Truck Weight Coalition Membership Reaches 100

Rockville, MD - Membership in the Agricultural Transportation Efficiency Coalition (AgTEC), which supports increasing the overall gross vehicle weight limits for trucks, reached one hundred on July 20, with the addition of Evergreen Packaging and Columbia Forest Products.  The Coalition now represents 55 associations and 45 businesses.

"As the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee takes up the task of developing its surface transportation blueprint for the next five years, AgTEC will be in a strong position to weigh in," commented AgTEC Co-Chair Bud Wallace, President of Wallace Transport.  "Truckers and shippers both are working with us to ensure that, with more investment in our Interstate system, we are able to use it efficiently."

AgTEC strongly supports Congressman Mike Michaud's (D-Maine) "Safe and Efficient Transportation Act of 2009" (HR 1799), which would grant states the option of raising the current 80,000-pound gross vehicle weight limit on their Interstate highways to 97,000 pounds, for trucks equipped with a sixth axle, with the assessment of a new dedicated fee to support bridge repair and maintenance.  Numerous studies and projections show that this reform will save fuel, reduce emissions, reduce congestion, reduce pavement wear, improve public safety, and improve the competitive position of U.S. manufacturing industries, including those dependent on raw material from farms and forests.

AgTEC is working to ensure the inclusion of this bill's provisions in the 2009 Highway Reauthorization Bill, which will set federal infrastructure improvement priorities for the coming five years.

The Mission of the Agricultural Transportation Efficiency Coalition is to improve the efficiency of transporting raw, unprocessed agricultural and forest products from farms and forests to processing facilities.  To learn more about AgTEC, or to join in the campaign, please visit www.ag-haul.org .