Anyone who drives I-15 through Utah County at rush hour can see that our infrastructure is straining to keep up with growth.

Families lose time in traffic, businesses need dependable routes to move goods and farmers need dependable transportation networks to get their products to market.

This fall, the federal programs that fund our highways are set to expire, and the U.S. Senate now has a chance to pass a long-term bill that fixes roads and protects taxpayers, but only if senators leave out several costly provisions the House added along the way.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee advanced a five-year proposal called the BUILD America 250 Act that authorizes about $580 billion for highways, transit, rail and safety programs.

That topline should concern anyone focused on debt and spending.

The Highway Trust Fund already pays out more than it collects, and Washington fills the gap with general revenue transfers and more borrowing. Utah families make hard choices when expenses outrun income, and Congress should apply the same discipline before committing taxpayers to five more years of red ink.

The truck weight pilot deserves closer scrutiny. House members adopted an amendment that would let participating states run six-axle trucks weighing up to 91,000 pounds on interstate highways, breaking the 80,000-pound federal limit that has stood for more than 40 years.

I studied civil engineering before serving in the Utah House, and that training taught me to examine the full load a policy places on a system. Heavier trucks increase stress on roads and bridges. Even when states collect fees for higher-weight operations on interstates, those trucks still leave the interstate system and travel local roads and bridges that often were not built for the added load, creating real costs that local governments and taxpayers should carefully assess.

Heavier trucks would also pull freight off railroads and onto highways. Freight railroads spend billions of their own dollars each year on track, bridges, equipment and safety systems, which takes pressure off taxpayers. Public roads work the other way — you and I fund every repair.

A conservative transportation bill should recognize the companies already building infrastructure with private capital rather than tilt the freight market toward modes that taxpayers subsidize. Federal safety rules should follow evidence, and this pilot gets the order backward.

Washington too often regulates first and studies later, and taxpayers pay for the results. The amendment authorizes heavier trucks now and promises safety data down the road. Congress should answer the bridge and safety questions before it expands the federal weight limit through a multistate experiment. A better approach would set clear performance goals for safety and pavement condition, then give states and job creators room to choose how to meet them, instead of locking one Washington-approved method into law.

Senators should also protect state authority as this bill moves forward. Voters choose their state leaders to make decisions close to home, and that includes how a state maintains its roads and how its drivers help pay for them. Congress does its job when it sets clear national standards for safety and spending and then lets each state decide how to meet them. That keeps accountability where voters can see it, in their own capitals rather than in Washington.

Utah’s growth demands better roads, but it does not require Washington to experiment with heavier trucks or impose new collection mandates on the states. The Senate should strip the costly and heavy-handed provisions from this bill, including the 91,000-pound truck pilot and the fee-collection requirement, and keep spending tied to reliable revenue.

Utah has shown that growth and fiscal discipline can coexist. Congress should send the states a transportation law that strengthens the roads we use and respects the people who pay for them.

Marc K. Roberts is an American politician who formerly served as a member of the Utah House of Representatives representing southern Utah County.

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