Congestion ‘Increasingly Problematic’ for Trucking, ATA Chairman Says
WASHINGTON — Traffic congestion must be alleviated nationwide, or it will remain a detriment to the trucking industry as demand for transporting freight increases in the coming decades, the chairman of American Trucking Associations said.
“Congestion has become, particularly over the last decade or two, an increasingly problematic thing for our industry in general,” Pat Thomas, ATA chairman and senior vice president of state government affairs for UPS Inc., noted here at the National Press Club.
Thomas cited findings from the American Transportation Research Institute that highway congestion resulted in nearly $50 billion in operational costs for trucking in 2014.
“That’s money we’re spending with nothing to show for,” Thomas stressed. “To put it in perspective, $50 billion in lost productivity is the equivalent of taking about 265,000 truck drivers and having them sit idle for a year and do nothing.”
ATA Chairman Pat Thomas (@UPSPolicy) talking about #trucking's reliance on highways at #InterstateAt60. @ARTBA pic.twitter.com/34hlQ8UAoe — American Trucking (@TRUCKINGdotORG) June 29, 2016
ATA teamed with the American Road and Transportation Builders Association to highlight the Interstate Highway System’s infrastructure concerns on the system’s 60th anniversary. The Eisenhower-era network of roads and bridges needs a large-scale upgrade.
A U.S. Department of Transportation study determined that freight demand will increase quite significantly over the years, adding stress to the highway system. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the country’s overall infrastructure a grade of D+ in 2013. An analysis of National Bridge Inventory data by TRIP, a Washington, D.C.-based group, determined that a significant number of bridges along interstates need repair.
John Lex, a truck driver for Wal-Mart Transportation and an ATA America’s Road Team captain, agreed that alleviating congestion along major freight corridors would boost productivity. Lex and Thomas also touted the potential that truck platooning could have to improve the transportation of goods and safety. Platooning links trucks via wireless communication, GPS satellites, sensors and cameras to have the trucks operate semi-autonomously behind each other.
At the event, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) called on stakeholders to start pressing for long-term highway funding fixes on Capitol Hill. Inhofe warned such fixes will be needed to back the reauthorization of the FAST Act highway law that expires in less than five years. The FAST Act relied partly on non-transportation accounts to support infrastructure projects. Inhofe is chairman of the surface transportation panel in the Senate and a primary author of the FAST Act.
.@jiminhofe addressing #InterstateAt60 about his history with infrastructure and the Interstates. @ARTBA pic.twitter.com/LGggbR1vzZ — American Trucking (@TRUCKINGdotORG) June 29, 2016
