JOINT RESOLUTION MEMORIALIZING THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO RAISE THE WEIGHT LIMIT ON INTERSTATE 95

your Memorialists, the Members of the One Hundred and Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Maine now assembled in the First Regular Session, most respectfully present and petition the United States Congress as follows:

WHEREAS,  Interstate 95 in the State of Maine, which is part of the Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways and is governed by the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, is central to Maine's commerce and industry; and

WHEREAS,  the weight limit on the Interstate Highway System is set at 80,000 pounds by the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 and consequently by Maine statute, yet the State of Maine has a 100,000-pound limit on its secondary roads, which does not match the national limit; and

WHEREAS,  the Federal Government has given the State of Maine an exemption from the 80,000-pound limit for the last 5 miles of the Maine Turnpike and Interstate 95, which allows for a 100,000-pound limit, and this exemption matches the limit for the rest of the State; now, therefore, be it

That We, your Memorialists, on behalf of the people we represent, take this opportunity to request that the United States Congress allow the State of Maine a 100,000-pound limit on all of the Interstate Highway System in Maine, not only the authorized 5 miles, and that the United States Congress review this request when the Highway Bill comes up for reauthorization; and be it further

That suitable copies of this resolution, duly authenticated by the Secretary of State, be transmitted to the President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and to each Member of the Maine Congressional Delegation.