Editorial: Truck-Only Lanes

This Editorial appears in the July 16 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subcribe today.

The nation’s top truck safety official has come down squarely as a supporter of truck-only lanes, while the head of the Federal Highway Administration says they might be a good answer to easing road congestion.

We’re hopeful that the comments by John Hill, head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and Rick Capka, head of FHWA (story, p. 1; click here for Premium Content story), are a sign that the concept of truck-only lanes will at least be given a serious review by the Bush administration.

A truck-only network proposal was unveiled earlier this summer by Patrick Quinn, co-chairman of U.S. Xpress and a member of the national commission Congress established to examine national infrastructure issues.

Hill gave strong support to separating trucks and other vehicles, saying such a system would “dramatically decrease the fatalities related to commercial motor vehicles in this country.”

In a separate interview, Capka said, “We’ve got to solve our congestion problem in a way that will allow us to remain competitive in this growing global marketplace, and it is probably going to require some fairly bold decisions, some bold thinking. . . .”

Capka also made it clear that any such program would carry a hefty price tag, one he said could not be paid with existing funding sources. He said such a system probably would require new tolls or taxes.

He said, “We haven’t tried to put a price tag” on a truck-only network yet, but “I can tell you that it would be very expensive.”

However, at the same time, Capka said that if trucks were moved to exclusive lanes that increased costs to fleets, his department would understand that trucking would expect to see some return on its new investment.

Capka said FHWA might look more favorably on raising truck sizes and weights for vehicles operating on the exclusive network.

It’s heartening to see some serious debate beginning over the options for improving the nation’s transportation infrastructure.

And it’s encouraging to hear federal officials recognizing the importance of the issue, and the need to apply sound business principles to such efforts.