The one-year experiment of allowing 100,000-pound trucks on the Interstate should be terminated.

The pilot program currently allows Maine and Vermont trucks to circumvent the federal weight limit of 80,000 pounds and run as heavy as 100,000 pounds on the interstates. Maine’s interstate bridges were not designed for 100,000-pound trucks.

According to DOT, Maine is facing a shortfall of $720 million. With heavier trucks there will be accelerated pavement damage and bridge safety will be greatly reduced.

One-hundred-thousand-pound trucks require stopping distances longer than the length of a football field. Bigger, heavier trucks involved in a crash make them more deadly.

I have lost a son (and his three friends) to a truck crash and do not want other families going through the devastation it causes. If this pilot program becomes permanent, the heavier trucks will still be on local roads from point of origin and for delivery of the loads. So, then they will be everywhere.

Maine citizens will be paying for this irresponsible decision both with their lives and their pocketbooks.

Sen. Susan Collins, Sen. Olympia Snowe and Rep. Mike Michaud need to put safety first and foremost. They must do what is right for Maine families and not bend to the wishes of trucking interests and their big dollar donations to political campaigns.

Daphne Izer, Lisbon

Copy the Story Link