U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) announced Tuesday he had introduced legislation that will allow logging trucks to drive further on interstate highways.
The Safe Routes Act of 2023 would allow logging truck to drive up to 150 miles on federal highways. Current laws limit logging trucks use of federal highways when traveling from harvest sites to storage or processing facilities.
“The forestry and timber industry is important for many Wisconsin counties,” Johnson said. “Yet logging trucks are forced to take longer and more dangerous routes through towns and local two-lane roads. My bill fixes this problem by opening federal highways to logging trucks, allowing them to take safer routes to the mills and more efficiently deliver for the people of Wisconsin.”
The current law requires trucks carrying raw forest materials to take state and county roads which Johnson said are longer and more dangerous than interstate transportation. However, research shows logging trucks traveling on non-interstate roads have a greater risk of accidents as they encounter two-way roads, intersections, school zones, pedestrians and driveways.
In fact, Johnson’s office said, 96 percent of logging vehicle collisions occurred on city, county or state roads when they came in contact with school zones, cross walks, intersections, stop signs, oncoming traffic and railroad crossings, according to a 2018 study.
Johnson’s bill has support from the American Loggers Council, the Great Lakes Timber Professionals Association, the Forest Resources Association, and the American Forest and Paper Association.