Truck Weight, Roads, and Bridges
Why federal law limits Interstate truck weight three ways at once, how the Bridge Formula turns axle spacing into a weight limit, and which exceptions change the answer.
Freight & infrastructure
Freight moves on infrastructure that was designed, funded and weight-limited by somebody, and the rules governing what a truck may weigh are the same rules that decide how long a bridge lasts. This section follows that connection in both directions.
It covers how heavy vehicles use the interstate system, and how axle spacing and gross weight translate into wear on pavement and structures.
Start with this
How Heavy Trucks Use Interstate Highways
The Interstate system is the designated core of a national freight network, the road where federal truck weight limits bite hardest, and a place that sets its own demands on how a heavy vehicle is driven.
Reading order
The network first, then what weight does to it.
- How Heavy Trucks Use Interstate Highways
The Interstate system is the designated core of a national freight network, the road where federal truck weight limits bite hardest, and a place that sets its own demands on how a heavy vehicle is driven.
- Truck Weight, Roads, and Bridges
Why federal law limits Interstate truck weight three ways at once, how the Bridge Formula turns axle spacing into a weight limit, and which exceptions change the answer.