Trucking and rail industries unite to support transportation bill

After a contentious fight over the past few months, the trucking and railroad industries have backed off the debate over allowing heavier trucks on the road, according to Bloomberg.

As Congress has considered the upcoming highway bill, the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act in the House and Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century in the Senate, the trucking industry has addressed several crucial DOT compliance issues.

But key among them was the proposal to allow trucks as heavy as 97,000 pounds on the nation's highways. This would represent a dramatic increase from the current limit of 80,000 pounds and allow trucks to add a third trailer. A small number of states currently allow the larger trucks, but without national legislation the market for the vehicles remains small.

However, while large disparities exist between the $109 billion, two-year Senate bill and the $260 billion, five-year House bill, legislators in both chambers agreed on delaying any decision on heavier trucks for at least three years. In that time the Department of Transportation would conduct a study of the potential safety ramifications of such a change.

As recently as last week, trucking industry groups had spoken fervently in support of reversing that decision, decrying the so-called propaganda campaign put forward by the railroad industry.

But now Land Line Magazine reports that the American Trucking Associations, one of the strongest proponents of allowing larger trucks, has shifted its stance to support the passage of the current transportation bill. ATA president Bill Graves signed a joint letter with the president of the Association of American Railroads, Ed Hamberger, calling on legislators to oppose any proposals to change the current weight limit rule, fearing that such a move could lead some politicians to drop their support for the bill as a whole.

"It’s important that you not have two very large, significant sectors of the transportation community at each others’ throats as the bill goes to the floor," James Burnley, a trucking lobbyist who once served as U.S. transportation secretary, told Bloomberg. "That undermines support in what is an already very, very difficult situation in passing the bill in either house."

The Los Angeles Times reports that the current bill has drawn criticism from a diverse group of opponents, some looking to prevent the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and others looking to protect the fuel tax set-aside that has proven a critical source of funding for mass transit systems. The opponents have included groups as disparate as the Episcopal Church and the Teamsters Union.

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