February 15, 2025
Archive

Senators urge easing truck weight limits

AUGUSTA – Maine’s two U.S. senators are proposing a two-year pilot program that would allow trucks carrying up to 100,000 pounds to travel on federal highways whenever diesel prices are $3.50 a gallon or more. It is the latest in a series of efforts, so far unsuccessful, aimed at allowing greater truck weights on the interstate system in Maine.

“There has been opposition in the past,” Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said Tuesday. “Unfortunately, some of these highway safety groups are trying to get everyone to have a truck weight limit of only 80,000 pounds. That is the chief obstacle.”

Collins, at a news conference outside the Maine Motor Transport Association’s headquarters in Augusta, said her and fellow Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe’s legislation is different from a similar pilot bill in the House sponsored by Democratic U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud of Maine in that it is tied to diesel prices.

“We hope that will give us some more leverage,” she said. “It also allows states to opt out of participating and keep lower weights if they choose.”

Michaud said early this year that the safety argument does not hold up to scrutiny. He points to a study by the Maine Department of Transportation of the benefits of greater weights on the entire interstate system in Maine.

“An in-depth study completed by the state of Maine demonstrated that raising the weight limits on the remainder of the Maine Interstate System would not only decrease crashes and save lives, but it would also save money and improve road conditions,” Michaud said.

He said the study predicted a 10 percent decline in fatalities if the heavier trucks were allowed on the interstate instead of traveling through often congested communities.

In a statement, Snowe said the measure would save truckers a lot of money by increasing the amount of cargo they can carry on the interstate system north of Augusta. Under current federal law, trucks weighing more than 80,000 pounds must leave the interstate system in Augusta and travel on secondary roads.

“This outdated patchwork of weight limits that differs from state to state not only threatens smaller vehicles, but in some areas also places the safety of pedestrians and the motor carrier operators themselves at risk,” Snowe said.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Tom Allen of Maine is a co-sponsor of Michaud’s legislation. He said earlier this year that attempts to pass any sort of change have been defeated by a combination of opponents, not just highway safety advocates.

“This is a battle I have been in since I came here,” he said. “Frankly, we are caught up in a nationwide battle between the truckers and the railroads.”

Among the several truckers attending the news conference, there was no doubt an increase in truck weights on the interstate would save them a lot of money as diesel is pushing $5 a gallon.

“Transporting goods on secondary roads versus the interstate in today’s modern world has put Maine in an unfortunate competitive situation,” said Brian Bouchard, president of Hampden-based H.O. Bouchard Transportation Services Inc. “Opening the use of the complete interstate system to more productive and fuel-efficient trucks is a good way to conserve fuel, help the environment and allow us to be competitive.”

The rapidly increasing price of diesel fuel outdated several examples prepared for the news conference to show the impact on Maine truckers of the increased costs. One example showed that $500 worth of fuel used to get a truck to New Mexico, and now would get the same big rig only to Pennsylvania.

Kurt Babineau, one of the owners of Babineau Logging Inc. of West Enfield, said the proposed legislation would provide significant savings for his company and others that supply wood to Maine’s paper companies. He used the example of two trucks going from Mattawamkeag to Jay.

“It would amount to a weekly savings in diesel fuel of $566,” he said. “When projected over the course of a year, there would be a fuel savings of 5,654 gallons of fuel.”

Collins said she is hoping to add the legislation to another measure working its way through the Senate. She said a second stimulus bill is one possibility and an omnibus energy bill is another.

Whatever measure passes the Senate also must be approved by the House, likely during a conference committee to iron out differences between the chambers.


Have feedback? Want to know more? Send us ideas for follow-up stories.

comments for this post are closed

You may also like