Obama endorses heavy rigs on Maine, Vt. Interstates

Obama endorses heavy rigs on Maine, Vt. Interstates    An Obama administration provision would allow commercial trucks weighing up to 100,000 pounds eligible to travel on interstate highways in Vermont and Maine.
   The provision, included in its proposed continuing resolution for 2011, would make a pilot program permanent. The continuing resolution essentially extends funding past Oct. 1 at the 2010 base level for government agencies.
   Congress has not passed a fiscal year 2011 appropriation bill for any federal department, and is not likely to do so before the current fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, as lawmakers head home to campaign for the November mid-term elections. House and Senate members are expected to return for a lame duck session after the elections to approve funding for the federal government.
   The White House decision came at the request of Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Susan Collins, R-Maine. Collins last year was able to insert a provision in the fiscal year 2010 Omnibus Appropriations bill that created the one-year pilot. The pilot project is set to expire on Dec. 17. Collins argued the trucks pose more of a safety danger and increase wear and tear on secondary roads than highways.
   'By making the pilot project permanent, Maine truckers will be able to transport more goods across the state more efficiently and more safely,' Brian Parke, chief executive officer of the Maine Motor Transport Association, said in a statement released by Collins.
   The regular federal gross vehicle weight limit is 80,000 pounds.
   Safety advocates on Monday criticized the White House's decision.
   'Less than two weeks after proposing a plan to renew and expand our transportation infrastructure, the administration has proposed something that would undermine such investment in our roads and rails,' said Curtis Sloan, policy director for the Coalition Against Bigger Trucks, in a statement. 'If the administration is serious about addressing the nation's infrastructure problems, it cannot support allowing bigger trucks on federal highways.'
   The group also said super-heavy rigs don't pay their fair share of road repair costs and that making the pilot program permanent is a slippery slope towards allowing bigger trucks nationwide. Many shippers and carriers are pressing to increase the interstate weight limit to 97,000 pounds for trucks that carry a sixth axle.
   The Safe Highways and Infrastructure Preservation Act proposed by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., and Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass, would forestall such action by locking in the current truck size and weight limits. ' Eric Kulisch