The bi-partisan proposal, or Bill H.R. 4321, was introduced in Congress this month by Reps. Jim Gerlach, a Pennsylvania Republican, and Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat. In their proposal, the lawmakers are advocating for replacing the excise tax on large trucks with a 6.3-cent increase in the federal diesel fuel tax.

In announcing the ATA’s support of the bill, ATA CEO Bill Graves said the proposal would “not only reinforce the ailing Highway Trust Fund, but would provide a boost to U.S. manufacturing and speed adoption of environmentally friendly technologies.”

The CEO went on to say that the proposal provides, “…the kind of pro-growth, deficit-trimming legislation that lawmakers should be looking at as they seek to address our nation’s economic woes.”

The ATA CEO also noted that by cutting the excise tax, the total purchase price for a new truck would decline by about $15,000, helping boost truck sales and truck manufacturing.

Late last month, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced results of a study that demonstrated that by using technology to limit truck speed, accidents would be reduced and lives saved.

The study, commissioned by the FMCSA, was conducted by researchers at the American Transportation Research Institute and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. The resulting report noted that “multiple analyses indicated a profound safety benefit for trucks equipped with an active [speed limiter].”

The researchers said that despite complaints from critics that speed limiting technology for large trucks would make it more dangerous for other vehicles that would be traveling faster, their data clearly showed otherwise.

By limiting the top speed of commercial trucks with electronic governance equipment, researchers say on-highway deaths and crash numbers likely would be substantially reduced.

“Domain research on the potential downside of speed deviations among vehicles that could occur due to the interaction of [speed limiter]-equipped vehicles and those without [speed limiters] seems to be far outweighed by the significant safety benefits associated with a reduction in absolute speed afforded by [speed limiters],” the study said.

The study was hailed by the American Trucking Associations and others, who have been pushing for speed limiters on commercial motor vehicles for years.

The next question is what the FMCSA will do with the results and how long it might take to create legislation that will push for implementation of limiters on all large trucks.

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When President Obama visited UPS’ liquid natural gas (LNG) fueling depot in Las Vegas late in January, he said he favors tax credits for carriers who purchase LNG-fueled trucks.

The President’s visit, just days after his State of the Union Address to the nation, furthered his discussion of using the nation’s own resources he brought up during his speech.

Noting that the use of natural gas would provide for cleaner and less costly energy, and that the nation has nearly 100 years’ worth of natural gas, he added he would favor incentives to help build the LNG fueling infrastructure on major interstates.

As reported in the February issue of Driving to Success, Navistar is already committed to building LNG-fueled trucks, and many other manufacturers say they are developing LNG trucks as well, including Peterbilt, Cummins-Westport, Freightliner and Kenworth.

In our January (2012) newsletter, Driving to Success, we told you about the “Natural Gas Highway” being put in place by Clean Energy Fuels Corp.  The company has unveiled plans for the first 150 locations for liquid natural gas (LNG) fueling stations, and said there should be 70 stations opened by the end of the year in 33 states with the rest opening in 2013.   

On Feb. 1, Clean Energy Fuels Corp. once again made headlines when it announced, along with Navistar Inc., a program to provide natural gas-powered trucks for the same cost as diesel trucks for those customers who commit to purchasing their fuel through Clean Energy.  

Initially, Navistar will roll out medium-duty trucks for the program, but says it will expand the program to heavy-duty trucks by next year.  Navistar said it will build the vehicles while Clean Energy supplies the infrastructure so drivers can fuel them up across the country. 

Without the program, LNG-fueled vehicles typically would cost about $35,000 more than their diesel counterparts.  Once on the road, the LNG vehicles should prove less costly to operate than diesel rigs.

Clean Energy says the LNG fuel will sell for less than diesel – at least 50 cents to 60 less per gallon. LNG today is about $1.50 per gallon lower than diesel or gasoline (depending upon local markets).  Importantly, the use of natural gas fuel reduces costs significantly for vehicle and fleet owners, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions approximately 23% in medium to heavy-duty vehicles.   Also, nearly 100 percent of the LNG used here comes from North America.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration

A report commissioned by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is likely to generate interest among all states with toll roads. The report in Pennsylvania, announced earlier this month, advocates replacing the toll plazas along the 545-mile Pennsylvania Turnpike with an all-electronic toll collection system.  

The traffic toll study, drafted by two transportation consultancies -- Philadelphia-based McCormick Taylor Inc. , and Columbia, S.C.-based Wilber Smith Associates Inc. -- recommends the state replace all of its Turnpike toll plazas with overhead “gantries” to collect tolls while drivers maintain highways speeds.   Drivers with the E-ZPass electronic toll collection system in their vehicle, would have the toll deducted automatically as they passed under the gantry. Drivers without an E-ZPass or other toll collection device, would have their license plates photographed and would be sent a bill via the mail. Drivers would no longer be able to pay tolls with cash.

The hard cost savings of such an implementation would come in large part through the phasing out of human toll collectors, which the report’s authors said would provide savings of about $5 million in the first year and as much as $21 million by the tenth year of the plan’s implementation. Estimates show electronic toll collection costs about 25 cents per transaction, versus $1 per transaction for a human-based interaction. 

Those savings would offset the estimated $319 million to put the all-electronic system in place. 

The report notes other savings by instituting an all-electronic toll collection system would include air quality improvements because drivers would no longer have to idle at toll plazas.  The all-electronic system would also mean toll collections would be faster and easier for everyone.   

If the recommendations from the report’s authors actually takes place, it’s unlikely the change would be implemented in full for at least five years, according to state officials.  The news comes on the heels of a toll hike for non-E-ZPass users earlier this year.  Motorists paying with cash have been assessed an extra 10 percent over their E-ZPass-using counterparts. Other states also offer incentives such as increased cash tolls to incent drivers to use electronic toll-collection devices. In Pennsylvania, the most recent increase for cash customers mean cash customers are now paying about 17 percent more than users with E-ZPass. Because of the hikes, E-ZPass use continues to rise. 

Last year, nearly 61 percent of all tolls collected in Pennsylvania went through E-ZPass. That’s good, but not as good as some of its neighboring states. For instance, New Jersey collects more than 76 percent of tolls on the New Jersey Turnpike through E-ZPass. The more states adopt overhead toll collection system, the less time you, as drivers, will have to spend sitting in traffic jams at toll booths.

If truck tonnage growth is a solid indicator of improvements in the freight industry, then things are definitely looking up.

The American Trucking Associations (ATA) published its seasonally adjusted index, and said truck tonnage was up by 3.6 percent for the first month of this year.  According to ATA, that marks the fourth year in a row of year-over-year growth and is a sign that things may be improving for the freight industry.

Bob Costello, chief economist at the ATA, says manufacturing and retail sales are helping boost industry numbers, and noted that trucking companies and shippers are reporting good numbers for February, as well.