The Coalition for Transportation Productivity (CTP), a group of nearly 200 of the nation’s top manufacturers, shippers and allied associations dedicated to addressing highway capacity issues through carefully crafted truck weight reform, released the following statement following the U.S. House of Representative’s decision not to include the Safe, Flexible and Efficient (SAFE) Trucking Act (H.R. 3488) as an amendment to the highway reauthorization legislation.

CTP Executive Director John Runyan commented:
“The rail industry’s campaign to block truck productivity at any cost carried the day, as members of Congress were confronted with an astounding amount of misinformation about the SAFE Trucking Act. It’s a loss for American manufacturers, which will continue to struggle to get goods to market efficiently, and for motorists, who would have benefitted from safer, less congested highways. CTP and our member organizations will continue looking for ways to safely improve truck productivity because the facts are on our side.”

The U.S. DOT’s Truck Size and Weight Study recently concluded that six-axle trucks can safely weigh up 91,000 pounds—the configuration allowable under the SAFE Trucking Act—while yielding significant truckload reductions, pavement wear savings and environmental efficiency benefits. The U.S. DOT has also stated that the configuration is federal bridge formula compliant, meaning that it meets weight distribution requirements for vehicles traveling on bridges on the Interstate Highway System. Because one-quarter of U.S. truck shipments meet the current Interstate weight limit with space left in the trailer, this proposal would allow companies to meet demand with fewer vehicles and make the U.S. transportation network more efficient, especially as gross domestic product and population continue to grow.