Trucks, Trains Collide In Legislature Railroad Lobbying Against Raising Highway Weight Limits

Railroad interests poured $43,000 into Idaho legislative campaigns last year and are lobbying hard now against a bill allowing truckers to raise their weight limits.

And pressure from that bloc may be having some impact. The legislation was introduced, but on a close vote in the House Transportation Committee where typically it would have broad support.

The train camp says it is a safety risk to allow trucks to carry another 23,000 pounds on state highways, or 129,000 pounds total. The added weight also increases the cost of road repair and maintenance.

“I’m a locomotive engineer,” lobbyist Dale Wheeler said. “We know what it’s like to have to stop a heavy load.”

But millions of dollars are also at stake in Idaho.

“Basically, it would boil down to diverting railroad freight to the trucking industry,” Union Pacific Railroad representative Charles Clark said. “If the trucking industry is allowed to increase their gross vehicle loads without an appreciable increase in the cost of doing business, … it amounts to a subsidy for our chief competitors.”

But the increased weights would improve the state’s economy, said Darwin Olberding, chairman of the Shippers Alliance for Efficient Transportation and an advocate for higher truck weights.

It would allow grain haulers, retailers and others to haul much larger loads and transport wares more quickly. And it would not damage roads, Olberding maintained, because the trailers will be reconfigured for better weight distribution.

But even if the change is approved by lawmakers, it is contingent on the federal government raising its weight limits.

Trucking interests also dumped $31,000 into Idaho legislative races last year, and both sides contributed heavily to members of the House panel.