Mineta Says Congress Unlikely to Lift Truck Weight Limits

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ransportation Secretary Norman Mineta said he does not think Congress will lift the federal 80,000-pound weight limit for trucks or change existing regulations concerning the use of triple trailers on the federal highway system.

However, Mineta did tell Transport Topics larger trucks could be used as the incentive for fleets to use future truck-toll lanes.

“I don’t think that Congress is willing to break [the truck length] agreement in terms of triples,” Mineta said. “On the other hand, I think they would allow it on truck-tolled lanes where there are only trucks involved.”

Mineta said that in 1991, Congress restricted the use of triples to just 16 states, and “even in those states, it has to meet certain standards.”

For the full story, see the June 5 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.