Hardwood Floors Oct/Nov 2019

By Dana Lee Cole

the most direct route from logging site to a hardwood mill includes an interstate highway segment. Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), who sits on the influential House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, is championing this measure in the House and is working hard with his colleagues on the committee to include provisions of H.R. 2453 in any transportation reauthorization bill that the committee develops. The House is far behind the Senate in writing a new highway bill and is not expected to unveil a draft bill until early 2020. Our objective is to work toward including the Safe Routes language in the House’s version of a highway bill and then, subsequently, into any final deal that is sent to the president. g Dana Lee Cole is Executive Director at the Hardwood Federation, a Washington, D.C.-based hardwood industry trade association that represents thousands of hardwood businesses in every state in the United States and acts as the industry’s advocacy voice on Capitol Hill. She can be reached at dana.cole@hardwoodfederation.com.

reauthorization effort. Safe Routes is a simple, practical bill that would allow trucks loaded with raw forest products traveling at the maximum gross vehicle weight on state roads to access the interstate highway system at these higher weights. As is the case in Kentucky and North Carolina, a number of states around the country maintain higher weight limits for state roads than are permitted on the interstate. This has created a situation where large trucks are forced to travel on two-lane roads through small towns, over railroad crossings, through crosswalks, stop signs, and school zones instead of on highways that are designed and engineered to handle these rigs. A few years ago, truck weight pilot programs were enacted for Maine and Vermont allowing heavier trucks to travel on the interstates. Data collected shortly after these pilots took effect showed that truck accidents decreased 25 percent and fatalities were reduced by 37 percent. In addition to increased safety, the Safe Routes Act will deliver efficiencies in the supply chain to our mills as it is often the case that

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the magazine of the national wood flooring association

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