FOND DU LAC, WI (WTAQ) - The changing of U.S. Highway 41 to an Interstate may cause problems for some trucking companies if pending legislation fails on Capitol Hill.
Currently, the weight limit for truck on Highway 41 is 97,000 pounds. Next year, that would be cut back to 80,000 pounds when it becomes I-41.
Wisconsin Republican Congressmen Reid Ribble and Tom Petri introduced legislation to grandfather in trucking companies that haul more than 80,000 pounds on Highway 41.
The expected change to an interstate designation next year would affect a number of industries, including scrap metal, agriculture, forestry and others.
Sadoff Iron and Scrap Metal in Fond du Lac is one of those companies. Sadoff uses a fleet of 50 trucks a day to haul scrap up and down Hwy. 41. Company leaders there say 75 percent of their trucks haul over 80,000 pounds.
"We're talking about a significant impact, it would be up to 50 percent more trucks that we would have to put on Hwy. 41 at the 80,000 pound limit or redirect off of Hwy. 41 onto other state highways," Sadoff Transportation Manager Colleen Kollmann tells FOX 11.
Ribble says that also would lead to higher costs for moving goods around the Hwy. 41 corridor and more traffic on the highway.
"The current weight limits they are allowed to drive from Green Bay to Milwaukee would be reduced by 20 percent. That's not only going to increase the costs of goods made in Wisconsin, but it's going to increase the number of heavy trucks on the highway."