Rail Industry, Truckers Oppose Increases In Truck Weight, Size

9 Jul 2008

Rail Industry, Teamsters, OOIDA
Oppose Proposals to Increase Truck Size, Weights


The Association of American Railroads (AAR) and the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) issued a statement July 9, 2008 voicing united opposition to legislation to increase truck size and weight limits on the nation’s highways.  Independently, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (Teamsters) issued a press release also opposing efforts to allow heavier and longer trucks on the road.

The rail industry noted that data collected by the U.S. Department of Transportation shows that trucks weighing over 80,000 pounds pay only about half of their highway cost responsibility. Longer, heavier trucks — unless accompanied by sharp increases in taxes — would pay an even smaller share and would divert between 100 and 225 million tons of freight annually from rail to highways.

Additionally, moving all that freight by highway would require the consumption of between 500 million and 1.1 billion additional gallons of diesel fuel, producing 1.6 to 3.8 million tons of additional pollutants and 5.6 to 12.3 million tons of additional carbon dioxide each year.

The Teamsters noted in their July 9, 2008 press release that increasing truck size would make the highways more dangerous.  Teamster truck driver Vince Brezinsky, of Dallas, Texas, testified July 9 before the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit about the dangers of allowing bigger, heavier trucks on the road.

On July 10, 2008, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) added its voice to the call against longer trucks.

Testifying at the hearing on behalf of OOIDA was senior member Bill Farrell, the owner of Bill Farrell LLC based in Missoula, MT., saying, “Under the guise of enhanced productivity, some carriers and shippers incessantly push for ever-increasing size and weight limits while largely ignoring the dire safety implications.”

“Truckers such as OOIDA members know from firsthand experience that further increases in sizes and weights of commercial motor vehicles can endanger highway users and hasten the deterioration of our nation’s roads and bridges,” Farrell told committee members. “As such, OOIDA has long been an opponent of increases to federal truck size or weight standards.”

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Read the full joint July 9, 2008 AAR / ASLRRA statement. Click here (Word Doc) / Click here (PDF)
Read a July 7, 2008 letter from ASLRRA to Jim Oberstar opposing truck size and weight increases. Click here (PDF)
Read the Teamsters' July 9, 2008 press release. Click here (Word Doc) / Click here (PDF)
Read the full July 10, 2008 OOIDA statement. Click here (Word) / Click here (PDF)