Bigger trucks will hurt roads, pocketbooks

Georgia roads will need an injection of hundreds of millions of dollars over the next several years, according to a recent report.

But while our public officials struggle to identify infrastructure funding, a perennial policy threat at the federal level could add to our existing problems.

Proponents of double-trailer trucks have been lobbying Congress to include a provision allowing “Double-33s” as part of a larger spending bill. These massive trucks would increase road and bridge damage according to USDOT studies.

And ultimately, taxpayers foot the bill. The most common truck on the road today covers only 80 percent of its cost. Bigger trucks would deepen this subsidy – not to mention diverting freight away from railroads, which pay for their own infrastructure.

It’s a mistake to greenlight “Double-33s.”

CHRISTY SAMMON, STATE DIRECTOR, GO RAIL