U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud and state Rep. John Piotti of Waldo County believe the time is long overdue to begin allowing heavy trucks on interstates in Maine.

“The critical issue is that it’s a matter of federal policy that trucks weighing more than 80,000 pounds can’t go on interstate roads north of Augusta,” said Piotti in an interview Monday. “It’s a safety issue.”

Piotti and Michaud on Monday participated in a regional transportation summit in Manchester, N.H., sponsored by the New England Council.

Piotti, a panelist at the summit held at St. Anselm College, addressed regional transportation issues and stressed the importance of changing the current interstate truck weight limits in Maine during a panel discussion moderated by Michaud. State transportation commissioners from throughout New England attended as did transportation experts, industry representatives and members of New England’s congressional delegation, including U.S. Reps. Barney Frank and John Olver of Massachusetts.

The meeting was not for decision-making, but rather for information-gathering. Federal officials took what they learned back to Washington, Piotti said.

Advocates for changing federal weight limits have cited a May 2006 accident in which a tractor-trailer hauling a fuel tank struck and killed Lena Gray, an 80-year-old resident of Bangor, while she was crossing a downtown street.

Critics of the federal weight regulation say the truck that struck Gray should never have been in the city but out on the interstate, which runs through Bangor.

Though local officials from Bangor and Brewer have expressed concern for years about the dangers of having large trucks travel on city streets, they have been unable so far to get federal lawmakers to lift the 80,000-pound weight limit that would allow heavier trucks to use interstate highways north of Augusta.

Until the limit is raised, the officials fear that loads weighing more than 80,000 pounds will continue to wind their way through the streets of Brewer and Bangor.

Michaud was adamant Monday about the need to change the law.

“I have been working on the truck weight issue for years now, and I am pleased that transportation leaders from around New England got the chance to hear more about the importance of this change and what it would mean for road safety and Maine’s economy,” Michaud said in a press release issued after Monday’s session.

“Changing federal truck weight limits on Maine’s interstate would also directly help our forest products industry survive, especially at a time when they are facing record high diesel prices.

“An exemption from the federal weight regulation for the remainder of Maine’s interstate would be tremendously beneficial,” said Michaud. “This change is supported by every municipality in Maine, chambers of commerce, and the entire Maine congressional delegation.”

While most of Maine’s interstate highways are subject to the federally mandated truck weight limit of 80,000 pounds, the state limit on most other Maine roads is 100,000 pounds. It would be difficult to lower the state limit to match the federal one because of the demands of Maine’s major industries, especially forest products, and because of the through traffic from surrounding states and Canadian provinces which all have 100,000-pound limits on all of their roads.

“Unfortunately, as a result of the mismatch between these two sets of regulations, heavier trucks must divert off the interstate highways in Maine onto state roads that pass through a number of our communities, including ones I represent,” Piotti, a Democrat from Unity, said in his own press release after Monday’s meeting. “This has negative impacts on safety, the economy and the cost to the system.”

During a phone interview, Piotti said Deputy Commissioner Greg Nadeau of the Maine Department of Transportation held up a map of the country at the meeting, showing that a 100,000-pound truck could get on the Maine Turnpike in Augusta and travel on federal roads across the country.

An in-depth study completed by the state demonstrated that not only would an exemption on the weight limit for the rest of the interstate in Maine decrease crashes and save lives, but it also would save money and improve road conditions, Piotti said in his release.

“If we want to improve safety, decrease travel time, speed commerce, increase trade among our states, and make our system more efficient, we must consider this issue as part of any discussion of the future of our highway system,” Piotti said in the release.

Michaud, a member of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is working in Congress with the Maine congressional delegation to pass a provision that would exempt all portions of the Interstate Highway System in Maine from federal weight limits.

gchappell@bangordailynews.net

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