Graves Seek States' Support on Proposed Truck Weights Law

Bill Graves, president of the American Trucking Associations, sent letters to the governors and top transportation officials in all 50 states urging their support in lobbying against upcoming federal legislation that would expand the government’s control over truck weight limits.

Seeking state support in defeating SHIPA, or the Safe Highways and Infrastructure Act, Graves said that the expansion of federal oversight of “100,000 miles of local roads which are currently under state jurisdiction.” The expansion “would put Congress in charge of determining future truck weight limits” and “establish a federal limit on truck trailer length for the first time.”

Graves said that SHIPA were to pass, it would have “serious impacts” on local businesses and “take away one of the few tools available to states as they attempt to reduce highway infrastructure costs, prevent traffic accidents and cut mobile source emissions.”

In his letter, Graves asked state officials to contact their state’s delegation in the House of Representatives, where SHIPA is “likely to be introduced … within a few weeks.”

(Click here for the full text of the letter to state governors.)

(Click here for the full text of the letter to state highway directors.)

By Transport Topics