Arizona is testing out a new pilot program which will allow trucks to weigh a total of 83,000lbs. with no requirements of additional axles or extra safety equipment. The goal of the program is to see if the additional weight will result in extra wear and tear on roads.
Additional weight will be allowed along I-10 between mile markers 232 and 279 and on I-19 between Tucson and Nogales, a city split by the border between Mexico and Arizona. If that seems to you like a strangely specific area for a strangely specific amount of weight, you’d be right.
In 2013, the Port of Tucson was officially designated a dry seaport which allowed ocean containers to travel via rail directly to and from Long Beach and Los Angeles. The maximum weight for these containers is 53,000 lbs. In the past, that has been a problem since when combined with the standard weight of a truck (30,000 lbs.), it comes out to more than a truck is allowed to weigh. This meant that the contents of a single shipping container would have to be broken up into multiple loads, costing time and money.
Since the weight of a fully-loaded ocean shipping container plus the standard weight of an unloaded truck is 83,000 lbs., that’s the new max weight limit that Arizona is testing.
“Companies will be able to get a permit for the 83,000 pound limit on Interstate 10 in the Tucson and Marana areas, as well as on I-19 between Tucson and Nogales, and Business 19 in Nogales,” said ADOT spokesman Tom Hermann according to KTAR News. “They can use the 83,000-pound limit, and we can make sure that we have no impact on our roads and on our bridges.”
Since the increased weight limit stretches all the way to the Mexico border, it gives ocean-ready containers an uninterrupted path from the ports of LA and Long Beach all the way to Mexico and back.
According to the ADOT press release on the pilot program, as a member of the I-10 Corridor Coalition, the mission “is to make travel on Interstate 10 safer and more efficient including freight movement.”
Source: truckinginfo, azdot, mesaindependent, ktar, tucson, portoftucson, DOJ
Today’s trucks are Heavier than 30k lbs unless it is a Day Cab !
Try 32k to 36k with Sleeper and Team trucks.
For containers they figure tractor plus chassis, weight. Tare on a chassis is around 9500 to 10000 pounds–a little under a light flatbed. A lightweight 53 foot van trailer is upwards of 12,000. The difference is close to the 3000 pounds they will allow. I’m wondering what the axle weights will be. Are they keeping steers at 12,000 and boosting drive and trailer tandems from 34,000 to 35,500 each?
Wow 3,000lbs extra. Woopie
Bunch of wimps, we run 99,000 on 5 axles in Mass
That’s a great idea, haul more weight for the same money.
That is how it has always been done before, the extra trailers came about from that same attitude.. Just stick another trailer on behind this one so we can haul more..
They can always find ways to haul more freight more efficiently but can’t find a way to pay us fairly. Smh
I’d be interested to see some info on how much of an impact the increase in weight has on driving safely with such a big load.