A Maine logging and trucking contractor is throwing his weight around, determined to prove to legislators that increasing weight limits on the state’s interstates would boost efficiency and public safety. The project measured the performance of two trucks laden with 99,800 lbs on the non-Interstate route, where higher weight limits were already approved, and a stretch of I-95, where gross vehicle weight limits were upped to 100,000 lbs, provided the tractor had a sixth axle. The 120-mile run on the non-Interstate route calculated the numbers of pedestrian crosswalks, hospitals, school crossings and oncoming vehicles it passed. In all categories, the Interstate route passed zero. The number of gear shifts and brake applications were also measured, with the Interstate route requiring considerably less. In addition, the Interstate route saved 10 gallons of fuel.

HAMPDEN, Me. — Increasing gross vehicle weight allowances on Maine’s I-95 is not only more efficient, but also safer, according to a logging and trucking contractor who conducted his own test.

As part of a one-year pilot project that began in December, gross vehicle weight limits on Maine’s I-95 were increased from 80,000 lbs to 100,000 lbs, provided tractor-trailer units had a sixth axle.

Brian Bouchard, president and CEO of H.O. Bouchard, loaded two trucks to 99,800 lbs and measured their performance between Hampden and Houlton, Me. over two routes: I-95 and the non-Interstate route where heavier weights were already permitted.

On the 120-mile run, the truck travelling on state highways passed 86 pedestrian crosswalks, 30 street lights, nine school crossings, four hospitals, four railroad crossings and 644 oncoming vehicles. The Interstate route, by contrast, had zero of each.

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