00681966

Component

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The impact of changes in highway capacity on truck travel in metropolitan areas is discussed in this appendix. At issue is whether highway capacity improvements induce truck travel and, conversely, whether restricting highway capacity dampens truck travel. The answers are needed to inform the debate about the impact of changes in highway capacity on congestion, air pollution, and energy consumption. In the first section, the author argues that, in the short term, changes in highway capacity are not likely to result in significant changes in truck travel. The three major reasons for this argument are the marginal nature of most changes in highway capacity today, the moderate exposure of trucks to severe congestion, and the overriding influence of low freight transportation costs. Reviewed in the second section is the fragmentary evidence on the specific responses of motor carriers to changes in highway capacity, the primary ones being changes in the time of travel, route, and mode. Structural changes in the economy, freight logistics, and trucking that may make truck travel more sensitive to changes in highway capacity in the future are discussed in the third section. These trends include a shift toward longer and more time-sensitive supply chains and distribution networks that leave trucks exposed to congestion and a countervailing shift toward the use of information technology to improve the productivity and flexibility of freight transportation. In the fourth section research findings are reviewed on the relationship between truck accidents and congestion, which suggest that reducing peak-period congestion may reduce the frequency of common accidents, but will have little effect on the frequency of major truck accidents, which tend to occur during uncongested off-peak periods. The state of truck travel modeling and the data available to transportation planners and engineers to analyze trucking issues are reviewed in the fifth section. In the final section the author's conclusions are summarized and the implications for highway capacity planning, air quality, and energy use are discussed.

00681963

English

pp 310-344

1995

Transportation Research Board Special Report

0309061075

Print

Figures (5) ; References; Tables (2)

Air pollution; Air quality; Computer models; Energy consumption; Highway capacity; Impacts; Metropolitan areas; Traffic congestion; Truck crashes; Trucking

Energy; Freight Transportation; Highways; Motor Carriers; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Vehicles and Equipment; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Jul 26 1995 12:00AM

• EXPANDING METROPOLITAN HIGHWAYS: IMPLICATIONS FOR AIR QUALITY AND ENERGY USE. APPENDIX A: EMISSION AND ENERGY CHARACTERISTICS OF HEAVY-DUTY DIESEL-POWERED TRUCKS AND BUSES
• EXPANDING METROPOLITAN HIGHWAYS: IMPLICATIONS FOR AIR QUALITY AND ENERGY USE. APPENDIX B: REVIEW OF EMPIRICAL STUDIES OF INDUCED TRAFFIC
• EXPANDING METROPOLITAN HIGHWAYS: IMPLICATIONS FOR AIR QUALITY AND ENERGY USE. APPENDIX E: MINORITY STATEMENT OF MICHAEL A. REPLOGLE