End of truck weight exemption likely
A one-year pilot program that increased the truck weight limit on federal interstates in Maine will likely end, after the federal House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a funding bill that excludes a provision to extend it.
Last year, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins worked to pass the temporary program, which allows trucks weighing up to 100,000 pounds to travel on I-95 between Augusta and Houlton, bypassing the federal limit of 80,000 pounds. That pilot expires Dec. 17, and Collins told the Bangor Daily News that time constraints and voting rules in the Senate make it "unlikely" that the exemption can be restored in the Senate's version of the funding bill.
Trucking businesses told the paper that the end of the program will force trucks back onto secondary roads from Augusta north, which they said is less safe and negatively impacts residents in those areas. Keith Van Scotter, CEO of Lincoln Paper and Tissue, told the paper the company will be forced to use more trucks or underload its trucks, increasing fuel costs by 25%.
Go to the article from the Bangor Daily News >>
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