it'll be strange seeing freighted log trailers traveling down interstate, but has been a long time coming

It's about time this was passed! In our little town with one road going through, you meet those huge log trucks and trailer trucks all the time. Accidents waiting to happen. Not to mention the beating the roads take from those big rigs.

Thank god that all of those trucks that barrel through China, Albion, Unity, etc, etc up to Trash Mountain in Hampden can start using I-95!!! Thank-you Senator Collins!

So what does this mean that now instead of 100,000 lbs limit they will be overloading 125,000 limits......we all know that is going to happen but I guess having it on the interstate is better!

Yes......it is!

Are there any downsides to this?

Yeah... they are now going to trash the condition of the interstate! And instead of red lights, stop signs and curves etc to slow them down... Now they will be free to barrel along the interstate. Who is going to be the first one killed on I-95?

Well we can expect deeper grooves and more hydroplanning in the future. Rather than make our roads safer by maintaining resonable load limits...it is increase the load without the road bases. This is what happens when someone that has no clue on what they are doing is placed in office. Sorry Sue you should stick to Hardware

downeast dave....20thousand pounds wont make any difference of the ability of the drivers.I doubt you will see any more accidents because of this.tell me this..do you think if you got hit by 80 thousand pounds or 100 thousand it would make any diference?

This has always been a NO Brainer

That should tell a lot about ALL the ones against this.

I still remember coming up on a tremendous accident at Dixmont Corner Rt 7 & 9

A 18 wheeler went right thru the house on the corner

And Killed 2 very nice people.

You Do Not Forget Them Things!!!!<

The problem is the initial raising of load limits to 100,000 lbs. When the Interstate was built the limits were lower. That's the way the bridges were designed. Sure, they will bear the 100,000 load but it will stress them beyond design limits and lead to their needing to be rebuilt. That will lead to delays on the big road and higher tolls, again. Zonc

Yes, it's certainly much better having those 100,000 lb trucks barreling through neighborhoods than it would be to have them on the interstate.

I love the "better to have them on the interstate crowd" We'll still have the "100,000 lb trucks barreling through..." Whiting because there is no interstate here! it would have been more "safe" to drop the load limit back to 80,000 as it was before the STATE legislature raised it on the non-interstate roads. It also would have been more responsible to include an increase in the Federal Diesel tax in this bill to pay for the additional repairs, but where is the fun in being responsible. We can just complain about the condition of the roads in a couple of years and raise the tax on everyone. So there you have it IMHO. You either want higher gas taxes and 100,000 lb trucks on the interstate or you want the loads and taxes limited. You can not have both

People need to keep in mind that this measure will allow these trucks access to I-95 from Augusta to Houlton.....the weight limit on the Turnpike below Augusta already is and has been 100,000 pounds.....what this will do is allow trucks carrying these weights either Northbound from Augusta or below, or Southbound from Houlton and above, to STAY on I-95 and not exit off and run the 2 lane roads making their travel much more efficient and also will keep more of these trucks off secondary roads causing less damage to those particular highways.....The Interstate system was built to facilitate private and commercial transportation, and to provide key ground transport routes for military supplies and troop deployments in case of an emergency or foreign invasion.....the Interstates were built to these military specs which allows for a better foundation than secondary roads, the interstates were built to handle these vehicles and more weight than they will be hauling so makes sense to let them stay on the Interstate.....

PabMainer wrote:

"...makes sense to let them stay on the Interstate....."

Only if the limit on the secondary roads reverts to 80,000 lbs. Then I would support the increased limit on the interstate.

This measure will primarily keep the trash haulers on 95, instead of travelling through the centers of the towns surrounding the dumps.

If this gets tractor trailers off of 1A in Hampden, then this is a victory for Senator Collins. It's a 35 MPH zone once you're across the Souadabscook Stream, and those trucks routinely go 15-20 MPH over the limit. To top it off, the speed limit should be 30 MPH in that stretch, up to the commercial zones near the Bangor line. The area is thickly settled, with side streets, a retirement community, the library, BAT stops, and a church.

HarryHSnyderIII the secondary roads will still need to be accessed by these vehicles to gain access to the Interstate....how would you propose they access the I system if they could not continue to carry 100,000 pounds on the secondary roads? I do agree that with some roads it will not make any difference on because the Interstate dosen't allow access to certain parts of our state....still, if we can eliminate the need for these vehicles to travel on many of our secondary roads between Augusta & Houlton then it will help all in the long run.....even the dreaded route 9 may find a little help....trucks coming out of and going to Canada use it to access desired destinations, but if some of these can travel the I to & from Houlton south then it may be more efficient, depending on where they are coming from, to travel the Trans -C to Woodstock and then down the I from Houlton.....

Good, I hope they will fix the ruts on the interstate now so it will handle these loads; especially those ruts from Orono north.

WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, SENATOR COLLINS!

What is needed is to reduce the maximum load on all trucks, all roads, nationwide, to 80,000.

The first (and following) deaths are on your head, Susan.

But I am sure your corporate overlords are pleased with your "performance"...anything to save a buck.

Solution: think TRAINS sooner, rather than later, and smaller trucks to deliver from depot. Think of the jobs created!

One point not yet discussed....

After loading a trailer with 80,000 lbs of wood and delivering it you will find that you didn't make any money. The farther the cost of diesel goes above $2.00/gallon the smaller the profit 80,000 lbs of wood will bring. At $3.00/gallon and wood prices as low as they are.....there is zero profit to be made.

I'm not a big advocate of government subsidies or interference into free markets. But the men & woman driving Maine's trucks and working her woods have been taking it in the rear for more than a few decades and it's getting worse not better.

I do see the logic in placing the heavy loads on one road, rather than several. However, it would seem that the big winners are the folks that live along Route 2, 202, 1A & 11.

I'm on RT 2 in Southern Aroostook and the logging trucks at 5 AM are a pain in the rear, but what is down right frightening is my 2 year old son meeting one in my front yard while playing with our dog. This weight limit increase won't solve that problem, but it will help.

With that said, I have not heard of any problems with trucks running 100K lbs on the turnpike, other than the ruts. Which are bad....

With the secondary roads, we have seen several deaths in years past. An old woman getting her mail in Lincoln, someone standing on a street corner in Bangor....and the list goes on and on.

If we don't want to see trucks on the secondary loads that weigh 100,000 lbs to 115,000 lbs, we need to minipulate the market that is paying for the shipped product......or manipulate the price of the diesel fuel that is sold to truck drivers.

Those seem to be the only options.......

People have to eat, support families and many of the people that overload trucks are doing it for that reason. Does that make it right? No, it doesn't...but try going home to a cold house, because diesel goes in the truck. Try looking at hungry kids for a few nights in a row.

20,000 lbs may not seem like much....but it sure does lead to overloaded trucks on the road becoming a reality with wood prices down and fuel prices near $3.00 in The County.

Only in Maine could so many people turn this into a negative..........MANY people have been killed in accidents involving these trucks on secondary roads in Central Maine. These roads are being destroyed by these heavy loads and people have been killed........finally, something is being done about this.

This is a perfect example of bitter conservatives putting their own political ideologies (Collins is a RINO, blah, blah, blah...) before the good of the state and its population.

mainejeff wrote:

"Only in Maine could so many people turn this into a negative..........MANY people have been killed in accidents involving these trucks on secondary roads in Central Maine."

No, not only in Maine, I've heard the same arguments from Oregon to Georgia. People who live AWAY form the interstates still get the death, destruction, and taxes. The load rate needs to go to 80,000 and If the industry can't support that, well, no one kicked when the textile shoe, and tanning companies left.

Did you know you can no longer buy a herring in Lubec? Once that town was the "Herring capitol of the world!

BTW it is my understanding that loggers are not making any money anyway. the price is down 50%, and you can't make it up selling more wood, because the mills are using quotas again. So in a market where 50% of the usual amount of wood is hauled how will a "test" tell us anything?

Harry 10-4 on the "no longer buy herring in Lubec" and a sad example of how much decline we have seen in the fishing industry....can buy some good chocolates though.....

Has anyone on this post noticed the closure of travel stations along the interstate and the designing of them into weigh stations???/ The state

is already looking at a means of more revenue with the opening of the new sections of the interstate. Why penalize log trucks with your comments , you might be surprised at what steel, freight and other groups have hauled for loads over the years. And I am willing to bet that these trucks will have commuters passing them like they are setting still. And please remember that they pay exorbinant fees and taxes to use Maine roadways, so aim your determination into seeing that MDOT uses all that money as it should. Citing accidents can get interesting if you pull up every accident on I(% by commuters with no truck involvement. remember these trucks bring 80-90% of everything you have and need... isn't it time for everyone to look at cooperation and holding the line that state highways funds go into state highways not " other " means. Don't forget the toll money will be going up also....

Smartenup ... How unfair to Senator Collins.... Where did the trains go and why???? Hmmmmm.....

And to you all, there isn't a truck driver out there that would not love to haul 80,000 lbs. if the rate to do so was fair but it is not and as far as raising taxes on diesel ( you can tell you have not owned a truck and paid through the nose on this issue already as well as fees, taxes, insurances, fines and on top of it all commuters that do unthinkable stuff.

Maine mills are hanging by a thread and it is time that Maine people started seeing the bigger picture... these trucks are only one rung on the supply chain in the industry. Think of all the jobs lost if this industry fails.. it is widespread.

Roads and bridges , MDOT has not touched many of them for years and years...where has the $$$$ gone/// And check their road and bridge list and see if all the ones named on it are supposed to be MDOT maintained or are some of them not????

How many of you have paid a $2000.00 fine for being 15 minutes over your log book time???? How many of you pay $450.-$700.00 a year as a heavy use tax , that's per truck. How many of you pay $125.00 if a blinker light is blown on your car??? There is a lot of revenue paid in Maine by truck owners...where did it go... And then you all passed bond money on top!!!

$450.-$700.00 a year as a heavy use tax wouldn't be enough to fill a single pothole. A 100,000 lb truck does as much damage to a road in one year as a passenger car does in 100. Tractor Trailers are involved in 15% of all FATAL accidents, that is a larger presentage than any other group EXCEPT teenagers, and teenagers account for 5% of vehicle traffic, Semi's account for 1%.

As to the fines mentioned in the post above, Hey, we all pay fines we believe are unfair. I'm no fan of seat-belts and have the tickets to prove it

The rates paid truckers are admittedly far too low. We as a society will have to suck-it-up and get used to paying more for goods brought in here by truck. Trains are dead. and we haven't gotten to a point where cargo helicopters are a viable alternative.

Senate once again bowed to ms collins..... destroy roads and pollute area with cement toxics of mercury poisoning.... great research Senators!!! how does it line your pockets???