What are the federal truck weight regulations that affect Maine?
Federal laws require that vehicles may not exceed 80,000 pounds on federal interstate roads. States may set their own rules, and Maine has a 100,000 pound limit on its roads.

Are the federal rules the reason why we have a problem with so many trucks traveling on state and local roads?
Yes, the mismatch between state and federal weight limits means that trucks must divert off the Interstate to travel through much of Maine.

What would the effects be of a rule change on weight limits for Maine's Interstate?
Congressman Michaud strongly believes that allowing trucks of up to 100,000 pounds on the Interstate in Maine would promote safety for the citizens of Maine by ensuring that trucks are no longer diverted off the major highways and through small towns to conform to federal weight limit rules. A change in rules would keep trucks in the safest possible areas, and further away from communities and smaller roads. It would also reduce the net highway maintenance costs in Maine because the Interstate System highways, unlike the secondary roads of Maine, are built to accommodate heavy vehicles and are, therefore, more durable. This would also ensure that Maine can remain competitive in the transportation and manufacturing sectors, and that our neighbors do not pass us by in development.

In 2002, the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) contracted with Wilbur Smith Associates to examine the impact that an exemption from federal weight rules on Maine's Interstate System would have on safety, pavement and bridges. The study drew on numerous data sources to model how changes in weight policy would affect travel patterns of 5-axle and 6-axle trucks. The safety analysis indicates that if the weight limit on the Interstate were changed to 100,000 pounds, the net impact to Maine would be a decrease of 3.2 crashes annually. The economic impact in Maine is estimated to be an annual cost savings of between $1.7 and $2.3 million for less pavement repair and fewer losses from crashes. In other words, changing the weight limits would improve safety and decrease costs for the state of Maine.

Have there ever been any changes to the law?
In 1998, as part of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (abbreviated TEA-21, this was the six-year federal law that authorized spending and rules for surface transportation), the Congressional delegation was able to get the state weight limits to apply to the Maine Turnpike by arguing that federal money did not maintain the road. Since 1998, the delegation has been attempting the much harder task of trying to secure an exemption for the remainder of the road, which is federally maintained, and therefore subject to the federal weight limit.

What efforts have been undertaken to try to fix the problem?
In Congress, Congressman Mike Michaud introduced HR 1012 along with Congressman Tom Allen. This legislation would give Maine a waiver from federal limits. Congressman Michaud has worked to educate other members of the House Committee on Transportation-of which he is a member-about this issue. However, this remains an uphill struggle. Unfortunately, many in Congress remain opposed to any changes in truck weight standards anywhere in the United States.

Would an amendment to another bill work?
The opposition to truck weight changes is very strong. This was vividly demonstrated during consideration of the reauthorization bill for TEA-21 in 2004. During debate on the House floor, Congressman Jeb Bradley, a Republican from New Hampshire, introduced an amendment for New Hampshire that is very similar to the exemption that we want for Maine. The House rejected the amendment by an overwhelming vote of 334-90-and both the committee and subcommittee leadership, from both parties, voted "no." This episode demonstrated that this is not a partisan issue, not a political issue - but rather an issue where there is a great deal of built-up resistance to change, and where genuine education and sustained effort will be needed to change minds.

What new tactics are being tried now?
Congressman Michaud recently joined with Congressman Henry Brown of South Carolina-which also has a weight limit problem-to introduce a new initiative to give an exemption from federal rules for both Maine and South Carolina. This initiative is based on Congressman Michaud's bill, HR 1012. This approach has the benefit of being a bipartisan initiative in different regions, and could help demonstrate that changes like the one Maine is seeking create safety and cost advantages. Congressman Michaud is also exploring ways to use NAFTA rules to bring about weight limit changes. He is committed to trying as many approaches as possible until this is resolved.

Who is against this? Where is the opposition?
The opposition is both broad and narrow. It's broad in the sense that, as the vote on the Bradley amendment shows, there is widespread opposition to any change in truck weight regulations. So we have a challenge in front of us to persuade a lot of members of congress that this change will help safety.

But the opposition is also narrow in the sense that there are specific members who have a lot of influence on the relevant committees who are against this, and these members are both republicans and democrats, and are in both the house and senate.

In fact, there was a "big four" agreement among the chairmen and the ranking members of both the full T&I committee and the highway subcommittee that no changes in truck weight regulations would be made in SAFETEALU.

Didn't New Hampshire recently gain a similar exemption?
Yes. New Hampshire has faced a similar problem, and following attempts to pass amendments and legislation to fix it – all of which failed – Senate Commerce-Justice-State Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Judd Gregg, Republican of New Hampshire, inserted a provision at the back of last year's omnibus appropriations act that would allow larger trucks of up to 99,000 pounds to travel on Interstate 89 and Interstate 93 in New Hampshire.

This was an extremely unusual situation. Senator Gregg is a very powerful member of the Senate Appropriations committee, and because of that, he was able to get away with something that normally would not be permitted. Normally, Members are not allowed to write new policy on appropriations bills-and the committees of jurisdiction would step in stop it for just about anyone else. However, given Senator Gregg's tremendous influence, his provision was able to stand up.

The fact that New Hampshire was able to lift the weight limit is good for the people of New Hampshire for the same reason it would be good for the people of Maine. It is not a bad thing that this happened for them, but it is unfair that Maine, which has the same problem, has been left out, and it only adds to our argument that we need the same exemption for Maine.