April 17, 2023 at 10:59 a.m.
Federal bill would allow logging trucks on interstate highways
Lawmakers say move would make logging transportation safer
Current law prohibits those trucks from using the federal interstate, Gallagher says, forcing them to use state and local roads. And, the congressman adds, that increases the risks associated with their trips.
"When logging trucks aren't allowed to use federal highways, they use state and local roads where they encounter school zones, crosswalks, and sharp curves," Gallagher said. "This doesn't just extend the time it takes to get their products from point A to point B but increases the number of accidents involving these trucks."
The lawmaker says the bill makes "a common-sense change" that allows certain trucks to travel on the interstate, thereby reducing carbon emissions, increasing efficiency, and making roads safer.
Golden, the bill's so-author, says there is now an inconsistent application of weight limits on highways across America. That forces logging trucks off of the interstate and onto local roads, increasing collision rates and increasing trip times, he says.
"This bipartisan bill is a commonsense piece of legislation that will reduce collisions, protect the people on our back roads, and ensure that loggers from across the United States can use the safest route possible to transport essential forest products," Golden said.
And the studies say ...
The two lawmakers pointed to a 2018 study that found that only 3.6 percent of logging truck collisions occur on interstate highways. The study looked at data from the federal Fatality Analysis Reporting System between 2011 and 2015.
It found that fatal log truck crashes increased by 41 percent during the time period. Of those crashes, 70 percent involved the log truck and one other vehicle, most often a passenger vehicle.
"Most crashes (91.7 percent) resulted in one fatality, though 7 percent of crashes resulted in two or more fatalities," the report states. "Fatal crashes involving a log truck most often occurred on state highways (46.1 percent) followed by US highways approximately 1/3 of the time. Interstate roadways accounted for only 3.6 percent of crashes."
However, the report's author, Neila Brielle Cole, said that did not necessarily mean that using interstate highways improved safety.
"The infrequency of crashes on interstate roadways could be a result of weight limits on most interstate routes that are lower than state weight limits and may restrict log trucks from traveling along these roads," Cole wrote.
The lawmakers also pointed to a 2018 University of Georgia study that found that 41 percent of logging truck collisions occurred within five miles of the interstate.
"Since 2010, more than half of all logging vehicle accidents have occurred in urban areas," the report stated. "An average of fewer than 5 percent of accidents occurred on interstate highways, but 41 percent of accidents occurred within 8 km (about five miles) of an interstate highway 2013-2016."
But there were other crash factors cited in that Georgia study.
"Logging vehicles involved in accidents were older and in worse mechanical condition compared to other heavy vehicles," the report stated. " ... Overall, timber transportation safety improved between 2006 and 2016, but opportunities exist for further improvement.
Reducing average age of logging vehicles, proactive maintenance, and investing in technology such as onboard cameras and GPS tracking may reduce logging vehicle accidents and improve timber transportation efficiency."
All that said, a January 2023 report from the University of Minnesota, "An Assessment of the Safety and Efficiency of Log Trucks with Increased Weight Limits on Interstate Highways in Minnesota and Wisconsin," did find that allowing logging trucks meeting certain requirements to use interstate highways could improve safety and reduce crashes and fatalities.
The assessment looked at a pilot study in 2010 in Vermont and Maine, conducted to assess the impacts of raising commercial hauling weight limits on interstates.
"A six-month report determined that the change had not caused any major impacts to road conditions and no unexpected damage occurred within the pilot area," the report stated. "Pavement life did show a decrease in the pilot area but truck hauling reductions on secondary highways were likely to offset the long term cost of maintenance."
And while safety data was not thoroughly analyzed in the study due to a short timeframe, reductions of crashes were reported, the University of Minnesota report stated.
The assessment also looked at how use of interstate highways might be beneficial.
"Using a proprietary delivery tracking system and ArcGIS, Conrad (2020) estimated travel distance and travel time on 907 optimal unique interstate routes from 257 harvest sites located within eight wood baskets in the U.S. South, comparing those routes to current routes that avoided interstate highways," the assessment reported. "On average, 39 percent of the routes studied would have benefitted from interstate highway access. The interstate routes would likely have been safer as they encountered 41 percent fewer intersections, 33 percent fewer stop signals and approximately one fewer school zone per route."
While logs are an important commodity in many states, they generally represent a minor percentage of the tonnage of commodities hauled by trucks, the report stated.
"On a per load basis, log trucks tend to have lower fatality rates than other large trucks in 83 percent of the lower 48 states," the assessment reported. "That trend is consistent where there is an exemption to allow state-legal, loaded log trucks access to the interstate highway system."
As such, the assessment concluded, allowing state-legal, loaded log trucks access to federal interstate highways would improve the overall safety and efficiency of timber transportation while reducing pavement damage costs and CO2 emissions in both Minnesota along Interstate 35 and Wisconsin along Interstates 39 (Central Wisconsin) and 41 and 43 (Eastern Wisconsin).
"Reducing the number of routes that incur two-way traffic and traffic control structures, some of which require sharp turns which increase the potential for a rollover will likely result in fewer accidents, injuries and fatalities," the report stated.
As for Wisconsin specifically, the assessment found that there were few recorded hard brakes/stops, hard turns or rapid accelerations from more than 800,000 observations collected by GPS trackers installed on 20 log trucks in two Wisconsin wood baskets.
"Despite the safe conduct already present in log truck deliveries, increased weight limits on interstates will likely provide safer roads for log trucks to travel," the report stated. "Interstate access will also reduce travel times from in-woods sites to mills in many cases."
In addition, the assessment concluded, case studies demonstrate that the alternative interstate route would decrease the number of areas where potential accidents could occur (i.e., intersections, stop signs and lights, towns/cities, school zones) by moving log trucks on those routes away from state, county and local roads to the interstate.
"While the gains in efficiency by increasing interstate weight limits are relatively minor relative to the safety benefits, they are still important," the report stated. "When there was a difference in travel time or distance between an interstate alternative and optimal routes in both Minnesota and Wisconsin, the interstate alternative route would have reduced the average travel time by at least 11.9 percent and distance would be reduced by at least 4 percent in all but Eastern Wisconsin where the optimal distance was -0.2 percent less than the interstate alternative."
Then, too, the assessment concluded, shorter travel distances and avoiding instances where traffic control structures require deceleration, stopping and/or acceleration back up to the speed limit will have an overall effect of reducing fuel consumption as well as greenhouse gas emissions.
Richard Moore is the author of "Dark State" and may be reached at richardd3d.substack.com.
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