Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Jared Golden (D-ME) introduced the Safe Routes Act, a bipartisan bill that would allow logging trucks that meet state-determined legal requirements to travel up to 150 air miles on the Federal Interstate Highway System.
Current law prohibits trucks that meet these requirements from using the federal interstate, forcing them to use state and local roads that increase the risks associated with their trips.
“When logging trucks aren’t allowed to use federal highways, they use state and local roads where they encounter school zones, crosswalks, and sharp curves. This doesn’t just extend the time it takes to get their products from point A to point B, but increases the number of accidents involving these trucks,” said Rep. Gallagher. “This bill makes a common-sense change that allows certain trucks to travel on the interstate, and in doing so, helps reduce carbon emissions, increase efficiency, and make roads safer.”
A 2018 study found that 96% of logging truck collisions occurred on city, county, or state roads, and a 2018 University of Georgia studyfound that 41% of logging truck collisions occurred within only 5 miles of the Interstate. A recent pilot program in Maine indicated that enacting legislation like this would greatly reduce both fatal accidents and fossil fuel usage by trucks.
The University of Minnesota’s Department of Forest Resources conducted two studies on how implementing this legislation would impact Central and Northeast Wisconsin. Click HERE to view conclusions from those case studies.
“Right now, inconsistent application of weight limits on highways across America are forcing logging trucks off of the Interstate and onto local roads where collisions are much more common and the route to the mill often takes much longer,” said Rep. Golden. “This bipartisan bill is a commonsense piece of legislation that will reduce collisions, protect the people on our back roads, and ensure that loggers from across the United States can use the safest route possible to transport essential forest products.”
The bipartisan bill is supported by a number of outside groups, including the Forest Resources Association, the American Loggers Council, and the Great Lakes Timber Professionals.
