If there is one topic lawmakers agree on, it’s the need to improve America’s deteriorating infrastructure. And they’re right to prioritize it — American households and businesses rely on the transportation system to obtain goods — and demand for goods transported by trucks is expected to grow 40 percent by 2045.
The American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2016 Infrastructure Report Card gave Maine a C- grade on infrastructure, and a D rating on its road network specifically. The result — Mainers spend millions of dollars per year in extra vehicle operating costs, congestion delays and crashes.
Fortunately, Sen. Susan Collins has the opportunity to advance commonsense policies to modernize America’s transportation network. Updating decades-old policy to allow Twin 33s to operate on all interstate highways is a zero-cost solution that will improve safety, efficiency and sustainability across the country.
With five additional feet than current 28-foot units, these double trailers will still abide by existing weight limits and will still be shorter than many other configurations currently on the road. In fact, longer trucks have been operating safely in 20 other states for decades. The benefit: if this policy were in place in 2014, drivers in the U.S. would have saved 53 million hours with less congestion, trucks would have used 255 million fewer gallons of fuel, and policymakers would have averted 4,500 crashes.
At a time when infrastructure has the spotlight, Sen. Collins should seize this opportunity to modernize the transportation system.
Randy Mullett, Washington, D.C., executive director, Americans For Modern Transportation
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