Trucking Needs Better U.S. Roads Now to Continue Rolling

By David Field, Editor, Fleet News Daily: A recent report from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) underscores what the nation’s truckers have known for some time: more national weight must be dedicated to freight.

Currently, the nation’s transportation system handles more than 50 million tons of freight each day, with over two-thirds of that carried by trucks.

The volume is only going up and that means greater stress on an already overloaded system.

What’s more, freight volumes are expected to continue to increase across all modes in the coming years, challenging our transportation system even more.

Based on projections from the FHWA Freight Analysis Framework, “combined tonnage for all freight modes is projected to increase by 1.4 percent per year over the next 30 years to 27.4 billion in 2040.” But there’s more: The weight of shipments carried by trucks is projected to increase from 12.5 billion tons to 18.5 billion tons annually.

The need is urgent.

Trucking handles a very large volume (87 percent) of high-value, time-sensitive goods as well as nearly three-fourths (71 percent) of lower-value bulk tonnage, including agricultural products, gasoline and municipal solid waste.

The Department of Transportation’s Conditions and Performance report, based on 2010 data, estimates “all levels of government would need to spend between $123.7 billion and $145.9 billion per year to both maintain and improve the condition of roads and bridges alone.

So let’s get it done.

In order for the United States to grow, prosper and compete in the 21st century, a modern transportation system with a well developed highway infrastructure to support our trucks is an absolutely necessity.

Category: Featured, General Update, Management