Several industry trade groups say a number of trucking bills passed by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee are a step in the right direction.
Food Navigator says the bills should help to further repair and reinforce America’s fragile food supply chains threatened by a severe shortage of drivers. Almost three-fourths of all goods in America’s economy, including all foods sold in grocery stores, get moved by the trucking industry. The bipartisan legislation would reduce the “empty miles” that trucks have to travel by allowing them to increase the weight they carry with an additional axle.
A bill from Dusty Johnson (R-SD) would establish a voluntary ten-year pilot program allowing states to increase the weight of six-axle vehicles on federal interstates up to 91,000 pounds. Supporters say increasing the amount of weight trucks can carry would lower greenhouse gas emissions, ease supply chain backlogs, and reduce the number of “empty miles.”
