A long-awaited surface transportation funding reauthorization bill is headed for markup in the House Transportation Committee this week. The sweeping legislation touches nearly every corner of America’s surface transportation infrastructure — from roads and bridges to transit, rail, and ports.
Most line items won’t be flashy enough to make cable news headlines. Dedicating billions of dollars for highway maintenance, for example, is a political snoozer. But one proposal that would update arbitrary weight limits for semitrucks should wake up Americans and their elected leaders in Washington.
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Federal requirements that limit the amount trucks can carry haven’t kept pace with the times. Regulations from 1982 — which have only remained in place because of Washington special interests — cap loads well below what modern trucks can safely transport. This means trucks hauling consumer goods and groceries are often significantly empty, putting unnecessary strain on infrastructure.
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How? Because more trucks are needed to move the same amount of goods, American roads are subject to additional wear and tear. As a result, Uncle Sam is effectively subsidizing inefficiency — a sharp contradiction to an administration that has made eliminating wasteful government spending its calling card.
The burden also lands on everyday people in the form of higher delivery prices. Every extra truck on the road burns more fuel and multiplies operating costs that shipping companies have little choice but to pass along. Higher shipping costs can add hundreds of dollars to purchases, impacting everything from washing machines to postcards.
At a time when people are already feeling the squeeze from higher prices at the gas pump, outdated trucking rules shouldn’t be padding the final bill.
Fortunately, there’s a straightforward solution to this issue. Allowing trucks to actually carry a load that reflects modern vehicle safety and paving technology would significantly benefit the public. The proposed update wouldn’t mean longer, higher, or even wider trucks on our roads. It simply allows for semitrucks to fill more of their empty space, saving consumers time and money in the process.
While safety and infrastructure protection may be top of mind for lawmakers tasked with approving this change, the federal government’s own data show that increasing truckload capacities can be done safely and efficiently.
Any increase in truck weight would only apply to vehicles equipped with six axles, not the standard five used today. That additional axle means an extra set of brakes, and a technical study by the Department of Transportation found that six-axle trucks actually stop over a shorter distance than the current standard configuration.
The added axle and wheels also improve how the weight is distributed across the pavement. Instead of concentrating stress on fewer points, the load is spread more evenly across the roadway surface. In fact, a USDOT study found that the six-axle configuration would reduce long-term pavement costs by 2% to 4% compared to today’s trucks. Additionally, these semitrucks would need to meet federal weight distribution requirements, further protecting our infrastructure.
In other words, modernizing these rules wouldn’t just move freight more efficiently. It would also lessen wear and tear and increase safety on the very roads that taxpayers fund.
Such innovation has rendered long-standing fears such as runaway trucks virtually obsolete. According to federal data, runaway trucks already account for less than 1% of all truck crashes in the United States each year. With fewer trucks on the road, that number would continue to go down.
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Decades-old trucking regulations have quietly raised costs for consumers, accelerated wear on roads, and taken an unnecessary toll on the environment. As House lawmakers approach the markup, they have a unique opportunity to replace these dusty, archaic shipping guidelines with policy fit for the 21st century.
Everyone from the loading dock to the doorstep would benefit.
Alexis Oberg is the chief policy officer of the Shippers Coalition.
