Modal Equity with Trucks

Why This Matters

Shipping products by rail delivers enormous public and private benefits, but proposals in Congress to increase truck weight and length would shift freight from rail to highways — undermining safety, increasing taxpayer costs, and worsening environmental outcomes.

Raising truck weights to 91,000 pounds would divert an estimated 2.6 million annual rail carloads and 1.8 million intermodal units.

Allowing 120,000-pound trucks with twin 33-foot trailers could divert 7.5 million annual carloads and 8.5 million intermodal shipments.

Freight Rail Benefits the Public

• Safety: Rail is 3–20 times safer than trucking, depending on the measure.
   
• Congestion Relief: One train can keep hundreds of trucks off the road.
   
• Taxpayer Savings: Heavy trucks already underpay for the disproportionate damage they cause.
   
• Environmental Benefits: Rail is the cleanest land-based way to move freight; shifting to truck raises emissions by 75%.
   
• Cost Efficiency: Rail keeps transportation costs down for shippers and consumers.

Why Bigger Trucks are the Wrong Answer

The existing 80,000-pound trucks already fail to cover the cost of infrastructure damage. Increasing weight and length would:

• Add more wear and tear on already overburdened roads and bridges
   
• Increase congestion, crashes, and pollution
   
• Exacerbate Highway Trust Fund shortfalls — already subsidized with $275 billion from the U.S. Treasury since 2008

The USDOT’s MAP-21 Comprehensive Truck Size and Weight Report (2016) found thousands of bridges cannot accommodate heavier trucks, with costs running into the billions for reinforcements or replacements.

Impacts on Short Line Railroads and Supply Chains

Short lines operate on slim margins and reinvest up to one-third of revenue into infrastructure. Even modest traffic diversion from rail to truck could shutter railroads, eliminating local service and jobs. This reduces supply chain resiliency, increases transportation costs, and harms regional economies.