Senate Legislation Would Make It Easier For States to Raise Truck Weight Limits

States would have an easier time permitting trucks weighing up to 100,000 pounds on interstate highways under a U.S. Senate bill introduced last month, its sponsor said.

“The current treatment of truck weights on interstate highways is a glaring example of bureaucratic regulation creating both safety hazards on secondary roads and tangible barriers to job growth,” Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) said July 29 after she introduced the legislation.

The Commercial Truck Safety Act would allow states to petition the U.S. Department of Transportation for a three-year pilot program permitting trucks weighing more than 80,000 pounds on its interstate highways. The heavier trucks would be required to have six axles.

A state would be required to create a “safety committee” of stakeholders to evaluate the pilot program. After the program, the committee would report the findings to DOT and the secretary would decide whether to make the higher weight limit permanent.

Snowe frames the issue as one of fairness. Trucks above the 80,000-pound federal weight limit currently are allowed on interstates in 27 states, either because of laws grandfathered before Congress froze limits or specific exemptions enacted afterward.

“Somehow we’ve conflicted the notion of what is safe and what isn’t,” Snowe said at a July 21 Senate hearing. “It’s not fair to our state of Maine not to be able to have this exemption.”

Maine and Vermont had exemptions to the federal weight limit for most of 2010 under a congressionally mandated pilot program (10-18, p. 75). The states counted President Obama among supporters of making the program permanent, but it expired in December and has not been renewed.

During the pilot program, 14 fewer crashes occurred on interstate and secondary highways in Maine compared with the previous year, and no fatalities involving 6-axle trucks, Snowe said in her statement, citing data from the her state’s Department of Public Safety.

The legislation has some differences when compared with the Safe and Efficient Transportation Act, introduced in both the Senate and the House of Representatives earlier this year, said John Runyan, executive director of the Coalition for Transportation Productivity, which is pushing for the bill.

“I think her bill is somewhat more temporary in nature,” Runyan said, pointing to the provision of Snowe’s bill that requires a 3-year pilot program.

“SETA gives states the ability to run those programs whether in pilot form or permanent extension as they see fit,” he said.

SETA would allow states to permit trucks weighing up to 97,000 pounds with six axles on interstate highways. It would include fees for the heavier trucks, a provision not included in Snowe’s bill.

Snowe’s proposal also requires the safety committee to evaluate heavier truck programs, something SETA would not require.

Her bill has been referred to the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, of which Snowe is a member.

American Trucking Associations has not yet taken a position on Snowe’s legislation, but it supports SETA, said Darrin Roth, director of highway operations for the group.

“We support giving states greater authority to decide what’s appropriate for their highways,” he said. “We would likely support any legislation which gives states the authority to operate safe and efficient trucks on interstates.”