Intercity highway lanes that are dedicated to trucking—paid for with public bonds and repaid by assessing tolls against the truckers that use them—would reduce accidents between cars and trucks and could cut motor carriers' costs by up to $40 billion a year.

That proposal emerged from a recent study conducted by the Reason Foundation, a West Coast research group.

"Toll truckways would be freeways-within-the-freeway and provide a system geared toward safer, more productive trucks," said Robert Poole, director of transportation studies at the Reason Foundation and co-author of the report, in a press release. Poole said the specialized lanes, which would be added to existing interstate highways and divided from other lanes with Jersey barriers, would reduce accidents and allow carriers to operate larger trucks. "Trucking companies will be willing to pay tolls to use the lanes," he suggested, "because they will significantly cut costs by delivering larger loads faster and with greater reliability."

Under the proposal, longer combination vehicles (LCVs) hauling double or triple trailers with weights in excess of the current 80,000-pound limit would be allowed in the dedicated truck lanes. According to the authors, increased use of LCVs could reduce trucking costs in the United States by between $10 billion and $40 billion per year. They also suggested that the truck lanes would reduce highway-maintenance costs and quoted U.S. Department of Transportation research that said using LCVs would provide environmental benefits by reducing fuel consumption and total truck mileage.

In a prepared statement, Rep. Don Young, Republican chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, expressed general support for the concept of toll truckways but noted several concerns. "There's no doubt that this would be a major project, and the obvious question is who is going to pay for, and who is going to operate and maintain these dedicated truck lanes," he said. "... On an issue of this magnitude, further discussions are needed with other members of Congress, the trucking industry, all of the state governments, labor organizations and other interested parties."

A copy of the report, Toll Truckways: A New Path Toward Safer and More Efficient Freight Transportation, is available online at www.rppi.org/ps294.pdf.