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Title	Estimating the Cost of Overweight Vehicle Travel on Arizona Highways
Accession No	01025701
Authors	Semmens, John ; Straus, Sandy
Conference Title	Transportation Research Board 85th Annual Meeting
Corp. Authors / Publisher	Transportation Research Board
Publication Date	20060000
Description	12p; References(20); Tables(6)
Media Type	CD-ROM
Languages	English
Abstract	Overweight vehicle enforcement remains a problem in most U.S. states. Most port-of-entry and mobile enforcement crews perceive they are understaffed and/or under funded. There are few ports equipped with cutting edge technology to adequately identify overweight truck violations. Some ports are closed more hours than they are open. Operators of illegally overloaded vehicles often escape penalties. Consequently, there is often little deterrent to illegally overloading vehicles. Billions of dollars are spent each year to replace and repair U.S. highways. Yet, only a tiny fraction of trucks are weighed. It seems likely that the fees and fines collected from overweight vehicles are not commensurate with the actual cost of pavement damage. This research is intended to explore this problem and attempt to estimate a dollar cost figure for pavement damage due to overweight vehicles operating in the State of Arizona. Both the literature and our survey indicate that overweight vehicles likely constitute a substantial share of traffic and account for a significant portion of the pavement wear. The rough estimate produced in this research for the State of Arizona implies that there may be a favorable benefit/cost ratio for enhanced motor carrier enforcement efforts. The same may be true for many other states, as well.
TRT Terms	Benefit cost analysis ; Gross weight ; Law enforcement ; Pavement distress ; Trucks ; Vehicle weight
Geographical Terms	Arizona
Subject Areas	H11 ADMINISTRATION; I10 Economics and administration
Report Number	06-0959
Availability	Transportation Research Board Business Office Order Document: http://trb.org/news/blurb_detail.asp?id=1121
URLs	Order: http://pubsindex.trb.org/orderform.html
Document Source	Source Data: Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2006 Paper #06-0959
TRIS Files	HRIS; BTRIS
Database	TRIS Online

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