In The News

HEAVYWEIGHT BATTLE -- May 26, 2008

WASHINGTON REPORT Edition: TRAFFIC WORLD Page: 13

ARI NATTER

Opponents of bigger trucks get louder in their fight against 97,000-pound legislation Copyright 2008, Traffic World, Inc. Opponents of heavier trucks are throwing their weight around. Moving to quell a renewed trucking industry effort to allow 97,000-pound trucks on the highway, Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., introduced legislation last week that would preserve the current 80,000-pound weight limit.

'If there was ever a recipe for disaster, this is it,' Lautenberg said of 97,000 pound trucks. He introduced the legislation along with Sen. Clair McCaskill, D-Mont. 'Our bill would protect our infrastructure and improve safety on our roads by helping keep dangerously large and heavy tractor-trailer trucks off of them,' Lautenberg said.

In addition to maintaining the current weight limits, the Safe Truck Operations and Preservation Act of 2008 would extend that limit, along with the 53-foot length limit to the entire 160,000-mile National Highway System.

'It defies common sense to let big trucks become super-giant trucks,' said McCaskill.

The legislation joins a similar bill introduced in the House last October by Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., whose staff hopes to have it included in next year's highway spending bill.

Supporters of heavier trucks - including many shippers of steel, agricultural products, forest products and other heavy goods - hope to use that legislation as a vehicle to include a 'handful' of demonstration projects in at least five states.

They say record-breaking fuel prices, growing highway congestion and mounting environmental concerns now make it important to consider changing the truck weight standards that have stood for three decades.

Lautenberg 'is saying 'let's get trucks smaller and smaller so we can put more and more of them on the road,'' said Jake Jacoby, executive director of the Americans for Safe & Efficient Transportation. 'They are not basing their argument on scientific facts, they are basing it on emotion.'

Jacoby, whose group includes shippers such as Kraft Foods and forest product maker Georgia-Pacific, said a switch to 97,000-pound trucks will save shippers $15 billion a year, and would cut truck miles traveled by 11 percent, and save 1.9 billion gallons of fuel annually.

ASET met with members of Congress and their staffs during a 'fly-in' last week, according to Jacoby, but one key member, Rep. James L. Oberstar, D-Minn., remains unconvinced, at least for now.

'This is a matter that requires a good deal more thought before we take any further action,' Oberstar told Traffic World. 'It's a matter that needs more elaboration and information than we have now.'

Oberstar, who as the chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will play a key role in crafting the next highway bill, would make a powerful advocate. Proponents, who envision getting 97,000-pound trucks by adding a sixth axle and paying more highway user fees, suggest pilot programs in Oberstar's home state of Minnesota, as well as Wisconsin, Maine, South Carolina, Georgia and possibly Texas.

Oberstar said more research is needed first. 'It's a work in progress,' he said.

In the meantime, expect opponents to be increasingly vocal in their concerns. Detractors note that heavier trucks would cause more damage to roadways and bridges, and have longer stopping distances. 'The idea of letting bigger trucks on the road is just crazy,' James P. Hoffa, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters general president, said.

Advocacy groups Public Citizen and the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety say that reflects broader sentiment across the country, and they pointed to results from a national public opinion poll by Lake Research Partners, a Washington-based firm with largely Democratic clients.

The poll found 66 percent of respondents were against changing legislation to allow larger trucks, according to Public Citizen.

'The American people have to share the road with these super-sized trucks,' said Advocates Vice President Jacqueline S. Gillan, 'and are frighteningly aware of the dangers they pose.'