Ohio Turnpike Raises Top Speed Despite Trucking’s Objections

This story appears in the Jan. 3 print edition of Transport Topics.

The speed limit for all vehicles traveling on the Ohio Turnpike will rise to 70 mph from 65 mph on April 1, a change that the state’s trucking industry opposes.

Turnpike commissioners voted 4-1 on Dec. 20 for the change, saying the chance to run at 70 mph will lure trucks onto the turnpike and off parallel local roads.

“Time is money for truckers, and we anticipate that the increased speed limit . . . will encourage commercial vehicles off of the congested, rural, two-lane country roads and onto the safer, well-maintained, well-designed Ohio Turnpike,” Joseph Balog, chairman of the commission, said after the vote.

The Ohio Trucking Association, however, filed a letter with the commission, saying that carriers route trucks onto local roads to avoid paying the high tolls and that a higher speed limit raises safety and environmental concerns.

“If they would lower the tolls, they would get the trucks back on the turnpike,” said Larry Davis, president of the Ohio Trucking Association. “They have just run them off the [turnpike] with the increases in the tolls over the last two years.”

Davis said turnpike officials did not consult OTA before approving the higher speed limit. Had officials talked to OTA, they would have learned that many carriers govern their trucks at lower speeds, Davis said.

“Semi tractors run most efficiently at somewhere between 63 and 65 miles per hour,” OTA’s letter said. “For trucks that choose to run higher than 65 miles per hour, their fuel performance will fall, causing more carbon emissions to be released into the air . . . and in turn to the homes and communities surrounding the turnpike.”

American Trucking Associations is in favor of a uniform 65 mph speed limit, and that engine governors be set no higher than 68 mph.

“While we understand that there are some associations and individual trucking companies that have policies regarding the speed at which their commercial vehicles are permitted to travel, we also know that there are commercial vehicle drivers that can and want to travel at 70 mph,” said the commission’s executive director, George Distel.

Tolls were raised in October 2008 when the Turnpike adopted the E-ZPass toll collection system, and abandoned the toll rate schedule based on truck weight.

Under that system, empty trucks paid lower tolls than loaded trucks. But the new rates are based on the number of axles, meaning trucks pay the same rate loaded or empty.

Under the old system, for example, a truck at 80,000 pounds loaded paid $33.50 to run between Indiana and Pennsylvania. On the return trip, if the empty truck weighed only 24,000 pounds, the toll was $24.

Now, loaded or unloaded, a 5-axle truck with an E-ZPass pays $32 to run the length of the road, meaning $64 round trip.

Ohio trucking firms have said the increase caused commercial traffic to drop on the turnpike, which is part of Interstates 80 and 90.

Turnpike officials, however, say any loss in traffic volume was seasonal or attributable to the recession.

Davis said since the tolls went into effect, revenue has shot up at the expense of truckers.

When the period from January to October of 2009 and the same period in 2010 are compared, Davis said, commercial traffic increased only 1.4% and miles run increased only 1.6%.

In contrast, revenues for the same 10 months rose from $82.1 million in 2009 to $105.3 million in 2010, a 28.3% increase, Davis said.

Turnpike spokeswoman Lauren Hakos said the money is being used to carry out much needed upgrades along the turnpike.