"A uniform truck weight limit will keep heavy trucks on the interstate where they belong, rather than on roads and highways that pass through Maine's cities, towns, and neighborhoods," said the Senators in a joint statement. "Maine's citizens and motorists are needlessly at risk because too many heavy trucks are forced off the interstate and onto local roads. This legislation is a commonsense approach to a significant safety problem in our state."
The Truck Highway Safety Demonstration Program Act directs the Secretary of Transportation to establish a three-year commercial truck safety pilot program in Maine during which the truck weight limit on all Maine interstate highways would be set at 100,000 pounds. Throughout the three-year program, the Secretary would study the impact of the uniform weight limit on safety. If the Secretary determined that motorists were safer as a result of the uniform weight limit, the limit would permanently be set at 100,000 pounds.
At Augusta, trucks weighing more than 80,000 pounds are forced off Interstate 95, which proceeds north to Houlton. Heavy trucks are forced onto smaller, secondary roads that pass through cities, towns, and villages.
Trucks weighing up to 100,000 pounds are permitted on interstate highways in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and New York as well the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec. The weight limit disparity on various segments of Maine's Interstate Highway System forces trucks traveling to and from destinations in these states and provinces to use Maine's State and local roads, nearly all of which have two lanes, rather than four.
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