U.S. SENATORS VOW TO KEEP BIG-RIG LIMITS.

Byline: Henry Stern Associated Press 

Four senators said Tuesday that they would fight any efforts to ease restrictions that keep triple-trailer trucks off the interstate highways in most states.

Congress imposed a freeze in 1991 that has kept triple-trailers off those roads in all but 16 states. Most Western states allow triple-trailers, but they are not permitted in California, New Mexico and Washington state.

Using a 100-foot-long triple-trailer as a backdrop, the lawmakers said the trucks endanger motorists and damage roads.

A trucking industry spokesman disputed those conclusions, but also said there is no effort to eliminate the freeze.

The transportation spending measure to be considered by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee would carve out exemptions for certain bigger trucks in New Hampshire, Maine, Louisiana and Colorado.

Sen. John Chafee, R-R.I., chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said nobody on his committee has proposed a similar provision, or lifting of the 1991 freeze.

Chafee called the news conference ``a pre-emptive strike'' against the triple-trailers. ``We want to discourage any such efforts.''

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he'd like to ban the triple-trailers from the interstates in the 16 states, including Nevada, that currently allow them.

``We should eliminate them because we can't have 10-story buildings traveling on the road,'' said Reid. ``Just use common sense. How can one of these things be as safe?''

But none of Reid's colleagues at the news conference - Chafee, Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., and Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo. - backed him up on calling for a complete ban.

Public safety interest groups expressed concern that the exemptions for certain categories of larger trucks in New Hampshire, Maine, Louisiana and Colorado could weaken the freeze.

John Collins, senior vice president of government affairs for the American Trucking Associations, said the larger trucks already are operating in those states.

Collins said the changes in the House version would only extend their operation to interstate highways in those four states. He said the larger interstates are safer than the roads where the trucks currently can drive.

Triple-trailer trucks have a better safety record, Collins said, because they usually operate on interstates with the most experienced drivers. He said the senators were using flawed data to raise false concerns.

The Senate and House committees are scheduled to begin consideration today of the highway spending proposals. The House version contains $103 billion for a three-year period, and the Senate measure $145 billion for six years.