Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Transportation Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Coalition Against Bigger Trucks warns heavier semi-truck proposals could strain rural roads and bridges
Summary
A national nonprofit representative urged Huerfano County commissioners to oppose proposals that would raise state or federal semi-truck weight limits, citing bridge condition data and a rise in truck-involved fatalities in Colorado.
Patrick Sneed, representing the Coalition Against Bigger Trucks, told the Huerfano County Board of Commissioners on Jan. 28 that federal and state proposals to raise allowable semi-truck weights would increase wear on rural roads and bridges and could raise safety risks.
Sneed said his group is a national grassroots nonprofit and described two types of proposals under discussion in Congress and state legislatures: one would allow states to opt into pilot increases (for example, raising limits from 80,000 pounds to about 91,000 pounds) and another would allow executive actions during declared emergencies to raise truck weights more broadly. He cautioned that pilot projects could leave higher-weight fleets in place after the pilot and that emergency provisions could be extended without clear safeguards.
“I actually came from a cow farm down Alabama way back in the day...we just see where there are certain agencies that are trying to make some weight,” Sneed said. “But having even heavier trucks on the roads is just gonna make everything harder.”
Sneed cited bridge-condition and crash statistics he said are drawn from federal sources: “Out of 8,965 bridges, 64% of those are in fair to poor condition,” he said, and noted that from 2012 to 2022 truck crash fatalities in Colorado rose 84 percent; in 2022 he said there were 1,946 crashes and 107 fatalities (data he attributed to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration).
He also described the proposed 91,000-pound pilot that would allow state opt-in and highlighted a second proposal that would allow governors to raise truck weights during declared emergencies without detailed time limits. Sneed said the pilot’s evaluation metrics in some proposals focus narrowly on fatalities and driving hours rather than broader infrastructure impacts.
Commissioners and attendees asked a few clarifying questions; the presentation was informational and no county policy or formal action on truck weights was proposed or taken at the meeting. Sneed offered information packets to commissioners after his remarks.
Because the proposals Sneed described are under consideration at federal and state levels, county commissioners did not take action but listened and received materials; staff did not indicate a county position would be formed at this meeting.
