Highways On The Hill
Debate on truck-only lanes, gas taxes gets under way.
Oliver B.Patton
Washington Editor
As Congress gears up to reauthorize the law that funds the national highway system, top items on the agenda include a pilot project for truck-only lanes, and a proposed increase in gasoline taxes.
Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, chairman of the powerful House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, wants to test the idea of 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.
Trucking interests like the idea — provided the ground rules make sense.
Roadway Express, for example, is eager to see the concept tested. Company spokesman John Bronneck told transportation officials in Washington, D.C., that the test needs several conditions. He proposed that the route save time or distance — or both — and that it be a high-freight corridor. Further, the test should include more productive trucks — triple trailers instead of doubles, for example — and it should have discounts for high use. The route also must have access to services, such as fuel and rest areas, and it needs to demonstrate improved safety.
And, Bronneck said, the toll rates have to be reasonable. "There must be a relationship to the company's bottom line."
Roadway spends more than $8 million a year on tolls, he said.
The idea of more productive trucks will be a lightning rod in the debate. Railroads and safety groups have traditionally opposed any expansion of longer combination vehicles, and it is not yet clear if they will accept these rigs in truck-only lanes
Pat Quinn, co-chairman of truckload specialist U.S. Xpress Enterprises, likes the concept, but warns that it should not be oversold. Truck-only lanes make sense as a partial solution to highway congestion, but they are not a "silver bullet," he said.
Cars and trucks will continue to drive on the same highways, and something needs to be done to improve car drivers' road-sharing skills. "Truck-only lanes will not solve the total void of driver education when it comes to the facts about sharing the road with big trucks."
Nearly 75% of all accidents involving cars and trucks are triggered by the actions of the car, Quinn said. When trucks leave their exclusive lanes they will have to reenter the regular traffic flow — and that's where the risk is. Truck-only lanes will not solve the problem of vehicles hanging out in blind spots, or cutting too closely in front of trucks, he said.
Both Quinn and Bronneck said it is critical that truck-only lanes be cost-beneficial to truckers — and be voluntary. If the route saves money and is safer, trucks will use it. But trying to make the lanes viable by making them mandatory will just lead to headaches.
"The problem with mandates is that they are very hard to enforce," Bronneck said. "There are too many alternate routes. And all that will happen is that truck traffic will divert from the shortest route to other routes that are not as costly."
Bronneck suggested a number of freight corridors for testing: Buffalo to Cleveland, Minneapolis to Chicago, Chicago to Nashville, Nashville to Dallas, Houston to Atlanta and St. Louis to Denver. Truck traffic along these routes is expected to double by 2020, he said.
Fuel Taxes
Rep. Young also floated the idea of raising federal taxes on gasoline, asking his fellow legislators to support an increase from 18.4 cents per gallon to more than 33 cents by 2009. In short order, his initiative drew a sharp rebuke from the White House Office of Management and Budget, which said it "strongly opposes" the increase.
At issue is how to fund highway spending. Fuel taxes pay the lion's share of highway construction and maintenance costs. But those revenues are running below projections due to the slowdown in the economy, and highway needs are predicted to rise sharply in the coming years.
Travel on the interstate system grew by 38% between 1991 and 2001, a trend that will only continue in the next decade. Travel by all vehicles will grow by 42% by 2020, and heavy truck traffic will grow by 54%, according to The Road Information Program.
The fight over taxes, highway construction and truck-only lanes will play out through the year, as Congress debates the details of the massive six-year highway bill. The current bill expires next October.
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