U.S. Senators Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins introduced legislation today to allow trucks carrying up to 100,000 pounds to travel on Maine’s interstate highways. Currently, there is an 80,000 pound limit that forces heavy trucks off the Maine Turnpike onto Maine’s secondary roads increasing accidents and fatalities, including two in the last nine months.
“Our legislation would finally create a level playing field by waiving the existing 80,000 pound limit on Maine’s interstate highway in favor of the 100,000 pound limit already used on the Maine Turnpike,” Senators Snowe and Collins said in a joint statement today. “Heavy trucks have become commonplace on small town roads throughout our state, often passing in front of schools and homes, putting our motorists and pedestrians at risk. In the last nine months, two of our fellow Mainers have died after being struck by overweight trucks on local roads. Our legislation would correct this dangerous situation by allowing Maine to have the same weight exemption for heavy trucks that more than half the states in the country already have in place.”
Fatalities are 10 times higher and serious traffic injuries are nearly seven times higher on the roads used by the trucks diverted off interstate, according to a 2004 study completed by the Maine Department of Transportation.
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