Updated:
5/11/2009 1:45:00 AM
Study Finds Green Benefits from Using Larger Trucks
By Daniel P. Bearth, Staff Writer
This story appears in the May 11 print edition of Transport Topics.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Larger, heavier trucks would not be just an economic boost, but also a means of cutting annual petroleum usage by billions of gallons and sharply reducing greenhouse gases, a university researcher told a gathering of shippers here.
The analysis estimated diesel fuel consumption would drop by as much as 3 billion gallons and greenhouse gas emissions would fall by 32.6 million tons a year if the United States were to increase the gross vehicle weight ceiling for tractor-trailers to 97,000 pounds and allow twin 53-foot trailer combinations on all interstate highways.
“That is an enormous benefit by anyone’s calculation,” said John Woodrooffe, head of transportation safety analysis at the Transportation Research Institute of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Tractor-trailer rigs consume approximately 30 billion gallons of fuel a year, according to industry estimates.
UMTRI and Woodrooffe were commissioned to study the activity of seven private truck fleets by the National Private Truck Council. The results were released here on May 4 at the group’s annual conference.
Gary Petty, NPTC president, said he hopes the study will provide an “important new dimension” to the political debate over whether to increase federal size-and-weight limits on trucks. Highlighting environmental and safety benefits could join the usual discussion on benefits to business from lower transportation costs.
“This makes a more compelling argument than was the case before,” Petty said. “We feel now there is a window of opportunity for this type of change.”
NPTC and other industry groups, including American Trucking Associations, are expected to make a push to expand use of larger commercial trucks as part of the federal highway funding debate this year.
The Coalition for Transportation Productivity, a group formed in 2008 by companies and trade associations representing shippers of food and agricultural products, called on Congress to act.
“We are asking Congress to address this issue now before America’s highways become even more congested,” John Runyan, senior manager of federal government relations for International Paper and co-chairman of the coalition, said in a statement May 4.
Runyan said allowing six-axle vehicles to carry up to 97,000 pounds on federal highways will save lives, and contribute to economic growth while reducing fuel usage and lowering carbon emissions. The typical heavy-duty rig today carries 80,000 pounds over five axles.
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