New Senate Bill Supports Higher Truck Weight Limits

Posted 14 years ago

States may soon be allowed to increase their interstate truck weight limits beyond the federal one of 80,000 lbs. 

Under the Safe and Efficient Transportation Act (SETA) introduced by senators Herb Kohl (D-Wis), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), and Susan Collins (R-Maine), states may choose to increase their weight limits to 97,000 lbs for truck/trailer combination with six axles instead of five. According to Sen.Crapo and bill supporters like the American Trucking Associations (ATA) and the Coalition for Transportation Productivity (CTP), some of the benefits include: 
1. A 14.5 billion savings in annual shipping costs per US DOT estimates
2. Better competitive position for US goods as many other countries such as Canada already have higher weight limits
3. A significant reduction in the carbon output by using more efficient trucks
4. Less burden on roads by reducing the number of trucks required to ship a certain amount of goods

An identical bill is being considered in the House of Representatives.