Logging truckers protest weight restrictions
DULUTH — Dozens of logging truckers from across northern Minnesota plan to converge on Duluth to protest federal weight restrictions.
More than 50 members of Associated Contract Loggers and Truckers are expected to caravan through the city Thursday morning and rally near the Port Authority. They're demonstrating against federal regulations that limit trucks to 80,000 pounds on the interstate system in Minnesota. That means drivers have to take slower, longer routes to deliver wood to the NewPage mill in Duluth and a log loading area in Superior, Wis.
Elroy Kuehl, of Ely, tells the Duluth News Tribune he sends nearly 50 trucks a week through the side streets of Duluth. Kuehl says that's a safety hazard.
Exemptions have been granted in other states, including Maine and Vermont.
