Call for increased truck size and weight struck down by House

While the pairing of trucking and freight railroad are key ingredients in the recipe for intermodal success, especially on the domestic intermodal side, they are also ingredients that clearly do not mix well at all when it comes to the ongoing debate between the two modes regarding increasing truck size and weight (TSW).

To be sure, this situation is far from new and has received a fair amount of attention in the past, but it is getting attention again, especially at the moment with the House of Representatives this week taking up The Surface Transportation Reuathorization and Reform Act of 2015, a proposed six-year, $325 billion surface transportation authorization.

An amendment in the legislation calling for increased TSW in the form of allowing six-axle trucks weighing up to 91,000 pounds, with the objective of increasing highway productivity, which was the cornerstone of the Safe, Flexible, and Efficient (SAFE) Trucking Act introduced by Wisconsin Rep. Reid Ribble (R), did not make the cut for the long-term transportation authorization.

Ribble’s bill was based on U.S. Department of Transportation safety and road wear data that would allow individual states to decide whether or not they want to allow commercial trucks to carry a maximum of 91,000 pounds, up from the current maximum of 80,000 pounds. And in order to ensure that heavier trucks maintain the same or better stopping distance and pavement wear, they would be required to have a sixth axle as opposed to five, which is currently in place. Ribble’s office added that the U.S. DOT has stated that a six axle configuration would be compliant with the existing federal bridge formula.

As previously reported, the DOT’s “Comprehensive Truck Size and Weight Limits Study,” which was issued earlier this year and was a requirement of the current federal surface transportation bill known as Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) had an objective to “conduct a comparative analysis of the impacts from trucking operating at or within current Federal size and weight regulations to trucks operating above those limits, with attention focused on six-axle tractor trailers and other alternative configurations,” and other factors, including: highway safety and truck crash rates, vehicle performance (stability and control), and inspection and violation patterns; pavement service life; highway bridge performance; and truck size and weight enforcement programs.

A major takeaway from the study that directly ties into the legislation is that six-axle trucks can safely weight up to 91,000 pounds, according to The Coalition for Transportation Productivity (CTP) a concern made up of roughly 200 United States-based manufacturers, shippers, carriers, and industry associations, and yield significant truckload reductions, pavement wear savings, and environmental efficiency benefits. Another key component is that DOT said the legislation is federal bridge compliant in that it meets weight distribution requirements for vehicles traveling on bridges on the Interstate Highway System, with usage of the Safe Trucking Act configuration not leading to increases in one-time rehabilitation costs for interstate bridges.
Despite making what it felt was a strong case for increasing TSW, CTP Executive Director John Runyan said in a statement that the reason this amendment was not included was due to the rail industry’s campaign to block truck productivity at any cost.

“[M]embers of Congress were confronted with an astounding amount of misinformation about the SAFE Trucking Act,” he said. “It’s a loss for American manufacturers, which will continue to struggle to get goods to market efficiently, and for motorists, who would have benefitted from safer, less congested highways. CTP and our member organizations will continue looking for ways to safely improve truck productivity because the facts are on our side.”

Not surprisingly, the railroad industry has a different take on things, when it comes to TSW.

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) said yesterday that increasing TSW would come at the expense of billions to dollars to taxpayers in the form of damaged roads and bridges.

“The added truck weight will further destroy precious national infrastructure and cost taxpayers dearly,” said Edward R. Hamberger, AAR president and CEO. “Allowing trucks to be 14 percent heavier would be a fundamental change to national policy. Lawmakers should strike this amendment before sending a final highway bill to the White House for the President’s signature.”

Based on the House’s actions, that last part may have already happened.

Hamberger added that at a time when federal spending on infrastructure is essential, this proposal would create a massive additional cost borne by the U.S. taxpayer, a cost that is entirely avoidable.

And the AAR also said that along with damaging infrastructure, bigger trucks with bigger loads will increase fuel consumption by millions of gallons per year, generate increased greenhouse gas emissions and put more freight on already congested highways.

This development is really the most recent part of an ongoing series in which these two modes will ostensibly always agree to disagree. Is there a way there could be some sort of way to make things work for both in the form of a compromise? It appears that signs point to “no” and have for a while.

Even with this amendment off the table, a new long-term transportation authorization is desperately needed. It is long overdue, which basically goes without saying, and it would go a long way towards improving our transportation infrastructure and economic competitiveness.