I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 551
To amend the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982 and title
23, United States Code, concerning length and weight limitations for
vehicles operating on Federal-aid highways.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 4, 1997
Mr. OBERSTAR introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
A BILL
To amend the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of
1982 and title 23, United States Code, concerning length
and weight limitations for vehicles operating on Federal-
aid highways.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe Highways and
Infrastructure Preservation Act of 1997’’.
SEC. 2. LENGTH LIMITATIONS ON FEDERALLY ASSISTED
HIGHWAYS.
(a) PROHIBITION
ON
OPERATION
OF
CERTAIN
CARGO-CARRYING UNITS.—Section 411 of the Surface
Transportation Assistance Act of 1982 (49 U.S.C. App.
2311) is amended—
(1) by striking the section heading and all that
follows through ‘‘(a) Except’’ and inserting the fol-
lowing:
‘‘SEC. 411. LENGTH LIMITATIONS ON FEDERALLY ASSISTED
HIGHWAYS.
‘‘(a) STATE REQUIREMENTS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except’’;
(2) by moving the remaining portion of para-
graph (1) of subsection (a), as designated by para-
graph (1) of this subsection, 2 ems to the right; and
(3) by adding at the end of subsection (a) the
following:
‘‘(2) PROHIBITION ON OPERATION OF CERTAIN
CARGO-CARRYING UNITS.—
‘‘(A) GENERAL RULE.—No State shall reg-
ister for operation on any segment of the Inter-
state System and those classes of qualifying
National Highway System highways as des-
ignated by the Secretary any trailer, semi-trail-
er, container, or other cargo-carrying unit that
is longer than 53 feet, except as provided by
subparagraph (B).
‘‘(B) EXCEPTIONS.—The following shall
not be subject to the requirement of subpara-
graph (A):
‘‘(i) Any trailer, semi-trailer, con-
tainer, or other cargo carrying unit that is
manufactured before the expiration of the
1-year period beginning on the date of the
enactment of this paragraph.
‘‘(ii) Any trailer, semi-trailer, con-
tainer, or other cargo-carrying unit that is
used exclusively for fire-fighting.
‘‘(C) LIMITATION
ON
STATUTORY
CONSTRUC-
TION.—Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed
to affect the laws of any State applicable to any
trailer, semi-trailer, container, or other cargo-carry-
ing unit that is less than 53 feet in length.’’.
(b) REPEAL.—The 3d sentence of section 411(b) of
such Act is repealed.
(c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 411 of
such Act is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘subsection (a) of this section’’
each place it appears and inserting ‘‘subsection
(a)(1) of this section’’; and
(2) in subsection (d) by striking ‘‘subsections
(a)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsections (a)(1)’’.
(d) ENFORCEMENT.—The 2d sentence of section
141(b) of title 23, United States Code, is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘section 411(j)’’ and inserting
‘‘subsections (a)(2) and (j) of section 411’’; and
(2) by striking ‘‘2311(j)’’ and inserting ‘‘2311’’.
SEC. 3. TERMINATION OF DETERMINATIONS OF GRAND-
FATHER RIGHTS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 127 of title 23, United
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the follow-
ing:
‘‘(h) GRANDFATHER RIGHTS.—
‘‘(1) GENERAL RULE.—No State shall allow the
operation of any vehicle or combination (other than
longer combination vehicles) not in conformance
with the Interstate weight limits, unless such oper-
ation is on the list published pursuant to paragraph
(2).
‘‘(2) LIST OF VEHICLES OR COMBINATIONS.—
‘‘(A) PROCEEDING.—Not later than 60
days after the date of the enactment of this
subsection, the Secretary shall initiate a pro-
ceeding to determine and publish a list of vehi-
cles or combinations (other than longer com-
bination vehicles), otherwise not in conformance
with the Interstate weight limits, that the De-
partment of Transportation or any other Fed-
eral agency or a State has determined before
January 1, 1997, could be lawfully operated
within such State on July 1, 1956 (except in
the case of the overall gross weight of any
group of 2 or more consecutive axles, on the
date of the enactment of the Federal-Aid High-
way Amendments of 1974).
‘‘(B) LIMITATION.—No operation of any
vehicle or combination (other than a longer
combination vehicle) shall be included on the
list published pursuant to subparagraph (A) on
the basis that a State law or regulation could
have authorized such operation at some prior
date by permit or otherwise.
‘‘(C) PUBLICATION OF FINAL LIST.—Not
later than 270 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this subsection, the Secretary shall
publish a final list of vehicles or combinations
described in subparagraph (A).