In 2006, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) initiated a research plan to assess the potential benefits and challenges associated with the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions by allowing the use of new-generation wide base single (WBS) tires. This would entail increasing the permissible axle weights up to 9000 kg. An experimental investigation was carried out at the Centre for Pavement and Transportation Technology (CPATT) instrumented test sections at the University of Waterloo. The experiment was designed to assess the additional pavement costs, if any, as a result of increasing the allowable axle load on WBS tires up to 9,000 kg. The second part of the study was to identify potential benefits of raising the allowable axle weights from the economic, environmental and societal perspectives. The third area of study focused on assessing the potential impact on safety in terms of vehicle dynamic performance and collisions. The safety analyses was done by computer simulation. The results of these studies indicate that the potential benefits, from societal and trucking industry perspectives would be $80 million assuming 50% uptake at a fuel price of $1.00/litre and 1.5 percent fuel savings per axle. Pavement costs in Ontario could increase up to $34 million annually for the same uptake of WBS tires if the axle load was increased to 9000 kg. For the covering abstract of this conference see ITRD number E220308.
Abstract