Tom Warne Report, 23 September 2011
WASHINGTON – A measure in the U. S. Senate for Vermont has won initial approval to permanently reduce heavy truck traffic in Vermont downtown areas, and divert the trucks to state interstates. U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) is hoping his provision will help businesses and communities in the state that are struggling due to the large number of state and local roads heavily damaged during the recent flooding disaster.
Leahy included his provision in the annual transportation funding bill that the Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee approved Tuesday – the key step for his legislation. Leahy is a senior member of the transportation funding panel. The measure is paired with a similar change for Maine.
Current federal law restricts trucks weighing more than 80,000 pounds from regularly using the nation’s Interstate highway system. But portions of the Interstate network in neighboring states allow higher-weight trucks to operate on those Interstates due to special circumstances, from tolling to grandfather clauses. Prior to the initial pilot program in 2010, these exceptions, combined with a Vermont law that allows trucks over 80,000 pounds to operate on the state’s secondary roadways, resulted in overweight truck traffic traveling through Vermont on some of the state’s smaller roads, creating safety concerns and straining the state’s aging transportation infrastructure.