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Ag pushing for heavier semis while others cite safety worries
 


By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent

PEORIA, Ill. — As demand for trucking continues to rise, its capacity is being challenged by insufficient investment in road and bridge capacity, a dearth of truck drivers and declines in rail service – especially for the movement of agricultural products.
A recent study from the Soy Transportation Coalition (STC) espouses raising the current weight limit of 80,000 pounds imposed on semis to 97,000, with the addition of a sixth axle. The research project, Heavier Semis: A Good Idea? posits adding a sixth axle to a 97,000-pound semi will create additional braking capacity so stopping distances will be the same as a five-axle, 80,000-pound truck.
The extra axle will reduce the weight distributed to each tire and reduce wear and tear on the nation’s roads. In addition, allowing six-axle, 97,000-pound semis will result in fewer trucks on the road (a fact bemoaned by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Assoc., representing over-the-road drivers). Further, the study projects 98 fewer motorist fatalities will occur over the next seven years under this approach.
“Demand for trucking is projected to increase, but supply of trucking is not keeping pace,” said Scott Gauslow, STC chair and a soybean farmer from North Dakota. “It is therefore important to explore opportunities to increase trucking capacity without endangering fellow motorists or damaging our roads and bridges.”
The American Soybean Assoc. lauded the study as providing “additional support and justification that increasing trucking capacity can be done with no adverse impact to safety, while providing significant economic benefits.”
Scott Sigman, transportation infrastructure lead for the Illinois Soybean Assoc., said it is supportive of the study and hopes heavier semi weights are approved when Congress enacts a new Transportation Bill, likely later this year. Heavier semis, however, could trigger higher licensing and permitting fees – and until those fees are determined, it will be difficult to tell whether heavier trucks with bigger payloads will result in any savings to those in the transportation chain.
“We want to see if this development would help reduce costs per movement of grain and oilseed, fertilizer and other materials. The details are going to be necessary to be able to better understand how the cost will be affected,” he said. “Researchers will develop models to speculate about potential savings. But public policymakers will ultimately set those fees, and if they set the bar too high it won’t make economic sense to run heavy.”
The Illinois Department of Transportation conducted a study that suggested it would take “several billion dollars” to beef up road infrastructure to accommodate 97,000-pound trucks, according to Sigman. That represents a significant hurdle to passing such legislation in Illinois, which, along with other states, will have an option to permit heavier loads if the concept is included in the federal Transportation Bill.
And with many motorists who are also voters vowing to oppose the concept, many legislators may oppose heavier semis on Illinois highways. “We want to ensure safety – that’s always paramount,” said Sigman.
Public safety trumps any desire by the American Trucking Assoc., ag interests and fleet owners to increase weight limits, according to David W. Ransin, a personal injury lawyer practicing in Springfield, Mo. Specializing in semi accidents, he pays close attention to legislation and studies calling for increased truck weights that “pop up routinely.”
According to Ransin, for every study claiming increased truck weights will not cause additional infrastructure wear or increase the likelihood for traffic accidents, he can point to another that shows highway infrastructure cannot handle the extra weight and motorist fatalities could increase.
“If you increase truck weights, the handling of a (97,000-pound) truck is affected. You’re changing the dynamics,” he said. “There is a lot more mayhem and havoc that can be wrought by bigger and heavier trucks.”
The new study disseminated by the STC represents the “latest effort to create evidence, if you will, in support of the argument. If you read it, it doesn’t say ‘evidence’ supported this conclusion, it says ‘studies.’ There are strong arguments on both side of this issue.”
Ransin concedes recent technological developments featured in newer semi tractors – such as braking and lane-changing applications – have made trucking somewhat safer. But the fact remains, he said, that semi accidents are already three times more likely to result in a fatality, in contrast to four-tired vehicle accidents.
With the U.S. Department of Transportation projecting the demand for trucking to increase from 12.5 billion tons in 2010 to 18.5 billion by 2040, sticking with the status quo on weight limits is not an option, said Mike Steenhoek, STC executive director.
“Motorist safety is more a function of the number of semis on the road and less a function of the weight of individual semis,” he asserted.
“We can respond to the increased demand for trucking by either maintaining the status quo, which will result in a higher density of semis per mile, or entertaining options such as allowing six-axle, 97,000-pound semis.
“The research indicates such an increase in semi weight limits will lower the potential for injuries and fatalities, providing a safer system for fellow motorists,” he said.
The full study can be accessed online at www.soytransportation.org or www. unitedsoybean.org
3/6/2015