The Citizens League is opposing a bill in the Legislature that would raise the weight limit on freight-hauling trucks on Minnesota roads.
The bill would allow trucks weighing up to 90,000 pounds to operate on state roads, up from the current 80,000 limit.
The Citizens League says when looked into the issue in 2005, it “discovered that large trucks do not pay their fair share in terms of road impact and this has been true for decades and remains true today. We realize there are economic pressures to allow increases.”
Sean Kershaw, executive director of the Citizens League, said:
“Trucks play an important role in the inter-modal transportation of freight in Minnesota and throughout the country, but today’s 80,000 pound trucks only repay 80 percent of the damage they cause to our roads and bridges. Increasing weight to 90,000 or more would only aggravate this problem.
“The Citizens League isn’t against big trucks per se, but we believe there needs to be greater transparency so that the public can be assured big trucks are paying their share to cover the damage they cause to our roads. We’d consider changing our opinion if the fees matched the cost of their impact.”
Does anyone….
in the state of Minnesota pay their fair share of taxes?
Increase Truck Weights
• In 2012, a single commercial truck paid an average of $13,867 in state and federal highway user fees and taxes. The trucking industry pays 33 percent of all fuel taxes and registration fees owed by Minnesota motorists, despite trucks representing only 8 percent of vehicle miles traveled in the state.
And interestingly Minnesota’s class Y annual registration fee gives trucks with 6 or more axles a break over the common 5-axle trucks on the road – a newer 80,000 lb. truck with five axles pays $1760 and a truck with six axle pays less – $1620.. A break for trucks that are the same size as trucks on Minnesota 10-ton roads today but do less pavement and bridge damage due to more axles and tires. For a 6-axle, 90,000 lb. semi-trailer proposed in a MnDOT Study, the annual fee would be $1870 – the heavier the truck, the more it pays.
It is time for Minnesota to expand the current exemptions for more than 2600 trucks carrying agriculture and timber products today and allow all freight to be carried on 6-axle, 90,000 lb. and 7-axle, 97,000 lb. trucks as proposed in bills before the 2015 legislature.