00495517

Component

http://onlinepubs.trb.org...trr/1989/1249/1249-002.pdf

https://scholar.google.co...berg&publication_year=1989

The Surface Transportation Assistance Act (STAA) of 1982 mandated the operation of large trucks (generally 102 in. wide and 41 ft from kingpin to rear axle) and twin tractor-trailer combinations on most Interstates and many primary highways, and in 1987 the Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act reinforced the trend. Many states have rapidly expanded the highway system for longer vehicles by adding secondary highways, many of which involve urban streets and intersections. Many of the intersections are substandard if compared with the ideal 62-ft wheelbase turning template. However, truck operators and automobile drivers take compensatory measures that allow the longest vehicles to successfully negotiate most of these marginal geometric configurations. Demonstrably, full-scale improvements are unnecessary in many instances in which street widths meet or exceed certain minimum tolerances. However, when intersections are so seriously deficient that the operation of long trucks through them endangers public safety, a rational way to identify them should be available to engineers, local officials, and other decision makers. A methodology is presented that allows decision makers to rationalize this process and defend their judgment.

This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1249, Truck Transportation and Safety Issues. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved

00620474

p. 5-15

1989

Transportation Research Record

0-309-04971-7

Figures (28) ; References (3) ; Tables (2)

Decision making; Deficiencies; Identification systems; Intersections; Methodology; Operations; Safety; Tractor trailer combinations; Turning radius; Urban areas; Wheel base

Identification; Longer combination vehicles

Administration and Management; Design; Highways; Motor Carriers; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors; I21: Planning of Transport Infrastructure

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Jul 31 1990 12:00AM

• COMPARISON OF ACCIDENT RATES FOR TWO TRUCK CONFIGURATIONS (WITH DISCUSSION AND CLOSURE)
• IMPACTS OF THE TRUCKING INDUSTRY DEREGULATION ON SHIPPERS' PREFERENCES
• METHODOLOGY FOR EVALUATION OF TRUCK WEIGHT REGULATION ENFORCEMENT PROGRAMS
• USE OF TIME SERIES ANALYSIS TO FORECAST TRUCK ACCIDENTS