Truck weight increase dead for now

WASHINGTON — Heavier milk trucks from New York won’t be riding the interstates in Pennsylvania anytime soon.

A measure pushed by dairy farmers to boost maximum truck weight on interstate highways suffered a seemingly lethal blow when competing highway and rail interests agreed in recent days to drop their argument over the issue for the time being.

The provision, which Rep. Richard L. Hanna, R-Barneveld, championed in the House Transportation Committee, would have opened Pennsylvania’s interstates to milk trucks weighing more than 80,000 pounds. Some milk trucks in New York weigh as much as 99,000 pounds.

Because of the difference, New York’s heavier trucks must switch from speedier interstates to state and county roads when they reach Pennsylvania. That hurts dairy cooperatives that ship milk from New York to or through Pennsylvania, farm groups say.

The Association of American Railroads and the American Trucking Association said in a statement that lawmakers should oppose any effort to insert the provision into the multiyear highway bill being considered in the House, which is destined for a conference with the Senate. The organizations had been on opposite sides, but the issue threatened to endanger passage of the highway bill, along with other obstacles the House Republican leadership has been facing.

Instead, Congress appears more likely to approve a study of increasing truck weight limits, Mr. Hanna said this week. That was the recommendation of the House Transportation Committee, which last week struck the weight limits provision from the bill and barred any increase for three years.

A deal emerged as the GOP leadership struggled to collect the necessary votes to pass a highway bill, which outlines surface transportation programs. Leaders eventually agreed to break the bill into three parts, allowing lawmakers who oppose certain provisions to vote against them without scuttling the entire bill.