Houston Truck Deals is looking at the bottleneck nightmare which is I-45 today:
Interstate 45 is well-known for the slow, snail crawl traffic snarl ups, but the impact of this traffic bottleneck is making its presence felt in the local economy too. This major road artery, bisecting Houston north to south is in serious need of remedial attention and the Texas Department of Transportation has placed it at Number One of Most Congested Road Segments in Texas (for the area between Loop 610 through to Beltway No. 8).
Unfortunately, there is no real solution in sight to the perennial problems for truckers navigating their way through Houston. There has been some relief with the Hardy Toll Road over to the east, but the overall impact on congestion is limited. A congestion relieving concept design has been developed by a civil engineer, Gonzalo Camacho, using a tunnel-and-parkway design for the northern section of the I-45. Officials at the Texas DOT are not optimistic about project commencement anytime soon.
This Houston-centered congestion issue is not isolated. Elsewhere in the country, traffic congestion is causing serious issues for Interstate commerce. Various measures are currently being proposed to help improve trucking industry efficiency, particularly as demand for freight logistical services is expected to double by 2035.
A bi-partisan bill has been reintroduced into Congress in Washington D.C. by Reps. Michaud (D-ME) and from across the political divide, Jean Schmidt (R-OH). Their bill, the Safe Efficient Transportation Act, proposes increasing truck laden weights to reduce the number of truck journeys required to ship freight.
Currently, Interstate commerce is under the jurisdiction of the federal authorities; however the states have the ability to pass laws on weight limits which are solely for commerce within the state. SETA will provide states with the power to set weight limits for Interstate commerce trucks traveling through their own state. Currently, the federal Interstate weight restriction is 80,000 pounds, however under SETA states will be allowed to set a weight limit up to 97,000 pounds.
To put this into perspective, Miller Coors, the brewing company has conducted its own study on the impact of increasing truck weight limits. By increasing truck weight from 80,000 to 97,000 pounds, the company estimates 2,000 fewer truck journeys will be required and one million less truck miles required per week!
SETA proponents point to the pilot study conducted in Maine and Vermont, where truck loads where increased as high as 120,000 pounds and also to the experience in the United Kingdom. In 2001, the UK increased weight limits to 97,000 pounds and experienced a dramatic increase in freight efficiency, reduced environmental emissions and a 35% decline in fatal incidents involving trucks. Traffic congestion remains a problem however, because trucks are not the only vehicles clogging up the road networks.
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