposed House investment levels would unfortunately fail to keep pace with the projected annual inflation increases,” the groups wrote. “Holding highway and public transportation investment at or below purchasing power levels will not create job growth.”