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Completely stopped in traffic on the state road, their two cars were smashed by a tractor-trailer driving 70 mph. The driver later testified in court that he didn’t know why he didn’t try to slow down. In the end, five students died, including Emily Clark. A sixth student was left with a traumatic brain injury and the driver was sent to jail after pleading guilty to five counts of vehicular homicide. Emily’s mother, Kathy, is not one of the lobbyists…

“I think 80,000 pounds is enough on the road to be honest with you. 88,000? I don’t know man. Because it’s hard enough with what we have already,” truck driver Jackson Webster said. The 10-year driver said rolling a truck with extra weight is fine. The problem is stopping the heavier truck. “It is harder to stop the heavier it is. I mean of course. Sometimes I’ve got to stomp on the brakes real hard because a car just got…

Savannah’s Landmark Historic District also faces a unique threat of damage from heavier vibrations caused by these larger trucks. Because local and interstate roads were designed with lower maximum thresholds, it places heavier damage onto the pavement and could pass damaging effects into homes and households into Savannah’s historic districts. Dangerous traffic is already a major issue here in the Savannah metro area. In 2022, there were 256 fatalities in Georgia involving commercial trucks, a 15% increase from the previous year. Throwing…

While there has been a lot of hand wringing about keeping Georgia competitive with neighboring states, it is important to note that while some surrounding states allow heavier weights, they are targeted toward specific, critical industries. HB 189 is all-encompassing and does not include any additional revenue that local governments would desperately need for increased infrastructure damage. The bills include no additional requirement for upgrades to heavier trucks to make them safer. Read More +…

“Think about the impact here locally. We already see lots of trucks coming off the interstates and using state roads like 136 going over Lookout Mountain. In Trenton, we have an industrial park where big trucks must use local roads to access the facilities. Often, we see trucks breaking off the shoulders of streets because of their heavy weight. It’s city and county taxpayers — not the owners of these trucks — who’ll foot the bill for additional repairs to…

“In an email, Mestres said the increased load would affect both Morgan County roads and bridges. “Morgan County secondary roads are not built to a 90,000-lb. standard for five-axel commercial trucks. The county has been working hard to rehabilitate our roadways by resurfacing utilizing Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (TSPLOST) funds. Many of our roadways have less than three inches of asphalt before you get to a rock/dirt base. The 12.5 percent weight increase will increase the potential…

Opponents warn taxpayers will pay more for infrastructure repairs, essentially subsidizing truckers. They also fear that heavier trucks could pose more danger to people riding in lighter passenger vehicles. McMurry estimated that it could cost billions more to rebuild damaged state highways and to replace state bridges that wouldn’t meet the new weight standard, suggesting Georgia might have to increase fuel taxes. “We’ll have to redirect our funding and spend billions — let me say that again, billions — more…

If Georgia votes for heavier trucks, those trucks won’t be able to use interstate highways where the weight limit is capped at 80,000 pounds. The heavy trucks will instead only drive on state, county, and local roads, creating dangerous driving conditions where we live. And heavier trucks will tear up the asphalt and weaken bridges faster, leaving local taxpayers to foot road repair bills out of their already overburdened city and county budgets. We urge you to contact your local…

Congress has been remarkably clear headed and consistent in its opposition. Any increase “to truck size or weight would present both an unacceptable risk to motorist safety, including the safety of truck drivers themselves, and an unaffordable strain on roads and bridges in our communities,” several dozen lawmakers said in a joint letter back in 2020. “Congress has repeatedly rejected proposals to increase truck size and weight in a bipartisan fashion, and a large coalition of stakeholders — including public…

“It is not good engineering practice to increase the legal loads until they break the bridge and then decide to back off,” she said. “We’re spending more on bridges per year than we ever have. But with these weights we’ll have more restrictions in place than we ever have before and the damage to our infrastructure cannot be reversed.” House Bill 189 will still need to clear the full House and Senate chambers and be signed by Kemp before it…