Conn. Lifts Tractor-Trailer Ban

As expected, Connecticut lifted the emergency storm ban against tractor-trailers operating on the state's highways at noon on Tuesday, according to the Conn. Department of Transportation.

Mike Riley, president of the Motor Transport Association of Connecticut, asked that trucking companies contact him to let him know how the ban affected their operations.

The ban was announced Sunday evening and took effect at 5 a.m. Monday in advance of the coming snowstorm. Glastonsbury, Conn., reported more than 13 inches of snow by dawn Tuesday, and forecasters were predicting more snow for much of the Northeast, as well as wind gusts of more than 50 miles per hour, the Associated Press said.

The tractor-trailer ban was the first since the legislature in 1978 gave the governor the power to restrict traffic for public safety, the Hartford Courant said.

Exceptions were made during this storm for trucks carrying perishable or critically-needed cargo, the Courant said.

However, MTA's Riley had earlier told Transport Topics that bread had gone undelivered Monday and stores had run out of this staple, a cargo that would soon go stale.

A tractor-trailer carrying 20,000 pounds of intravenous supplies bound for Hartford Hospital was turned back at the state line, and about one-third of the items were loaded onto a smaller truck, the Courant reported.

Drivers who parked at a rest area in Danbury had no access to diesel fuel, and told the Courant they would be unable to heat their cabs if they ran out of fuel.

Some air cargo carriers reacted by trying to beat the storm, flying freighters ahead of schedule, the Journal of Commerce Online reported.

Federal Express shifted some traffic from its normal Newark, N.J. facility to the com-pany's main hub in Memphis, according to JOC.

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