Transportation Bill Improves Safety and Competitiveness

Transportation Bill Improves Safety and Competitiveness

Transportation Bill Improves Safety and Competitiveness

I’m KayDee Gilkey with today’s Open Range.

Last week HR 763 Safe and Efficient Transportation Act was introduced in Congress which would give states the option to allow six axle 90,000 pound trucks on the interstate system within their borders.
This is an issue that the NCBA and many other ag organizations have worked hard to get in place for quite a while. Kent Bacus, NCBA Associate Director of Legislative Affairs shares more
Bacus: “Well unfortunately, our transportation laws are over 20 years old, including our truck weight laws. In the last Congress, the Ag Community worked hard to secure language in the Highway bill that would give states the authority to increase truck weights on federal roads. Unfortunately that language was replaced with another two year study.”
Bacus says there have already been plenty of scientific studies proving the safety of additional axles.
Baucus: “First and foremost this will keep our roads safe by moving the heaviest trucks off of our small rural roads onto the federal interstate highways where truck accidents are less likely to occur. Also this will increase efficiency by enabling us to utilize more space inside the trucks. It will also reduce road maintenance costs by requiring trucks to add an additional axle which actually decreases the weight per tire. It helps the U.S. compete with other major trading partners like Canada and most of Europe which already allow six axle trucks with gross vechicle weights of up to 95,000 pounds.”
 

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