To paraphrase the law of inertia, it's difficult to get a heavy object moving, but once you do, look out-it's difficult to stop it as well. For that reason, there has been a great deal of trepidation about allowing heavier and longer trucks-particularly triple-trailered semi trucks-on the nation's roads. Such trucks are already prevented from using the federal Interstate Highway System, and a pair of new bills would keep them off other federal highways, as well.
The bills, introduced a few weeks apart in the House and Senate, would expand existing bans of these larger vehicles, with the exception of fire-fighting vehicles and certain other vehicles already authorized. The Senate version of the bill, introduced by New Jersey Democrat Frank Lautenberg, is called the Safe Highways and Infrastructure Preservation Act, or SHIPA.
SHIPA is designed to prevent two problems: safety issues with longer tractor-trailers which have the potential to cause serious truck accidents, and damage to bridges and other highway infrastructure that these heavier vehicles can cause.
In announcing the bill, Lautenberg stressed that these large trucks have longer stopping distances, greater potential for rollover accidents, and problems with rear trailers swaying into adjacent lanes. Lautenberg also said that heavier trucks have a disproportionate effect on the nation's highways, requiring greater maintenance costs.
The bills cover not just the Eisenhower Interstate System, but the entire network of federal highways, which is roughly three times as many miles of road. Both bills have been referred to committees in their respective chambers, so it may be some time before either bill emerges for a vote. But the bills do seem to already have a good deal of support-the version of the bill in the House has 45 cosponsors, including five from New York.
