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ARLINGTON, Va. — American Trucking Associations doesn’t plan to actively lobby for passage of legislation allowing states to increase maximum truck weights to 97,000 pounds.

Instead, the organization’s board of directors was expected to vote June 18 to create a productivity task force to examine truck size and weight as part of a big-picture look at ways to improve efficiency in trucking. The panel is expected to deliver its preliminary findings to the board in February.

Bob Hansen, chairman of the Highway Policy Committee, and David R. Free, chairman of UW Freight Line in Salt Lake City, will lead the task force.

"The 97,000-pound bill is not going anywhere," Hansen said about legislation introduced in May by Reps. Col-lin Peterson (D-Minn.) and Merrill Cook (R-Utah) to allow states to increase the federal weight limit from 80,000 pounds.

"We’re not going to get actively involved," he said.

Hansen made his comments June 16 after the Highway Policy Committee heard a congressional staffer predict that any legislation increasing truck sizes and weights is unlikely to pass Congress this session.

For the full story, see the June 21 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.