Truck Size-Weight Study Still Punching Bag for All Sides

The reviews are in on the Department of Transportation’s draft study of truck size and weight. And depending on the reviewer, the study is good, bad or downright ugly.

The study provides fodder for both supporters and critics of increased truck sizes and weights.

Supporters of upping truck weights from 80,000 pounds to 90,000 or 97,000 pounds were pleased by the study’s praise for those vehicles. Opponents of large trucks liked DOT’s conclusion that it is difficult to quantify the safety record of longer combination vehicles. And less-than-truckload carriers were satisfied with the study for validating their assertions that using more triple-trailer trucks would reduce the number of trucks on the road (3-15, p. 8).

As DOT policy experts begin revising the $4.5 million study before sending it to Congress later this year, they will be lobbied hard by both advocates and opponents of increased truck sizes. Several western lawmakers, led by Republican Sen. Conrad Burns of Montana, want the department to examine the impact of boosting the use of LCVs west of the Mississippi River — a proposal advocated by several trucking groups.

The Coalition Against Bigger Trucks, which has been supported by the railroad industry, is urging municipal officials and public figures across the country to oppose any proposal to raise truck sizes and weights. Typical of their efforts is a proposal they brought to the City Council in Long Beach, Calif., last week. The group sought a resolution opposing any changes in current federal truck laws, which limit maximum truck weights to 80,000 pounds and limit LCV operations to states that allowed the rigs before 1991.

CABT has also convinced the governors of Arkansas, Minnesota, Mississippi and Rhode Island to oppose changes in current truck size and weight laws. Over the past month, the governors have written House Transportation Committee Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) opposing increases.

The most recent letter came April 19 from Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, who wrote, “I usually do not support federal mandates on states, but, in this case, maintaining the federal freeze is common sense.”

For the full story, see the April 26 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.