Review of State DOTs Policies for Overweight Truck Fees and Relevant Stakeholders’ Perspectives
Publication: Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 22, Issue 3
Abstract
Of all roadway vehicles, trucks inflict the greatest deterioration to pavements and bridges owing to their heavy gross weights and axle loads. States issue permits to trucks beyond legal weight limits and collect fees to compensate for additional damage. To study the extent to which state departments of transportation (DOTs) have allowed passage of overweight loads, the first objective of this paper was to characterize overweight load permit practices among all U.S. states, and the second objective was to identify stakeholders’ perspectives on how to modernize current overweight permit practices. Through an analysis of existing fee policies, this research has characterized the state of the practice in permit fees for overweight loads on public roadways, and evaluated these practices. The subsequent data showed a wide array of policies on overweight permitting, such that a single interstate overweight freight trip might encounter several diverse overweight permitting policies. Although the range of weights permitted with overweight permits can lead to substantial infrastructure damage, the median user-fee for a flat-rate annual overweight permit was only $250 without any limit on maximum allowable number of trips. In this paper, the authors discuss permitting structures, the prevalence of each type of structure in the United States, and the values assigned to permits. In practice, policymakers, rather than engineering and economic studies, have usually set fees. Several interviews were conducted in South Carolina as a case study to assess stakeholders’ perspectives on overweight truck fee policies in the state. South Carolina charged $30 for a single-trip permit and $100 for an annual permit at the time of the study. Overweight policies among all states showed no clear or consistent relationship between the cost of an annual permit and the fee imposed for a single trip. For example, the South Carolina annual permit fee equated to 3.33 times the single-trip permit fee, whereas an Ohio study found that annual permit holders made an average of 24.8 trips with annual permits. Policy makers should evaluate the number of trips and miles that annual-permit holders incur before establishing annual permit fees. A recent study in South Carolina found that damage costs for loads exceeding highway standards were higher than overweight fees covered. Interviews with stakeholders showed that, fundamentally, South Carolina’s trucking stakeholders did not hold common ideas on the objective of overweight permits and fee structures. South Carolina will not likely find fee revisions and increases politically viable until a consensus develops around the objective of overweight permitting and fees. The South Carolina DOT and trucking industry representatives should work together in an ongoing focus group to develop common understanding of issues, consensus around objectives, and provisions for fairness that will address industry concerns. This paper’s findings on South Carolina stakeholders’ perspectives will provide input to other regions in the country that are considering revising overweight trucking fees.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT), which provided funding for this research. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of SCDOT.
References
AASHTO. (2002). “Standard specifications for highway bridges.” Washington, DC.
Adams, T., et al. (2013). “Aligning oversize/overweight fees with agency costs: Critical issues.” Wisconsin Dept. of Transportation, WI.
Ahn, S., Kandala, S., Uzan, J., and El-Basyouny, M. (2011). “Impact of traffic data on the pavement distress predictions using the mechanistic empirical pavement design guide.” Road Mater. Pavement Des., 12(1), 195–216.
Altay, A. K., Arabbo, D. S., Corwin, E. B., Dexter, R. J., and French, C. E. (2003). “Effects of increasing truck weight on steel and prestressed bridges.” Minnesota Dept. of Transportation and Univ. of Minnesota, MN.
ASCE. (2013). “ASCE report card for America’s infrastructure.” 〈http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org〉 (Jun. 10, 2014).
ATA (American Trucking Association). (2012). “Weight: Distance taxes.” 〈http://www.truckline.com/ADVISSUES/TAX/Pages/Weight-DistanceTaxes.aspx〉 (Jan. 31, 2012).
Bowlby, J. M., MacDonald, P., and Gilbert, M. (2001). “Establishing user fees: Theory and practice in Canada.” Government Finance Review, Chicago.
Cambridge Systematics. (2009a). “Implementation plan truck size and weight enforcement technologies.” Federal Highway Administration, Washington, DC.
Cambridge Systematics. (2009b). “Truck size and weight enforcement technologies: State of practice.” Federal Highway Administration, Washington, DC.
Chatti, K., Salama, H., and Mohtar, C. E. (2004). “Effect of heavy trucks with large axle groups on asphalt pavement damage.” Proc., 8th Int. Symp. on Heavy Vehicle Weights and Dimensions, Document Transformation Technologies, South Africa.
Chou, C. J. (1996). “Effect of overloaded heavy vehicles on pavement and bridge design.” Transp. Res. Rec., 1539, 58–65.
Chowdhury, M., Putman, B., Pang, W., Dunning, A., Dey, K., and Chen, L. (2013). “Study of rate of deterioration of bridges and pavements as affected by trucks.”, South Carolina Dept. of Transportation, SC.
Chowdhury, M. A., Garber, N. J., and Li, D. (2000). “Multiobjective methodology for highway safety resource allocation.” J. Infrastruct. Syst., 138–144.
Conway, A., and Walton, C. M. (2004). “Potential application of ITS technologies to improve commercial vehicle operations, enforcement, and monitoring.” Center for Transportation Research, Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX.
Conway, A., and Walton, C. M. (2008). “Analysis and cost-recovery optimization methodology for a fixed-class truck tolling structure.” Transp. Res. Rec., 2066, 90–97.
Dey, K., Chowdhury, M., Pang, W., Putman, B., and Chen, L. (2014). “Estimation of pavement and bridge damage costs caused by overweight trucks.” Transp. Res. Rec., 2411, 62–71.
Dey, K., Chowdhury, M., Wiecek, M., and Dunning, A. (2015). “Infrastructure damage-cost-recovery fee for overweight trucks: Tradeoff analysis framework.” J. Transp. Eng., 04015008.
FHWA (Federal Highway Administration). (1990). “Comprehensive truck size and weight study.” U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Washington, DC.
FHWA (Federal Highway Administration). (2000). “Comprehensive truck size and weight study.” U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Washington, DC.
FHWA (Federal Highway Administration). (2009). “Freight facts and figures 2009.” U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Washington, DC.
FHWA (Federal Highway Administration). (2014a). “Large and growing demand for freight transportation.” 〈http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/freight_analysis/freight_story/large.htm〉 (Jul. 11, 2014).
FHWA (Federal Highway Administration). (2014b). “MAP-21 comprehensive truck size and weight limits study.” Washington, DC, 〈〉 (Jul. 1, 2014).
Graham, D. J., and Glaister, S. (2004). “Road traffic demand elasticity estimates: A review.” Transp. Rev. Transnational Transdisciplinary J., 24(3), 261–274.
Hajek, J. J., Tighe, S. L., and Hutchinson, B. G. (1998). “Allocation of pavement damage due to trucks using a marginal cost method.” Transp. Res. Rec., 1613, 50–56.
Harwood, D. W. (2003). Review of truck characteristics as factors in roadway design, Vol. 505, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.
Hong, F., Prozzi, J. P., and Prozzi, J. A. (2007). “Characterizing truck traffic in the U.S.-Mexico highway trade corridor and the load associated pavement damage.” Center for Transportation Research, Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX.
Jaffer, S. J., and Hansson, C. M. (2009). “Chloride-induced corrosion products of steel in cracked-concrete subjected to different loading conditions.” Cem. Concr. Res., 39(2), 116–125.
J. J. Keller & Associates. (2011). Vehicle sizes & weights manual, WI.
Korkut, M., Ishak, S., and Wolshon, B. (2010). “Freeway truck lane restriction and differential speed limits.” Transp. Res. Rec., 2194, 11–20.
Li, R., Schwartz, C. W., Kim, S., and Ceylan, H. (2012). “Local sensitivity of mechanistic-empirical flexible pavement performance predictions to unbound material property inputs.” Proc., GeoCongress 2012: State of the Art and Practice in Geotechnical Engineering, ASCE, Reston, VA.
Liu, C. (2007). “Analyzing highway damage costs attributed to truck traffic of proposed meat and related industries in southwest Kansas.” M.S. thesis, Univ. of Kansas, KS.
Luskin, D. L., Harrison, R., Walton, C. M., Zhang, Z., and Jamieson, J. L. (2000). “Alternatives to weight tolerance permits.” Federal Highway Administration, Washington, DC.
Luskin, D. M., and Walton, C. M. (2001). “Effects of truck size and weights on highway infrastructures and operations: A synthesis report.” Federal Highway Administration, Washington, DC.
March, J. W. (1998). “Federal highway cost allocation study.” 〈http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/98janfeb/cost.cfm〉 (Jun. 10, 2014).
Moffett, D., and Whitford, R. (1995). “Development of annual permit procedure for overweight trucks on Indiana highways.” Joint Highway Research Project, Purdue Univ., IN.
Newbery, D. M. (1988). “Road damage externalities and road user charges.” Econometrics, 56(2), 295–316.
ODOT (Ohio Department of Transportation). (2009). “Impacts of permitted trucking on Ohio’s transportation system and economy.” OH.
Qiao, Y., Flintsch, G., Dawson, A., and Parry, T. (2013). “Examining effects of climatic factors on flexible pavement performance and service life.” Transp. Res. Rec., 2349, 100–107.
RITA (Research and Innovative Technology Administration). (2006). “Freight in America, research and innovative technology administration (Federal Highway Administration) (FHWA).” 〈http://www.bts.gov/publications/freight_in_america/html/nations_freight.html〉 (Jan. 31, 2012).
RITA (Research and Innovative Technology Administration). (2011). “America’s container ports: Linking markets at home and abroad, research and innovative technology administration, USDOT.” 〈http://www.bts.gov/publications/americas_container_ports/2011/pdf/entire.pdf〉 (Jan. 31, 2012).
Sadeghi, J. M., and Fathali, M. (2007). “Deterioration analysis of flexible pavements under overweight vehicles.” J. Transp. Eng., 625–633.
Salama, H. K., Chatti, K., and Lyles, R. W. (2006). “Effect of heavy multiple axle trucks on flexible pavement damage using in-service pavement performance data.” J. Transp. Eng., 763–770.
Salem, H. M. A. (2008). “Effect of excess axle weights on pavement life.” Emirates J. Eng. Res., 13(1), 21–28.
Small, K., Winston, C., and Evans, C. A. (1989). Road work: A new highway pricing and investment policy, Brookings Institution, Washington, DC.
VTRC (Virginia Transportation Research Council). (2008). “A review of the current overweight permit fee structure in Virginia (HB 1551).” 〈http://www.fairfaxfederation.org/committees/Transportation/081125OverweightPermitFeeStructureReportEdited.pdf〉 (Jun. 10, 2014).
WSDOT (Washington State Department of Transportation). (2001). “Legal load limits, overweight loads and pavements and bridges.” 〈http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/SW/map21tswstudy/index.htm〉 (Jun. 10, 2014).
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 22 • Issue 3 • September 2016
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 12, 2014
Accepted: Nov 24, 2015
Published online: Feb 16, 2016
Discussion open until: Jul 16, 2016
Published in print: Sep 1, 2016
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.