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Taxpayers could pay $40M for heavier trucks

Shippers’ revenue would rise; bridge fixes needed.

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By Steve Bennish, Staff Writer Updated 12:19 AM Thursday, February 2, 2012

State and local bridges aren’t ready for pending moves by Congress that could allow heavier trucks on U.S. roads and quickly hit Ohio taxpayers with a $40 million bill, Ohio county engineers said Wednesday.

The U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is scheduled to vote today to allow heavier trucks on the roads — up to 97,000 pounds for single-trailer trucks and 100,000 pounds for double- and triple-trailer trucks, an increase of up to 25 percent. The limit is now 80,000 pounds.

It’s the biggest weight hike in memory, said Montgomery County Engineer Paul Gruner. County engineers would be required to retest all local bridges and post new load limits, racking up the millions in compliance costs, Gruner said.

Meanwhile, trucking firms would cut costs by fielding fewer drivers and trucks, he added.

A group of small-business truckers condemned the legislation, calling it the product of “big business interests.”

“Truck drivers know firsthand that heavier and longer trucks are much harder to maneuver and put additional stress on our already deteriorating highways and bridges,” said Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the 150,000-member Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. He said heavier trucks will require more distance and time to merge onto highways than current on-ramp designs allow. He added that “traffic flow will be interrupted and the resulting speed differentials could increase the chances for collisions.”

“This is an all-out assault on the current weight and length limits that help protect the safety of all drivers, and our roads and bridges,” said Fredrick B. Pausch, the County Engineers Association of Ohio’s executive director.

State bridges have not been adequately maintained, Pausch said, with 22 percent of the nearly 26,000 bridges in the county road system deemed structurally deficient — meaning they need maintenance, repair, rehabilitation or replacement — or functionally obsolete — meaning they do not meet modern federal requirements for clearance and other safety factors.

Gruner said a similar percentage of the 507 bridges maintained by Montgomery County need upgrades.

“We are at a critical juncture in planning our future structural needs,” said Pausch. “Currently, there is not enough money to meet the severe needs of our highway system. How can we take on a new burden due to greater truck weights and sizes?”

Darrin Roth, director of highway operations for the American Trucking Association, said the legislation only applies to federal highways and said states still have the option to restrict heavier trucks.

As written, the bill known as the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act of 2012 would allow the Department of Transportation to study a fee assessment on trucks that should offset additional road and bridge wear. Roth said the higher weight limit should create fuel savings and cut back on overall costs to shippers because fewer trucks would be on the road. Additional truck axles would be required to raise the weight above the current maximum, reducing road wear.

Citing Ohio Revised Code, Roth said that the state already allows trucks hauling coal, farm products, logs, solid waste, minerals, asphalt, concrete, manure, turf, sod, silage and various wood products to operate off the Interstate system at 7.5 percent above legal limits.

The last increase in the federal highway gas tax was in 1993, Pausch said, and the cost to repair and maintain roads and bridges under current conditions exceeds federal funding. Pausch noted that congressional committee members include Ohio Reps. Bob Gibbs, R-Holmes County, and Jean Schmidt, R-Clermont County. A spokesman for Schmidt’s office said a federal study found that raising truck weights could cut road repair expenses because fewer trucks would be on the road.

Last year, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that some of Georgia’s largest companies, including Coca-Cola and Georgia-Pacific, were lobbying state and federal officials to raise weight limits on highways, a move they said would help the economy and the environment. There have been previous attempts to raise the weight limit, all of them unsuccessful, Pausch said.

Bridges in Ohio:

Ohio has 43,932 bridges, more than any other state except Texas.
Ohio ranks fifth in the nation with bridges structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.
Of the 25,805 bridges maintained by county engineers, 6,023, nearly one in four, are closed, restricted to one lane, posted for load reductions or rated structurally deficient.
10,259 bridges maintained by county engineers are 50 years or older.
Darke County has the most bridges with more than a 20-foot span at 419 and Wood County is second with 314.

Source: Ohio County Engineers Association

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