| Abstract |
Truck size and weight limits were most recently revised in 1983. In the interim, changes in the use and characteristics of the highway system, as well as important structural changes in the freight industries have led to requests to Congress to revise the federal limits. Changes in federal regulations are controversial because of the potential for increasing some highway costs and attracting freight from railroads to the highways. Trucking firms and shippers advocate revisions; the rail industry, highway safety advocacy groups, some states and some trucking firms oppose changes. Congress, in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, instructs the U. S. Dept. of Transportation to request the Transportation Research Board to "conduct a study regarding the regulation of weights, lengths, and widths of commercial motor vehicles...and develop recommendations regarding any revisions to law and regulations that the Board determines appropriate." The act stipulates that the study consider regulation of commercial motor vheicles operating on federal-aid highways and that it encompass a review of laws, regulations, other studies, and practices; solicit input from the U. S. Dept. of Transportation, the states, motor carrier industry; highway safety groups, air quality and natural resource management groups, and commerical motor vehicle driver representatives; and evaluate the impact of study recommendations on the economy, environment, safety and service to communities. The report forms the response to these directives. It is divided into sections. The first section describes the purposes of truck size and weight regulations; the second identifies the forces that have previously driven regulation and that now generate calls for change. The third-fifth sections identify the directions for change that have been proposed, outlines the challenges confronting reform and describes the criteria and methods used by the committee in evaluating possible change. Recommendations that would permit regulatory changes are presented. |
TRT
