The Department of Transportation on Friday (June 5) issued a report saying it does not have enough data about truck size and weight to be able to make recommendations to Congress or regulators about changing the current truck size and weight laws.
The DOT issued what they called a technical paper to satisfy a requirement in 2012’s MAP-21 highway funding law, which required the DOT’s Federal Highway Administration to issue a report on the potential impacts on safety, infrastructure and freight movement if size and weight limits permitted larger, heavier trucks.
FHWA, however, says in its report that there are “significant data limitations” in finding answers to the questions surrounding a size and weight limit increase, and that it cannot make a policy recommendation to Congress until more data can be found.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has signaled it’s happy with the end result: A recommendation to not change size and weight limits.
The American Trucking Associations, however, has called the study’s conclusions politically motivated and not in line with the “unbiased information” Congress asked for.
