Weighty trucks go light on road-repair costs

Big trucks don't pull their weight in paying for Virginia highway maintenance, a state study says.

And, said Gary Allen, the Virginia Department of Transportation's research chief, "Weight matters."

Heavy loads did $211.4 million in damage to the state's roads in 2007, according to Allen, who heads the Virginia Transportation Research Council at the University of Virginia.

That's about 19 percent of the state's annual highway maintenance bill.

But trucks paid only $2.7 million in fees for permits to operate in excess of the state's vehicle weight limits.

"Typical passenger vehicles don't cause damage," said VDOT engineer Anwar S. Ahmad. "Only the trucks cause damage."

VDOT is recommending an increase in overweight-vehicle permit fees, but the department decided not to try to make jumbo trucks pay for all the wear and tear they produce on roads and bridges.

"Stakeholders raised concerns regarding current economic conditions, the competitiveness of Virginia's ports and the difficulty in some industries of avoiding overweight loads," state Transportation Commissioner David S. Ekern told the governor and state legislators.

VDOT has proposed charging overweight trucks $100 for a single-trip permit and $250 for a yearlong, multi-trip permit, as well as ending free permits for some kinds of trucks. Raising the fee will require changing state law.

Because of the repetitive pounding it gives roadways, a heavily loaded tractor-trailer produces 8,000 to 9,000 times as much damage to highways and bridges as a passenger car, Allen said.

Despite that, "this is not a very good time to be talking about raising taxes and fees on people struggling to keep the doors open and keep people employed," said Dale Bennett, executive vice president of the Virginia Trucking Association, which has about 500 member firms.

Vehicles traveling on Virginia highways normally can't carry more than 20,000 pounds on a single axle or 34,000 pounds on a tandem axle, and a given truck's total weight can't be more than 80,000 pounds.

But vehicle owners can buy overload permits from the state to run up to 5 percent over the normal weight limit. During fiscal 2008, the state issued more than 93,000 overweight load permits.

The average fee paid for the 75,500 single-trip permits last year was $22, while the 6,273 annual permits averaged $155 under the current fee schedule.

Last year, the deterioration of Virginia's bridges was traced mainly to the 30,000 vehicles -- operating with permits -- that weighed more than the loads for which bridges are designed, Allen said.

Based on sound engineering principles, Allen said, VDOT estimates that a tractor-trailer weighing 116,000 pounds traveling the 325 miles of Interstate 81 in Virginia and crossing its 58 bridges should pay $142.67 for the single trip.

In another example, Allen said a 100,000 pound tractor-trailer driving 50,000 miles in a year should pay $2,403 for an annual "blanket" permit.

Still, the Trucking Association's Bennett said, the state's study "is based on a lot of assumptions."

The legislature has exempted certain commercial vehicles from overweight permit fees entirely. Last year, the Department of Motor Vehicles issued more than 11,000 free permits.

With some conditions, coal-hauling trucks get permits without charge. So do trucks hauling gravel, sand, crushed stone and liquids produced by gas and oil wells. Concrete haulers get overweight permits free of charge for threeand four-axle vehicles.

Trucks hauling sealed, seagoing cargo containers bound to or from a seaport get free permits. Last year, 1.2 million containers moved through the marine terminals in Hampton Roads, according to Joe Harris with the Virginia Port Authority.

"The Port of Virginia . . . probably would be disproportionately affected," said state Secretary of Transportation Secretary Pierce R. Homer.

"We have to be extremely cautious about unintended consequences," Homer said of changes to the fee system.
Contact Peter Bacqué at (804) 649-6813 or pbacque@timesdispatch.com.