Senate OKs Budget Funding for DOT, Maine’s Test of Heavier Trucks on I-95
This story appears in the Sept. 28 print edition of Transport Topics.
The Senate has approved legislation that would increase the funding for the Department of Transportation in fiscal 2010 and would allow Maine to raise the truck weight on Interstate 95 as part of a pilot program.
The bill, which made annual appropriations for DOT and other agencies, passed 73-25 on Sept. 17. It provides $122 billion for the Transportation and Housing and Urban Development departments in fiscal 2010 — 12% more than in the current budget.
“This bill invests in the building blocks of economic recovery — safe and efficient transportation, affordable and accessible housing and improved national infrastructure,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chairwoman of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee.
As part of the DOT’s budget, the bill allocates $42.5 billion on highways, drawing $1.4 billion from general funds to meet the spending goal.
The bill specifically sets aside $1.1 billion for grants for “significant transportation projects in a wide variety of modes, including highways and bridges, public transportation, passenger and freight railroads, and port infrastructure,” according to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The Senate bill also includes a provision championed by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) that would allow the state to conduct a one-year pilot project to increase truck weight limits on I-95 to 100,000 pounds.
The House previously passed its version of the DOT appropriations bill but did not include a provision for a pilot program. The two chambers now must resolve the differences between the bills in a conference committee.
“Allowing heavy trucks to stay on federal interstate highways in Maine has always been one of my top priorities,” Collins said in a statement. “A uniform truck weight limit would keep trucks on the interstates where they belong, rather than on the secondary roads that pass through our small towns and villages.
“A one-year pilot project allowing heavier trucks on the interstates would permit an assessment of the impact of the safety, commerce and road wear and tear,” she said. “I believe the result will be improvements in safety, decreases in energy use and emissions, and economic benefits.”
States and parts of Canada surrounding Maine already allow heavier trucks on interstate highways. Maine currently allows heavier trucks on smaller, state highways, but the federal ban on heavy trucks keeps them off I-95.
John Runyan, executive director of the Coalition for Transportation Productivity, said the pilot program “will make Maine’s roads safer and greener by allowing producers to consolidate freight on fewer trucks and minimize both their fuel use and emissions.”
“The heavier weight limit will reduce risk by giving trucks access to a multi-lane interstate system engineered for heavy commercial vehicles and the ability to leave the rural roads they are currently forced to use,” he said.
