June 8, 2010 AASHTO SCOHT Annual Meeting

What I’m Not

 The “I hate big trucks guy”  Not anti-truck or even anti-big truck  Engineer – pavement, bridge, or other  Railroad spokesperson  Wildcat or Tiger  Indifferent  To industry – shippers or trucking  To your challenge

Coalition Against Bigger Trucks  National grassroots non-profit  100+ campaigns, nearly 20 years  Expected & unexpected allies  Law enforcement & safety groups  Truck drivers & independent owner-operators  AAA clubs  State & local elected officials  Environmental, public interest, & taxpayer groups

More Than Maine

 97,000 pounds, 6 axles nationwide at state option (HR 1799)  Pilot programs in Maine and Vermont  129,000 pound LCVs in Idaho (S. 1059 & S. 398)  96,000 pound, 6- or 7-axle in Iowa  88,000 pounds, 5-axle in Florida  LCV resolutions in Colorado, Idaho

Issues with TSW Increases

 Safety  Infrastructure damage  Pavement  Bridges  Underpayment  Energy & environment

Issue: Safety

 Longstanding, significant concerns  Rollover  Off-tracking  Braking  Crash severity  Systems effects  Enforcement challenges  TSW increase would raise the bar  Ongoing need for more complete data

Issue: Infrastructure Damage

 Increased pavement damage  Bridges  Half of NHS bridges >40 years old   25% of US bridges are deficient “According to FHWA, it would cost $140 billion in 2006 dollars to immediately repair every bridge that is deficient in the country” (AASHTO, 2008)  Ongoing need for more complete data ○ LTBP funded by SAFETEA:LU at 1/4 requested amount (and is “long-term”)

Bridges & SETA

  2000 DOT Study estimated $50-$63 billion bridge costs for NAFTA scenario H.R. 1799 includes HVUT increase, but it’s inadequate  At most, HVUT would generate ≈$500 million per year  Posting violation rate as low as 2.5% results in significant loss in reliability (ASCE, 2005)  If posting not strictly enforced, reliability benefits of posting can almost vanish (ASCE, 2001)

Issue: Underpayment

 Premise: vehicles should pay for the damage attributable to their operations  Federal cost allocation study showed significant heavy truck underpayment

Full Cost Recovery

($/mile)

Full Cost Recovery

($/gallon)

80K, 5-axle v. 97K, 6-axle ($/mile)

80K, 5-axle v. 97K, 6-axle ($/gallon)

Issue: Environment

 Bigger trucks use more fuel, emit more pollutants  Bigger trucks don’t mean fewer trucks  ATRI only refers to fully-loaded trucks  ATRI looks mainly at highway operations  ATRI doesn’t contemplate rail diversion

Bigger Trucks ≠ Fewer Trucks

Rail Diversion

 US DOT  7% loss of car miles  50% loss in contribution  TTX  25% of intermodal and carload traffic  Martland  44% short line merchandise traffic  17% overall short line traffic

Rail Diversion

 Montreal, Maine, & Atlantic Railway  Predominantly served forest products industry  Not profitable, filed for abandonment  San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad  CO now allows110K, 7-axle on state roads   20% of bulk cargo diverted to highways Brownsville & Rio Grande Int’l Railroad  TX allows heavier trucks between Mexican border and Port of Brownsville  Lost nearly all of southbound traffic

SHIPA

(H.R. 1618 / S. 779)  Close permitting loopholes  Extend weight freeze to NHS  Extend LCV freeze to NHS  Freeze trailer length at 53 feet  NO ROLLBACKS  Develop a model fine system

Federal Legislative Situation

 Conflicting stand-alone bills  Unlikely to be addressed outside of reauthorization  Requests to extend pilot projects have been submitted to Appropriations Committees