This study quantifies state highway damage on the basis of the impacts of overweight vehicles. Each year, millions of dollars of damage associated with life span, design, and maintenance of state highways and structures are attributed to vehicles that exceed state weight limits. Our best guess is that overweight vehicles impose somewhere between $12 million and $53 million per year in uncompensated damages to Arizona roadways. Arizona currently budgets about $5.8 million per year for mobile enforcement efforts aimed at, among other things, penalizing and deterring overweight vehicle operations. If a doubling of the mobile enforcement budget were 50% effective toward the objective of eliminating illegally overweight vehicles from Arizona roadways, the savings from avoided pavement damage would range from $6 million to $27 million per year. At the lower figure, the expansion of mobile enforcement would be a little better than a “break-even” proposition. The savings from avoided pavement damage would slightly exceed the cost of the program. Any safety gains from detecting and taking out-of-service vehicles with safety deficiencies would come on top of the pavement damage avoidance gains. At the higher figure, the expansion of mobile enforcement would have about a four- or five-toone benefit/cost ratio. That is, for every dollar invested in motor carrier enforcement efforts, there would be $4.50 in pavement damage avoided. Furthermore, we introduce a new truck lane design that may ultimately improve safety and optimize pavement usage in Arizona and other states. (Author/publisher)
Abstract