The Agricultural Transportation Efficiency Coalition (AgTEC), which supports increasing the overall gross vehicle weight limits for trucks, has analyzed and made available 11 independent studies. These studies affirm the safety and economic benefits of bringing US truck weight limits closer to Canadian and European standards, and quantify the relationship between truck weights and road and bridge wear. Government agencies conducted or endorsed each study.
AgTEC strongly supports Rep Mike Michaud’s (D-ME) “Safe and Efficient Transportation Act of 2009” (HR 1799), which would grant states the option of raising the current 80,000-pound gross vehicle weight limit on Interstate highways to 97,000 pounds. This would be for trucks equipped with a sixth axle, with the assessment of a new dedicated fee to support bridge repair and maintenance.
The coalition is working to ensure the inclusion of this bill’s provisions in the 2009 Highway Reauthorization Bill, which will set federal infrastructure improvement priorities for the coming five years.
AgTEC has archived the 11 studies, with summaries encapsulizing each study’s highlights and conclusions. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s 2008 Large Truck Crash Facts, for instance, documents a steady decline in fatalities associated with collisions involving large trucks over the years, from 4.58 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 1975 to 1.94 in 2006.
To learn more about AgTEC or to join the campaign, visit www.ag-haul.org.