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HIGHER TRUCK WEIGHT * USA - Possible limits concern state officials
Facing a $19 billion shortfall for state highways over the next decade, Arkansas highway officials are carefully monitoring trucking industry lobbyists' efforts to get Congress to increase weight limits on roads
Little Rock,ARK,USA -The Arkansas News Bureau, by Jason Wiest -Jul 16, 2008: -- ... The industry is lobbying federal lawmakers to increase the 80,000-pound maximum weight on interstate highways to meet greater demand for over-the-road transport. Some lawmakers say there are too many state-level exemptions and too little federal enforcement for the weight standard established 26 years ago to be effective... Increasing weight restrictions to 97,000 pounds would lessen the total amount of wear on roads by decreasing traffic, but would accelerate wear on bridges, said Steve Williams, CEO of Maverick USA Inc., which operates 1,500 trucks in the U.S., Canada and Mexico... Should the weight limit increase be allowed, trucking companies also would have to increase capital spending, Williams said, but hauling 97,000 pounds on six axles would be 17 percent more fuel efficient, he said... "It's appropriate that we pay a higher highway use tax for the use of this more productive vehicle because, make no mistake, the more productive vehicle does have incremental bridge wear," Williams said... Not all companies support the proposal. Some companies that do not usually haul the current maximum weight limit fear they also may have to pay higher fees and taxes for the ability to haul 97,000 pounds, even though they might never do that, Lane Kidd, spokesman for the Arkansas Trucking Association said... The proposal asks to spare those companies from any increased costs, he said...
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