United States Department of Transportation
i
Impact of HB-1481 on Indiana's highway revenue generation, asset degradation, modal distribution, and economic development and competitiveness.
-
2014-12-01
[PDF-29.55 MB]
Details:
-
Creators:
-
Corporate Creators:
-
Corporate Contributors:
-
Subject/TRT Terms:
-
Publication/ Report Number:
-
Resource Type:
-
Geographical Coverage:
-
Corporate Publisher:
-
Abstract:The Indiana House Enrolled Act 1481 (HEA‐1481) requires that the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) delivers the HEA‐1481 study by
December 31, 2014. This will precede the adoption of final rules for the issuance, fee structure, and enforcement of permits for overweight
divisible loads; a fee structure of permits for loads on extra heavy duty highways; and a fee structure of permits for overweight loads. On
December 26, 2013, INDOT adopted the Emergency Rules regarding these items, as required by HEA‐1481, which became effective January 1,
2014. HEA‐1481 requires INDOT to use the results of this impact study to inform the setting of the final rules. Three different fee structures were
considered: Pre‐HEA‐1481 fee structures that were in place prior to HEA‐1481; Interim Policy fee structures that were in place between June 1,
2013 and December 31, 2013; and the Emergency Rules that took effect January 1, 2014 and superseded the above two fee structures. INDOT
commissioned this study to evaluate the impacts of overweight divisible load permits on revenue, asset consumption, alternative transportation
modes, and Indiana’s economic development and economic competitiveness relative to other Midwestern states.
The results of the analysis indicate that overall, the overweight commodities divisible permit structure arising from HEA‐1481 is not expected
to dramatically change the consumption of Indiana’s pavement and bridge assets, but it will lead to a slight increase in the revenue collected per
permit and a slight decrease in the gap between consumption and revenue. However, the gap between revenue and consumption is still
significant: for the pre‐HEA‐1481 and the Emergency Rule periods, the consumption‐revenue gaps were estimated as approximately $33 million
and $30 million, respectively. From an operations standpoint of mobility and safety, it was estimated that HEA‐1481 will have an ambiguous
impact due to the twin but opposing effects of traffic impairment and trips reduction associated with overweight vehicles; the net effect depends
on the prevailing characteristics of the traffic stream and extent of overweight loading. Also, using FHWA’s Intermodal Transportation and
Inventory Cost (ITIC) analysis tool, it was found that HEA‐1481 will lead to little or no shift in the modal share across truck and rail but a significant
shift across the specific configurations of vehicles used in trucking operations. HEA‐1481 is expected to increase the economic competitiveness of
trucking operations in Indiana compared to the pre‐HEA 1481 era, and in some cases, compared to other Midwestern states. Finally, HEA‐1481 is
expected to increase economic development at least in the long term by reducing the cost of transporting commodities by highways, an essential
expenditure item of many major businesses in Indiana.
Overall, HEA‐1481 is expected to help protect the highway bridge and pavement infrastructure by providing incentives for less‐damaging
loading behavior, reduce the gap between revenue and consumption, increase the economic competitiveness of trucking operations relative to
other states, and provide a more industry‐friendly environment for increased economic development in the state of Indiana.
-
Format:
-
Funding:
-
Collection(s):
-
Main Document Checksum:
-
Download URL:
-
File Type:
