Rigs weighing 80,000 pounds would be able to travel farther off the national network in Illinois under a bill now under consideration.

Now, those rigs can travel no more than one mile off an interstate or other controlled access highway onto any other street to load and unload, or for other purposes such as food and rest or fuel and repairs. SB2152, sponsored by Sen. Lawrence Walsh, D-Joliet, would extend that distance to two miles – unless a sign on the road prohibited access by the larger rigs.

Walsh told the Rockford Register Star that many businesses that take loads from the trucks are no longer located within one mile of an interstate, and space for more of those companies near such highways is getting harder to find.

The bill is currently before the Senate Rules Committee.