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Heavier Truck * New Zealand - Debate rage down under
A debate is raging in New Zealand over the possible introduction of heavier trucks on the country's road
Auckland,NZ -HGV (Ireland) -24 July 2009: ... reported that influential organisations representing engineers and local councils are questioning the economic justification for introducing heavier trucks to the country's roads and bridges... They fear the road user charges system will not recover the full costs of extra damage from trucking firms for loads of 53 tonnes or more, leaving ratepayers and taxpayers to make up the shortfall, according to the New Zealand Herald... Both the Institution of Professional Engineers and Local Government NZ claimed this week that not enough analysis of the costs of allowing heavier loads had been undertaken to demonstrate whether productivity gains would outweigh these... (Photo from fleetowner)
* Inadequate analysis of effects of heavier trucking loads
Auckland,NZ -The NZ Herald, by Tim Davin (Director of public policy at IPENZ - Engineers New Zealand) -Aug 3, 2009: -- Who will bear the cost of heavier vehicles? Where will the costs of heavier vehicles fall, and will they improve New Zealand's productivity?. We really don't know the answers to these questions as the analysis has not been done... Studies to date suggest that there will be a 16 per cent reduction in the number of trips and a 21 per cent reduction in fuel use. This could have a positive effect on New Zealand's gross domestic product of between $250 million and $500 million a year... The proposal will allow heavier vehicles to operate more freely but they will be restricted to specific routes... Road pavements are designed to withstand a certain number of (equivalent) axles over time. The proposed change will significantly shorten the usual 20-30 year lifespan of pavements, but the cost will not be felt for some time... Rising costs will not be solely met through heavy vehicle road-user charges. Currently freight vehicles contribute around 37 per cent of the Government's revenue and fuel excise 63 per cent. Local government pay half the cost of local roads so increased maintenance costs will inevitably fall on petrol users and ratepayers... The proposal to allow these increased loads on specified routes may not be practical. Freight movement relies not only on the state highway network but, at every origin and destination, local roads... Eighty-eight per cent of roads in New Zealand are local roads and a third, unsealed. Many trucks, particularly tankers, which are not currently full, are able to increase their loads without modification... This means there is a real possibility that low-strength and low-volume rural roads and bridges will have to cope with much heavier milk and wine tankers... The issues are much more complex than simply considering economic benefits, reduction in emissions and improvements in safety.The cost of the impact on roads must be assessed. Who will benefit and who will pay has to be evaluated. If we analyse the issues we can address them... We all support improving New Zealand's economic performance and productivity but without a serious analysis it is not possible to conclude that an increase in vehicle weights will contribute to that goal...
Labels: heavier trucks
posted by Unknown @ 6:16 PM
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