Shippers Push for Expanded Higher Truck Weight Limits

Some shippers are pushing for higher truck weight limits, following moves by Maine and Vermont to allow oversize loads, Bloomberg reported Monday.

The U.S. Senate last month passed a measure that would allow trucks on Maine and Vermont interstates to run with weights of up to 100,000 pounds.

The shippers include Kraft Foods Inc. and Home Depot Inc., which are pressing more states to follow suit to better cope with high diesel prices, Bloomberg reported.

Kraft said its trucks would drive 33 million fewer miles a year with higher weight limits nationwide, Bloomberg reported, though safety advocates contend that allowing more heavy trucks would accelerate an increase in truck-related accident deaths, and question whether bridges can withstand the added weight.

States are already allowed to set higher weight limits for secondary roads and 44 do now, Bloomberg reported.

Twenty- eight states also allow a limited number of heavier trucks on interstates by permit, for certain vital commodities or for shipping containers loaded from ports, Bloomberg said, citing the shippers group Coalition for Transportation Productivity.

That group includes Kraft, MillerCoors LLC, International Paper Co., Owens Corning Inc. and Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., Bloomberg reported.