Evaluating the Effects of Heavy Sugarcane Truck Operations on Repair Cost of Low Volume Highways.

Details

• Creators:
  Saber, Aziz ; Roberts, Freddy L. ; Guduguntla, Arun K.
• Corporate Creators:
  Louisiana Tech University. Department of Civil Engineering ; United States. Federal Highway Administration
• Corporate Contributors:
  Louisiana Transportation Research Center
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Pavement performance
  • Pavement maintenance
  • Highway maintenance
  • Live loads
  • Heavy duty trucks
  • Overweight permitted loads
  • bridge damage
  • pavement damage
  • sugarcane trucks
  • overweight permits
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• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA/LA/08-425
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Louisiana
• Corporate Publisher:
  Louisiana Transportation Research Center
• Abstract:
  This study assesses the economic impact of overweight permitted vehicles hauling sugarcane on Louisiana highways. ; The highway routes being used to haul these commodities were identified, and statistically selected samples were used in ; the analysis. Approximately 270 control sections on Louisiana highways carry sugarcane are involved in the transport of ; this commodity. Three different gross vehicle weight (GVW) scenarios were selected for this study including: 80,000 lb., ; 100,000 lb. and 120,000 lb. The maximum current allowable GVW is 80,000 lb. while the maximum 100,000 lb. GVW is ; the permitted load for sugarcane trucks and is currently the highest load level permitted by Louisiana laws. ; The methodology for analyzing the effect of these loads on pavements was taken from the 1986 AASHTO Design Guide ; and involves determining the overlay thickness required to carry traffic from each GVW scenario for the overlay design ; period. Differences in the life of an overlay were calculated for different GVW scenarios and overlay thickness and costs ; were determined for a 20 year analysis period. These costs were developed for samples taken from all the control sections ; included in the study. These net present worth costs from the samples were expanded to represent the cost for all control ; sections carrying sugarcane. ; Results indicate that the damage from each sugarcane truck with a GVW of 100,000 lb. to pavement overlay is at about ; $2,072/year and to bridge fatigue cost is at about $3,500/year. Therefore, the current sugarcane trucks permit fee of $100 ; per year is not adequate and should be increased to recover these costs. The legislature should not consider raising the ; GVW level to 120,000 lb. because the pavement overlay costs increase by two folds (double) and the bridge repair costs ; become very large. Moreover, the magnitude of the damage caused by the 120,000 lb. GVW for a FHWA Type 9 truck ; makes the risk of bridge damage and even bridge failure too significant to ignore. The project staff recommends that the ; legislature keep the GVWs at the current level but increase the permit fees sufficiently to cover the additional pavement ; and bridge costs or change the configuration of the axle on the trailer from a tandem to a triple, effectively changing the ; vehicle from a FHWA Type 9 to a Type 10 vehicle. Under these circumstances, the permit fee can be reduced to zero and ; a tax incentive of $683 can be given to each truck for the conversion. It is recommended to allocate more highway ; funding for handling the extra damage caused by the increase of truck load limits.
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• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  LTRC project no. 03-5P
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/16560/dot_16560_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 332.79 KB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:5a13e3932e8cdd5716437151897f051bec0179068136abf2af43ef40fb59d8b2