Political Quotes

“I have an amendment to the continuing resolution, H.R. 3082. My amendment will rectify an impediment to international commerce flowing through Maine, and protect Maine drivers and pedestrians. For the past year, Maine truckers have operated under a pilot program that allows trucks over 80,000 pounds to move from local roads to safer interstate routes, far from schools and homes. The pilot project has been a great success, and I seek to make it permanent. Unless we take action before December 17, trucks over 80,000 pounds traveling to or from the Canadian border or within upstate Maine will be forced onto secondary roads, many of them two-lane roads, which run through towns and villages. Trucks traveling between Houlton and Hampden, ME, on these local roads will pass more than three thousand homes, several schools, and hundreds of intersections. Tanker trucks carrying fuel will again be traveling past elementary schools and libraries, and competing with local traffic. Not only is this an inefficient method of moving goods, but it also unnecessarily increases risks on narrow local roads. What is the result of such truck traffic on local roads? According to a study conducted by the Maine Department of Transportation, traffic fatalities involving trucks weighing 100,000 pounds are 10 times greater on secondary roads in Maine than on exempted interstates. Serious injuries are seven times more likely.”