newsworthy
Cut down to size: Push for “bigger
trucks” falls victim to political realities
It had been portrayed as a quantum
leap forward in helping shippers gain
badly needed motor carrier capacity.
Now, it’s basically been consigned to
the ash heap of Capitol Hill.
In a shocking display of unity, the
Association of American Railroads
(AAR) and the American Trucking
Associations (ATA) sent a joint letter Feb. 9 to members of the House
of Representatives asking lawmakers to oppose any attempts to reinstate language to increase the size
and weight of vehicles operating on
the nation’s interstate highways
when a multiyear transportation
funding bill is eventually debated
on the House floor.
Given that companion legislation
in the Senate does not include any
such language, the action by the two
main surface transportation trade
groups effectively ends nascent
efforts to effect the most sweeping
change in vehicle size and weight
limits in three decades. It is a blow to
shippers who hoped the provision
would make their operations more
productive and increase motor car-
rier capacity during a cycle when the
supply of available drivers and rigs is
shrinking. It also deals a setback to
those who contended that raising
vehicle and weight size limits would
enable carriers to operate more effi-
ciently with less equipment, thus
conserving diesel fuel and cutting
carbon emissions.
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Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee, introduced legislation calling
for a five-year, $260 billion reauthorization
of the nation’s surface transportation programs. Included in the proposal was a provision to allow single-trailer vehicles with a
gross vehicle weight of up to 97,000 pounds
to operate on the nation’s interstate highways, as long as each vehicle was equipped
with a sixth axle to maintain braking and
handling stability at the higher weights.
The proposal also called for greater use of
triple-trailers and for an increase in the length
of double-trailers to 33 feet from 28 feet.
The language hit a huge pothole when the
full committee approved the legislation but
stipulated that the Transportation Research
Board (TRB) conduct a three-year feasibility study into the size and weight issue. The
TRB, a group leavened by transportation
engineers and academics, never moves with
all deliberate speed on anything. Supporters
of the language knew that unless an amendment was offered up during debate by the
full House, it was effectively a goner.
The last nail was struck by AAR and ATA,
which urged lawmakers to table any
prospective amendments in the interest of
moving a comprehensive bill through the
legislative process.
Janet F. Kavinoky, who runs the transportation infrastructure programs for the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, publicly
echoed the private sentiments of many
when she pronounced the provision “dead”
following release of the AAR-ATA letter.
A BOW TO POLITICAL REALITIES
The provision essentially fell victim to political expediency. Virtually everyone who
moves freight for a living wants Congress to
pass legislation to fund federal transport programs for a multiyear period. This is especially true in an election year, when transport
funding could translate into jobs for millions
of unemployed—and voting—Americans.
The last multiyear transport law expired
in September 2009. Since then, transportation programs have been living on a series of
short-term extensions, with billions of dollars extracted from the general treasury to
pay for projects that cannot be covered by
the federal excise tax on motor fuels, the
primary funding mechanism. ;
