Rockville, MD - On Dec. 14, U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) announced that the Senate Appropriations Committee had voted to support a one-year extension of the pilot project that enables trucks in Maine and Vermont to travel those states' interstate highways at the same gross vehicle weight limits already legal on state roads. In Maine, that limit is 100,000 pounds on six-axle trucks.
Representatives of the Agriculture and Forestry Transportation Reform Coalition, AgHaul, points out that allowing interstate access avoids exposures on rural roads and in-town intersections, and that the Maine Department of Transportation's preliminary report on the pilot project's first year affirms the configuration's safety, road-wear, and efficiency benefits.
The federal funding bill, in which the provision is included, is expected to come to the Senate floor within a few days.
If it passes the Senate, the next step would be to reconcile the provision with the corresponding bill in the House of Representatives. The House bill, passed in early December, still lacks a provision to extend the pilot.
In mid-September, President Obama provided his support for making the year-old Maine/Vermont pilot project permanent, but procedural objections prevented its inclusion in a continuing resolution to extend funding for the federal government that came to a vote later than month. Since the original one-year pilot project was scheduled to end on Dec. 17, 2010, supporters of gross vehicle weight reform in the region urged expedience in extending it.
In addition to broad public support in the region, the proposal has the endorsement of the Maine Department of Public Safety, the Maine State Police, and the Maine Troopers Association.
AgHaul supports nationwide gross vehicle weight reform and will work to include a provision in the incoming Congress's Highway Reauthorization Bill that would allow any state, at its option, to allow 97,000-pound six-axle trucks on interstates within its borders, with payment of a special fee dedicated to bridge maintenance. Legislation to that effect was introduced in both the House and Senate in the 111th Congress.
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