The U.S. Government Accountability Office has recommended that the Department of Transportation study states' permitting practices for oversize and overweight truckloads, then pinpoint the best practices and share them.
“By conducting this type of research, [the Federal Highway Administration] would be better positioned to help states make sound decisions to improve safety and protect infrastructure,” said a GAO report issued Feb. 26.
GAO said its look at permitting and its recommendations resulted from the 2013 incident in Washington state in which a truck carrying an oversize load clipped a strut on the Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River, causing the span to collapse.
Washington had issued an oversize permit to the Canadian trucking firm involved, Mullen Trucking in Alberta, and an escort car was traveling ahead of the truck as required by the state.
Three people were injured in the bridge collapse, and traffic in the important freight corridor was disrupted for nearly four weeks. The bridge was repaired at a cost of $8.5 million in federal-aid highway funds, GAO said.
The federal government spends about $40 billion a year to help states maintain highways and bridges, GAO said by way of explaining the government’s stake in improving permitting processes in the states.
