Separate Truck Tollways Concept Aired On The Hill
OLIVER B. PATTON
WASHINGTON EDITOR
Separate highways for cars and trucks falls into the category of weather, as described by Mark Twain: everyone talks about it but nobody does anything about it.
Most people think separation is a good idea, at least in theory, because it would improve safety and speed up freight movement. Problem is, no one has been able to come up with a practical way to make it work. It's hard enough to get highways repaired, let alone find $2 million per mile to build a new roadway just for trucks.
But now a libertarian think tank, the Reason Public Policy Institute, has come up with a concept for toll truckways that could at least be tested.
It envisions building heavy-duty truck lanes along existing Interstates — possibly in the medians, but at least separated from other traffic by concrete barriers. The lanes with their own exit and entrance ramps would be financed by tolls collected from the trucks that use them. These trucks would not have to pay federal and state fuel taxes for their tollway mileage.
The idea is enthusiastically endorsed by Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska. Young, chairman of the powerful House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, described himself as a long-time supporter of truck-only lanes.
"We have to improve truck traffic," he said. "This is a great way to do it."
Young's interest could propel the idea from concept to testing. He is in a position to push a pilot project through as part of the upcoming reauthorization of the federal highway system. According to former Transportation Secretary Jim Burnley, possible venues for a pilot project might be I-90 across northwest Pennsylvania, or the Florida Turnpike.
Many hurdles, both business and political, have to be cleared before that could happen, however.
On the business side, the concept relies on assumptions that have yet to be proven. According to Robert Poole, Jr., of the Reason Foundation, the combination of safety, productivity and infrastructure gains would outweigh the costs of putting the system together.
Poole suggested that initial financing might come from bonds to be repaid by tolls collected from truckers, but it remains to be seen if there would be enough demand to ensure the revenue.
A key element of the concept is to allow longer and heavier truck combinations on the tollways. Poole suggested that trucking companies would be willing to pay up to half of the savings from the LCVs as tolls, which adds up to a rate of $0.43 to $1.86 per mile. Whether those numbers would bear out or not would have to be tested before any pilot project could proceed.
Probably the most innovative part of the concept is its attempt to balance the political forces that have long clashed over this issue.
For safety groups that have traditionally opposed bigger and heavier trucks, this concept offers a detour.
The National Safety Council endorsed the concept, saying it could improve safety by separating cars and trucks. Steve Izer of Parents Against Tired Truckers said, "It is probably a good idea. Safety would be very beneficial to the public."
Another staunch foe of LCVs, the Coalition Against Bigger Trucks, declined to endorse the idea but did commend Rep. Young for initiating the discussion. CABT's fear is that once truckers get heavier rigs on their own road, they will try to expand onto the public roads.
Silent so far are the railroads, which have lobbied long and successfully against LCVs, in part by arguing that trucks don't pay their fair share of highway costs.
According to former Secretary of Transportation Jim Burnley, the concept offers a way around this objection by having trucks foot the entire bill for the tollways.
At this point the concept targets trucking companies that use LCVs — some of which supported the Reason Foundation's work. It is not yet clear how it might work for regular combinations of the type used by many truckload carriers. But initial reaction from the industry was positive. American Trucking Associations President and CEO William Canary called the proposal "an innovative approach to dealing with the growing traffic congestion that costs our nation's economy more than $78 billion per year."
For the concept to move forward, there have to be four major changes in federal highway policy. The new roads would have to gain right-of-way in Interstate or national network corridors. Federal size and weight restrictions would have to change. The toll ban on Interstate Highways would have to be lifted. And — a deal-buster from the trucking industry's perspective — trucks would have to be exempted from federal and state diesel taxes for tollway miles.
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