TT Archives: Truck Weight Bill

Click image to enlarge

In 1975, President Gerald Ford signed into law a bill allowing states to permit higher truck weights on interstate highways, and it’s worth remembering the reason for the measure – a national speed limit of 55 miles-per-hour had crimped productivity for the nation’s truck drivers.

“This modest increase in allowing truck weights should help regain that productivity, without threatening public safety on the highways,” Ford is quoted as saying in this Jan. 13, 1975 issue of Transport Topics.

 Do you have an idea for a Transport Topics page from the past that you’d like to see? Let us know by e-mailing us at tteditor@ttnews.com.