Details:

Corporate Creators:
John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.) ; United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee on Transportation
John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.) ; United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee on Transportation Less -
Subject/TRT Terms:
[+]
Axles Benefit Cost Analysis Buses Laws And Legislation Pavement Maintenance Vehicle Weight
Resource Type:
Research Paper
OCLC Number:
57415763
Corporate Publisher:
United States. Federal Transit Administration
NTL Classification:
NTL-PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION-Bus Transportation;NTL-PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION-PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION;
Abstract:
The Senate Report on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2002 U.S. Department of Transportation

(DOT) appropriations bill requested that the Department conduct a study and submit to

Congress a report on the applicability of Federal maximum weight limitations to overthe-

road (OTR) buses (also called motorcoaches) and public transit vehicles.

Since the passage of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982, Federal weight

limits on the Interstate Highway System have been 20,000 lbs for a single axle and

34,000 lbs for a tandem axle (unless the State had higher limits in effect prior to July 1,

1956). Since 1992, there has been a permissive arrangement whereby States are not

required to enforce axle weight limits for intrastate transit buses. A similar arrangement

for over-the-road buses was enacted in February 2003. Both are due to expire in October

2003.

This study is intended to

• Assess current status and trends in bus axle weight

• Estimate the cost of pavement damage caused by buses

• Assess both the technical and economic feasibility of lighter-weight buses

• Evaluate within a benefit-cost framework selected policies that could address

over-limit bus axle weights

• Given the above assessments, make recommendations to Congress about the

applicability of axle weight limits to transit and over-the-road buses.

The benefit-cost evaluation considers operating costs for bus travel, externalities of bus

travel, and the externalities of induced automobile travel resulting from a change in the

price of bus travel. Externalities are those identified in the 1997 Federal Highway Cost

Allocation Study (1), namely, pavement damage, congestion, crash, air pollution and

noise. The evaluation also assumes that all States are currently allowing overweight

buses to operate.


Format:
PDF
Collection(s):
Volpe
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:41ac30533ff6dfdb3068e90f508e13d80cfda8b6443584829607ea59439b2261
Download URL:
https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/9010/dot_9010_DS1.pdf
File Type:

Supporting Files

• No Additional Files

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