Maine’s Truck-Weights Pilot Project
In December 2009, the U.S. Congress authorized a one-year pilot program that allows Maine and Vermont to use their respective state weight limits on their Interstate Highways, instead of the federal truck-weight cap of 80,000 pounds. Through two executive orders and followed by state legislation, Governor Baldacci and the Maine Legislature acted quickly and modified state law to allow three-axle truck tractors with three-axle semi-trailers at 100,000 pounds gross vehicle weight (GVW) to use Maine’s entire Interstate system. The purpose and effect of this change is to divert large trucks from non-Interstate highways and onto the Interstate. Previously, Maine law contained separate truck-weight limits for the Interstate and non-Interstate highways, and these six-axle trucks were only authorized to operate on the Maine Turnpike, from its southerly terminus to the New Hampshire border.
Potential benefits of moving truck traffic from two-lane state roads that pass through local communities to the four-lane, divided highway with access control (the Interstate) include improved transportation system safety, reduced shipping costs, and reduced energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. In previous years, MaineDOT has performed extensive analyses that predicted and quantified these benefits, and since implementation of the pilot project, the department has been assisting the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) with its required six-month report to Congress on the pilot’s impacts. The FHWA report is expected to be released in the summer of 2010.
MaineDOT will continue to monitor the effects of the truck-weights pilot program and will provide periodic updates as more data becomes available.
Congressional Directive to Conduct the Study
- Text in Federal Fiscal Year 2010 Transportation Appropriations Bill: Sec. 194. (a) In General- Section 127(a)(11) of title 23, United States Code, is amended by striking `that portion of the Maine Turnpike designated Route 95 and 495, and that portion of Interstate Route 95 from the southern terminus of the Maine Turnpike to the New Hampshire State line, laws (including regulations)' and inserting `all portions of the Interstate Highway System in the State, laws (including regulations)'.
(b) Period of Effectiveness- The amendment made by subsection (a) shall be in effect during the 1-year period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act.
(c) Reversion- Effective as of the date that is 366 days after the date of enactment of this Act, section 127(a)(11) of title 23, United States Code, is amended by striking `all portions of the Interstate Highway System in the State, laws (including regulations)' and inserting `that portion of the Maine Turnpike designated Route 95 and 495, and that portion of Interstate Route 95 from the southern terminus of the Maine Turnpike to the New Hampshire State line, laws (including regulations)'.
- Further explanation in Conference Report: Section 194 modifies a provision proposed by the Senate to establish a 1-year pilot program related to truck weight in the states of Maine and Vermont. The conferees direct the Secretary to report to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations no later that 6 months after the start of the pilot program on the impact to date of the pilot program on bridge safety and weight impacts.
What's New
09/23/2010 - An Interstate Highway Truck Weights White Paper has been posted.
This page last updated on
9/23/10
