Introduction
The many roads and highways of the U.S. are governed by regulations that limit the size and weight of the vehicles that travel on them. These weight regulations are in place to limit the damage the highways gradually suffer over time, and therefore reduce maintenance costs in the long run. However, they are also there to ensure the continued safety of the road for commuters, as a heavy truck can easily break a lighter bridge and cause accidents. Finally, another reason for these weight limits is taxes, as semis and trucks are taxed for the amount of weight they put on the roads, as the weight of the goods being transported determines the amount of profit they make.
When measuring freight weight, one needs to take into account the weight of the vehicle (its chassis, engine, body, fluids, etc/), the weight of a single axle, and the weight of a tandem axle. There is a fixed federal limit on all of these (80,000 lbs for the vehicle, 20,000 lbs for a single axle, and 34,000 lbs for a tandem axle group) but state governments have their own various limits.
If you want to learn more about axle weights by state, please refer to the data in the charts.
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