By Kelly Simmons, Managing Editor and Senior Writer
Overloaded commercial and diesel trucks driving on Ciudad Juarez streets combined with the lack of road maintenance are causing rapid deterioration of the City's thoroughfares, according to a recent article in El Norte, leading to deadly traps for motorists and pedestrians. The real problem, stated Octavio de la Torre, a national transportation official, is the City's lack of weight limit enforcement. He advised the state and city governments to adopt international norms that include fines for exceeding weight and dimension limits. The federal government Mexico has a permitting system as well as weight and dimension limits for trucks traveling on federal roads and bridges.
The Director of the Municipal Planning Insititute (IMIP), Luis Siquieros responded that the "Director Plan" will be implemented every year taking into account future truck routes. The City is trying to establish commercial routes that are away from the city such as Panamerica to Zaragoza, and in order to use non-designated routes, trucks will have to obtain temporary permits.
Three axles trucks are limited to 48 tons, including the truck and cargo, while two axles trucks and cargo, the most common, are limited to 34 tons. In the United States, tractor-trailer trucks are limited to 36 tons, a difference of 10 percent from the limit in Mexico.
Meanwhile a bill introduced in the Texas State Legislature would allow Texas Department of Transportation officials to stop overweight or unsafe trucks at the border, according to an El Paso Times article. The legislation sailed through committee hearings in the House before the Easter holiday and is expected to receive a do-pass recommendation. At issue is the fact that Texas law enforcement currently has the power to cite overweight and unsafe trucks but not the power to detain them and require downloading to a safe weight. Also included in the bill is a measure to bring criminal charges against the person responsible for the vehicle, probably a class B misdemeanor. The bill is one of 14 consensus issues that El Paso legislators agreed to support before the legislative session opened and the bill has the support of law enforcement agencies as well as law makers from non-border communities.
At the federal level, the Teamsters Union urged Congress in March to make the temporary ban on Mexican trucks into a permanent one. Teamster President, Ron Carey characterised the NAFTA provision that would allow Mexican commercial truck traffic to travel through border states as an accord that would "undermine highway safety and increase the flow of drugs into the U.S." Democratic Congressman David Bonior, minority whip, also testified against the provision, stating that of the 11,000 trucks now crossing the border every day, only one in 199 are inspected and "God only knows what's on them".
Under the North American Free Trade Agreement, commercial trucks were to have been allowed to travel in each country throughout the border states. The Clinton Administration has delayed the implementation of that provision, restricting trucks to a 20 mile radius of the border.
In similar news, the federal government in Mexico has announced that every month, 40,000 foreign trucks enter Mexico without being inspected by Mexican authorities. An investigation has been announced by the Mexican consulate in San Diego.
Sources: El Norte, El Paso Times, AP in El Paso Times