In the House this week the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has proposed a bill to spend $260 billion over five years on road and transit projects includes a provision that would increase the weight of trucks allowed on US highways from 80,000 to 97,000 pounds. Increasing the allowable weight of trucks on the nation's highway has been debated long and hard with many large companies wanting a change, while environmental groups, some states and now the AAA coming out against a change.Under current US law the maximum weight has been 80,000 pounds, except for Maine and Vermont where the restrictions have been relaxed to allow 97,000 pound trucks, while some nations, such as Sweden, have much higher weight limits. The Coalition for Transportation Productivity (CTP), which includes companies such as Kraft, Home Depot, and Hershey, believe that 97,000 trucks will educe the overall number of miles their trucks will drive per year. However, heavier loads are a worry for groups like the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) who believe that approximately 25 percent of US bridges need weight limits or restrict traffic because of structural issues.
Read more about truck weights here.
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