Western Governors Back New Pilot Programs to Study Effects of Longer Trailer Combinations

This story appears in the July 12 print edition of Transport Topics.

The Western Governors’ Association has urged Congress to allow interested states to create pilot programs to evaluate the benefits and costs of adding routes for longer combination vehicles.

The resolution, adopted at the group’s annual meeting late last month, said that “vast distances across the West clearly illustrate the need for efficient surface freight movement of goods” that LCVs may be able to supply.

The resolution was sent to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and to the chairmen and ranking minority members of relevant congressional committees.

The governors cited a recent study conducted by the Federal Highway Administration at their request that said increasing the use of LCVs in the 13 western states that already allow them “could reduce heavy truck vehicle miles traveled by 25%.”

Nineteen states are in the governors association, which takes in states from Kansas and Oklahoma west to the Pacific Coast and north and south to the Canadian and Mexican borders. Hawaii and Alaska also are members.

Western states that allow LCVs have different rules on the length. However, the most common LCVs in the trucking industry are:

• The Rocky Mountain Double, typically one 48-foot trailer, plus one 28.5-foot trailer.

• The Turnpike Double, typically two 48-foot trailers.

• The Triple, which is three 28.5-foot trailers.

American Trucking Associations is encouraged by the governors’ resolution and looks forward to working with them and Congress to establish a “robust federal-state program to authorize and monitor the expanded operation of LCVs,” said Darrin Roth, director of highway operations in the policy and regulatory affairs division of ATA.

“We believe that federal law should be reformed to give states significant flexibility to operate safer, cleaner, more efficient trucks on appropriate highways,” he said.

In their resolution, the governors said there are questions surrounding increased LCV use, such as what the infrastructure and enforcement costs would be to the states.

The governors recommended that those questions should be addressed before any LCV pilot programs move forward.

Improving the efficiency of the surface transportation system, the group’s resolution said, “can reduce dependence on foreign oil and [reduce] diesel engine emissions.”