Skip to Navigation Skip to Content
Decorative woodsy background
December 18th, 2009 by Dave Mance III Notes from the Editor

Log Trucks and Highways

For years, frustrated log-truck drivers in Vermont have struggled with arcane federal weight limits on interstate highways. The weight limits kept log trucks off the interstates, and instead funneled truck traffic through downtown areas in communities such as Burlington, Lyndonville, and Brattleboro. The drivers hated the inconvenience, the townspeople were none to fond of the Jake brakes. There were also safety issues—heavy trucks just aren’t made to navigate stop-and-go village traffic.

And so in a nice display of commonsensical governance, the feds have introduced a one year pilot program that will bump up interstate weight limits. The measure received broad bipartisan support. Under the plan, trucks weighing more than 80,000 pounds will now get to travel on Interstate highways in Vermont. The new rules will also affect parts of Maine, enabling large truck travel on I-95 north of Augusta. The new weight limit will probably be 99,000 pounds in Vermont.

President Obama signed the bill on Tuesday night, and it’s expected to be implemented by the state legislature within the next few weeks. Truckers are hoping the new regulations become permanent next year. New York and New Hampshire already have alternative mechanisms in place whereby log trucks can be certified to carry loads greater than the federal limit.

by Dave Mance III

Share

© by the author; this article may not be copied or reproduced without the author's consent.

Visit the Notes from the Editor Archive

Discussion *

“
Dec 28, 2009

As the impact on roads increases with increased weight on an axle a single 40 ton truck can create the equivalent wear and tear as 9,600 cars. Personally I would prefer that damage to go to the Interstate as it gets better maintenance.

Gabe Zoerheide
“
Dec 21, 2009

I worked in the pulp and paper industry for my entire working career. I watched chip trailers break while unloading on the chip dumps and saw the lack of good maintenance on the log trucks. I for one always had concerns and feel that rather than increase the load limit on interstate highways the limit should be at 80,000 pounds gross weight. It is well known that it takes longer to stop, the heavier the vehicle is. I don’t believe the brakes are maintained any better than the trailer. If anything we should be pushing for lower weight limits since we are not maintaining our highway infrastructure, we should at least extend the life of what we have.

David Breed
“
Dec 20, 2009

Good that the trucks can get around better . . . but all I can think of is the poor souls in any vehicle trying to get across central Vermont to New York (and vice versa) who lost the Champlain Bridge. Now their routes are several hours longer!

Carolyn Haley
“
Dec 19, 2009

I know truckers won’t like to hear it, but there IS a practical limit on what highways can tolerate weight-wise. Every time a new housing development goes in here in the country, the concrete and block-delivery trucks annihilate the pavement and we run on wall to wall potholes for a couple years until the state gets around to repaving the roads. The irony in your neck of the woods was allowing them to run on the little roads, but not the big ones. Safety alone should have dictated otherwise.

Gorges Smythe
Very sorry, comments temporarily unavailable while we perform some maintenance.