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A question about highways

September 29, 2007

I’m trying to figure something out.  Should Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) be subject to regulation, or should trucking companies be encouraged to set their own limits?  Explain.

  1. September 29, 2007 at 14:54 | #1

    I may be wrong..but the best I remember from my truck driving days and that was back in the early 1970s the GVW was 16000 pounds per axle with a 80,000 pound max without special permit. Length limit was 65 feet without permit. It was my understanding that this was because that is what the highways were built to handle and that any more than the 80,000 pounds would be too hard on the highways.

    The hell of it is even the 80,000 pound loads tear up the highways in the summer..asphalt gets hot and gives under the constant pressure for the big rigs.

    I reckon semi tractor and trailer rigs could be designed to more evenly spread the weight and pressure on the roads..wider tires for example much as we used in the grain fields on the fertilizer and herbicide trucks. Big wide tires that were low pressure tires and did not cut ruts in the soft fields. But such rigs might take way to much power to move to be worth the savings on the highways..I don’t know..

    In any event to answer the question..yeah, I figure GVW should be regulated. I reckon every trucker and ex trucker including me can tell you stories about outlawing overloads..dodging scales and driving the back roads and cussing the dispatcher who put you out with the overload and the government that made the regs.But without the regulation I have no doubt that the industry would just load the wagon and FXXX the mule to the detriment of the rest of us who also pay the road taxes. 80,000#s is not all that easy to stop at 70mph..think about 140,000#s on the same rig…

  2. Christina
    April 12, 2008 at 18:57 | #2

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    http://www.whatsthatbug.com/eggs.html

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