FHWA Pushes States on Truck Limits

The Federal Highway Administration wants to know if states should do more to enforce size and weight limits as part of the annual certification process to receive highway funds.

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Among the questions on federal highway officials’ minds are whether fines are being set appropriately, whether there is enough data on overweight trucks and if state officials should be given any leeway to cut truckers a break and take into account weather and scale variances.

FHWA first asked these questions in 1993, after problems in state certification procedures were reported by the General Accounting Office and the Inspector General’s Office of the Department of Transportation.

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According to FHWA, audits by both GAO and OIG said that states do not know the magnitude and location of overweight vehicles, they are uncertain about the amount of pavement wear attributable to vehicles with special permits and said operational tolerances at scales are common despite federal law.

For the full story, see the Oct. 9 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.