This bill establishes the ROUTE Act, creating a limited exception allowing CDL holders aged 18-20 to operate commercial vehicles in interstate commerce within a 150-air-mile radius under strict working hour and location restrictions.
Harriet Hageman
Representative
WY
The Responsible Opportunity for Under-21 Trucking Engagement (ROUTE) Act creates a limited exception allowing eligible drivers aged 18 to 20, who already hold an intrastate CDL, to operate commercial motor vehicles in interstate commerce. This operation is strictly confined to a 150 air-mile radius of their normal reporting location. The bill mandates specific rest and duty hour requirements for these younger drivers.
ROUTE Act Creates Strict Interstate Trucking Lane for Drivers Under 21: 150-Mile Limit, 14-Hour Shift Cap
The aptly named Responsible Opportunity for Under-21 Trucking Engagement Act (ROUTE Act) aims to chip away at the national truck driver shortage by changing who can cross state lines. Currently, drivers under 21 with a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) are generally limited to driving only within the state that issued their license (intrastate). This bill creates a specific, highly regulated exception allowing these 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds to operate in interstate commerce, but only under tight constraints laid out in the new section 31318 of title 49.
The New Rules of the Road
Think of this as creating a limited, protected lane for younger drivers. For an “eligible driver”—someone 18 to 20 with a CDL—to cross state lines, they must adhere to four very specific rules. First, their entire trip must stay within a 150 air-mile radius of where they normally report for work. Second, they have to return to that normal work location and be completely done with their shift within 14 consecutive hours of starting. Third, they must get a minimum of 10 consecutive hours off duty before they can start another shift. Finally, their main work reporting location has to stay in the same state that issued their CDL. Essentially, this is designed for short-haul regional freight that happens to cross a state border, like running goods from a warehouse in New Jersey to a distribution center in Philadelphia.
Why This Matters for the Supply Chain
The trucking industry has been screaming about driver shortages for years, and this bill is a direct response. For trucking companies, this opens up a new pool of talent that can handle regional, cross-border deliveries. For young adults, this is a significant career opportunity. Before the ROUTE Act, an 18-year-old could drive a big rig full of goods from one end of Texas to the other but couldn't drive 10 miles across the border into Oklahoma. Now, they get a pathway to gain valuable interstate experience, which typically comes with better pay and more opportunities, without immediately throwing them into cross-country, week-long hauls.
The Safety Balancing Act
Whenever you talk about lowering the age for operating heavy machinery, safety is the elephant in the room. The bill attempts to mitigate risk by keeping the young drivers close to home and on strict hours. The 150-air-mile limit keeps them on familiar regional routes, and the 14-hour limit with 10 hours off duty aligns with—or is even stricter than—standard Hours of Service rules designed to combat driver fatigue. The concern for safety advocates, however, is that even with these restrictions, less experienced drivers operating 80,000-pound vehicles across state lines inherently introduces risk. The success of this program will heavily rely on how rigorously these geographical and time constraints are enforced by the Department of Transportation and the companies utilizing this new exception. It’s a calculated risk: trading highly controlled access for younger drivers in exchange for easing the labor crunch in regional logistics.