Duffy’s TIMBER bill would open highway stretch to heavier logging trucks

After introducing the Trees on the Interstate Mean a Better Economy and Roads (TIMBER) Act of 2015, U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) issued a statement recently to reiterate the importance of the legislation.

The bill would exempt a 12-mile stretch of Interstate in Marathon County from the 80,000-pound weight limit for logging trucks. Under the terms of the proposed law, logging trucks would be allowed to weigh up to 98,000 on that Interstate – a limit which is consistent with Wisconsin state law.

“This bill impacts the safety of our Seventh District community — specifically the drivers and pedestrians who have to share these narrow back roads with large trucks that are forced to diverge from the highway to remain compliant with the weight limit,” Duffy said. “(It also) offers a common-sense, yet-long-awaited, fix that makes sense for the safety of my constituents, and the efficiency needs of the trucks that travel through this part of the district. I appreciate the local support it has garnered and am very hopeful that it will move swiftly through the House.”

The legislation has won the support of a number of local community groups and leaders, including Marathon County Highway Commissioner Jim Griesbach. “It is unfortunate that states such as Wisconsin, who have become more efficient with better truck transportation alternatives, have had to divert trucks from well-built Interstate roads to secondary road systems in more populated areas,” Griesbach said.

U.S. Interstate Highway 39 runs north from Normal, Illinois, terminating in Rib Mountain, Wisconsin. This segment of Interstate was designed to replace U.S. Highway 51, which in the early 1980s was one of the busiest two-lane highways in the U.S. I-39 runs alongside U.S. 51 south, from Rib Mountain to just north of Portage, Wisconsin.