Truck-weight limits make bad situation worse

The editorial in the Bangor Daily News (March 3) on truck weights was timely and compelling. The ability to provide safe, efficient and effective transportation of people, goods and services, throughout our region, greatly improves our region’s opportunities for economic growth and development. Conversely, the lack of safe, efficient and effective modes of transportation severely hinders our region’s ability to attract new growth and maintain its economic viability.

The Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce recognizes that the ongoing economic well-being of this region is tied to our transportation corridors. The current transportation system for the northern two-thirds of Maine is served only by an Interstate 95 that goes only north-south; this hampers our ability to safely and efficiently reach markets and distribution points in Canada, northern New England and upstate New York. That is bad enough.

The federal government, however, through ill-considered rules, has made a bad situation for our region of the state even worse. I am speaking of truck weights.

Right now, Maine and most other states permit trucks weighing up to 100,000 pounds on state roads. By contrast, the interstate system generally allows trucks of only 80,000 pounds. In the Northeast, the 80,000-pound limit is the exception rather than the rule as broad stretches of the interstate system are “exempt” from the 80,000-pound limit.

For example, virtually the entire interstate systems in Massachusetts and New York may handle trucks of up to 100,000 pounds. Even in Maine, the Maine Turnpike from Kittery to Augusta has been authorized to carry 100,000-pound trucks. On I-95 from Augusta north, only smaller trucks are allowed. This situation is unfair and dangerous.

It is unfair because it places our region at a competitive disadvantage. Faced with the 80,000-pound limit on the interstate, a shipper must consider whether to send freight in a greater number of lighter trucks on I-95 or to send fewer heavier trucks on secondary roads. Using lighter trucks means less is moved in each unit and more trucks will be needed for freight that could be moved with fewer trucks from Augusta south. (For example, five trucks hauling 80,000 pounds would be needed to move 400,000 pounds of freight but only four trucks hauling 100,000 pounds would be needed to haul the same amount.)

Heavier trucks, barred from I-95, must use circuitous, secondary roads which are less direct, take more time, and place more wear and tear on the truck. Either decision means economic loss.

It is dangerous because the larger trucks should not be on the secondary roads if the interstate is nearby. Virtually all the secondary roads are two-lane undivided roads and, as a result, are much more dangerous than the interstate. That is because the interstate system was designed to serve the twin interests of efficiency and safety.

When the interstate system was designed, road engineers concluded that by dividing oncoming lanes, eliminating intersections, guaranteeing passing and breakdown lanes, providing a superior line of sight, drainage and employing other design innovations, they could vastly improve traveler safety. Experience has proven them right. The report quoted in the BDN editorial found that the fatality rate on non-interstate rural roads is 300 to 400 percent higher than on rural interstates.

Despite these figures, the federal government forces our largest trucks onto our least capable roads: the same roads shared by our school buses, our local traffic, our bicycles and our pedestrians.

With 92 percent of Maine’s freight moving by truck, the interstate weight limit places the northern two-thirds of Maine at a disadvantage with parts of Maine and the Northeast with higher interstate weight when competing for transportation-sensitive businesses and industries. Why? Quite simply because businesses prefer to move freight as efficiently and safely as possible.

Legislation has been proposed in Congress to address this situation. It is thoughtful, balanced and deserves our broad and persistent support. It would provide a three-year period during which I-95 from Augusta to Houlton would be open to 100,000-pound trucks; during that period safety data would be collected; and if, at the end of three years the data showed that the exemption had adversely affected safety on the overall highway system, the secretary of transportation could terminate the exemption.

Our congressional delegation has taken the lead in working for the adoption of this important measure. They deserve our wholehearted support.

In our part of Maine, we face enough challenges without having to bear unnecessary and unwise burdens. We should offer our congressional delegation our strong support as they attempt to relieve us of this one.

Bion A Foster is chairman of the board of directors of the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce.