Spending bill slams brakes on longer trucks

The $1.8 trillion year-end deal on taxes and funding the government that was unveiled by lawmakers on Tuesday prohibits an increase in the length of twin-trailer trucks that are allowed on U.S. roads that had been sought by trucking companies. 

Language to increase a current limit on the length of double-trailer rigs, from 28 feet to 33 feet, was stripped from the 2,009-page measure before it was released by lawmakers on Tuesday night. 

The proposal to increase the length of twin-trailer trucks was included in an earlier Republican spending bill for the departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, over the objection of safety advocates in Washington.

{mosads}Trucking groups lamented lawmakers’ decision to jettison the so-called twin 33 proposal, which they have described as a “modest” jump that would increase the amount of cargo that can be shipped in the U.S. on a single trip without requiring drivers to work extra hours.

“It’s unfortunate and disappointing that political scare tactics won the day over sound policy,” Coalition for Efficient and Responsible Trucking (CERT) spokesman Ed Patru said in a statement. 

“In rejecting a modest extension in the length of twin trailers, Congress missed an opportunity to bring long-overdue efficiencies to freight trucking that would have produced tangible safety, economic and environmental benefits at a time when so many roads and bridges have fallen into disrepair after years of neglect,” Patru continued. 

Opponents of the proposal to increase the length of trucks have argued longer rigs would make accidents more likely on U.S. roads. 

“Thirty-eight states, including Mississippi, have considered this issue and have chosen not to allow these trucks on their roads,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said in a statement when the proposal was being debated in October. 

“Why should Washington, D.C., tell these states that we know better about safety decisions than they do at the local level? I will continue to fight to ensure that every Senator has the opportunity to vote up or down on this issue before it is allowed to proceed,” Wicker continued. 

Trucking companies have complained of a shortage of truck drivers they say has reached 48,000 as older workers retire at a faster clip than younger replacements are coming on line. They have pushed to increase the length and weight of rigs and lower the age of drivers in recent years to address the staffing problems. 

“The ability to find enough qualified drivers is one of our industry’s biggest challenges,” American Trucking Association President Bill Graves said in a statement about the driver shortage in October.

“This modest increase in tandem trailer length would reduce the number of truck trips needed to move an increasing amount of freight while making better use of a dwindling pool of drivers,” he continued in November, when the Senate was debating the twin-33 truck proposal. 

“This common sense solution holds the potential to ease congestion, reduce emissions and improve the efficiency of the supply chain,” Graves concluded. 

Safety groups praised lawmakers Wednesday for resisting the proposal to increase the truck length limit in the government funding measure, arguing that longer rigs would have made U.S. roads less safe and should have been debated in a separate measure.

“The Truck Safety Coalition worked closely with a coalition of survivors and families of truck crash victims, law enforcement, first responders, truck drivers, trucking companies, and safety advocacy groups to have 33-foot double tractor-trailers removed from the legislation,” Truck Safety Coalition Executive Director John Lannen said in a statement.

“Moving forward, we hope that members of Congress will no longer try to use the appropriations process as a back door to advance industry-backed agendas,” Lannen continued. “Policies that affect the safety and well being of the public should be subject to open debate, research, and analysis.”  

Trucking companies argued Wednesday that lawmakers will have to do something to address constraints in the nation’s cargo shipping capacity, even if they continue rejecting the longer rig proposal. 

“The nation’s population has grown by 100 million since the last time Congress allowed efficiencies to less than truckload (LTL) freight trucking,” CERT said. 

“In that time, two generations of Americans have come to rely on Internet shopping in a way that could not have been imagined 30 years ago,” CERT continued. “Over the next decade, LTL shipments that rely on twin 28-foot double trailers will increase by 40 percent — from 145 million tons per year to 204 million tons — as more consumers turn to parcel carriers for efficient package delivery services.” 

The trucking groups said the twin-33 proposal would have “eliminated an estimated 6.6 million truck trips annually” and “resulted in 912 fewer highway accidents every year.” 

The group added that the longer trucks would have “economized 204 million gallons of fuel yearly” and “reduced carbon emissions by 4.4 billion pounds.” 

-This story was updated with new information at 4:17 p.m.