Word: trailer
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...price of defeat, which may in the long run outweigh the benefit of the tax, was the final removal of what have long been thorns in the industry's side--the size and weight restrictions on the interstate highway system. In 1956, Congress limited combined tractor and trailer weights to 73.280 lbs, and widths to 96 inches. Given that the average interstate is designed for weights of 60,000 lbs., the limit erred on the side of generosity--generosity doubtless matching the largesse of the industry lobbyists...
...Schoolteacher Chris Balawender, 35, in the hip while he was driving a van loaded with eleven children. He managed to keep the vehicle under control, averting a major tragedy. One driver in Tampa, Fla., roused by fellow truckers, awoke in his cab's sleeping compartment to find his trailer engulfed in flames. To protect themselves, many truckers traveled only by day, and then only in convoys. At night, drivers jammed rigs into crowded truck-stop parking lots platooned with police and extra security guards to fend off vandals. Some operators bypassed truck stops altogether, however, to avoid intimidation...
...depressed trucking industry. To be sure, truckers will be paying more not only for fuel but also for user fees, which will balloon from $210 a year to $1,900 (in 1987) for the biggest rigs. But in return they will now be allowed to drive outsize double-trailer trucks on the full length of the interstate highway system and on most of the nation's 230,000 miles of "primary" federal and state roads. Previously, Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois barred the big rigs entirely, creating a mid-America roadblock...
...town in the worst flood in Times Beach's history. The town, which sprang up in the 1920s as a summer resort and later became a permanent working-class community, is now a picture of near desolation. A muddy brown film coats the small clapboard houses and trailer homes, many of which are ripped apart. Stoves and pieces of carpet sit in yards. Piles of trash and decaying food are heaped everywhere. Many of the 800 families are homeless...
...jobs, extend unemployment benefits, help repair the nation's decaying highway and transit systems and cost the average motorist only $30 annually. It would also increase the maximum user fee for heavy trucks from $210 to $1,900 a year and permit the use of long double-trailer trucks on many state roads...