GAO Report Cites Societal Costs of Trucking

Trucking passes more costs onto society than do other modes of freight transportation, according to a report from the government’s financial investigative agency.

The Government Accountability Office estimated that trucking costs that are not passed on to consumers are at least six times greater than such costs for freight rail and at least nine times the costs for maritime transportation.

“Most of these costs were external costs imposed on society,” GAO said in the report dated Jan. 26, adding that its estimates were conservative. GAO estimates the costs per million ton miles of freight transportation.

“These costs include private costs; public costs, such as infrastructure maintenance; and external costs, such as congestion, pollution, and accidents,” the report said.

American Trucking Associations “has consistently asked Congress to raise federal user fees in order to finance infrastructure improvement,” Sean McNally, ATA’s vice president of communications, said in response to the report. “But to date, our elected leaders have not taken us up on the invitation.”