ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 11, 1996 TAG: 9604110016
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
INTERSTATE 81 in Virginia has become so heavily congested with truck traffic that even the truckers are complaining about how dangerous it is. They're looking for relief - not just construction of additional lanes to accommodate the flow of big rigs, 8,000 to 10,000 a day, but also of more parking spaces along the road where they can pull over and get some shut-eye.
The truckers have a point. But they and their employers also have a responsibility, which lawmakers should enforce. Let us explain.
When I-81 was on the drawing board some 40 years ago, it was designed for truck traffic that in Virginia accounted for only 6 percent of the total. Today, truck traffic is 37 percent, and state transportation researchers say it approaches 50 percent at certain times in certain locations. (We'd bet I-81's tractor-trailer turnpike between Buchanan and Christiansburg is one of them.)
Designers also may have figured that driving the road's 328 scenic miles in Virginia without encountering a traffic light would be so pleasurable, there was no great need for rest stops. In any event, one section of northbound I-81 runs 102 miles, from south of Roanoke to north of Staunton, without a rest area. And for all of I-81's state-built rest areas in Virginia, the total number of parking spaces designated for trucks is fewer than 200. Officials with the Federal Highway Administration say that's a problem.
It's a problem the Virginia Department of Transportation can't ignore. While only 14 percent of all accidents on I-81 involve trucks, 36 percent of the fatal accidents do, according to VDOT data. Fatigue is said to be a factor in 60 percent of all accidents.
So, as part of a $1.8 billion, 20-year program to rebuild and technically upgrade I-81 - in large part to accommodate its overload of roaring truck traffic - VDOT is considering expanding rest stops and developing new waysides for weary truck drivers. That's understandable, as far as it goes.
But it doesn't go nearly far enough. In addition, trucking companies need to establish, and more aggressively enforce, stronger policies assuring that tractor-trailer drivers aren't driving with fatigue. Advanced technology could also help in this regard. Unfortunately, of late, the industry has seemed more preoccupied with lobbying against tougher safety regulations.
What's more, everyone, trucking companies included, needs to recognize that improvements such as additional parking spaces - besides representing a land-gobbling threat to the scenery - also extend the public's subsidization of the trucking business.
In light of increased wear and tear on roads as tractor-trailers get bigger and heavier, truckers aren't paying their fair share of road costs. This point has been confirmed by countless tax-allocation studies, including two by VDOT just since 1992. Such estimates, moreover, usually don't include other considerations like air, water and noise pollution, or the higher risk to the general driving public.
It's not hard to see why federal and state lawmakers are at an impasse when it comes to responsibility for the cost of building and maintaining highways.
Trucking is an essential component of commerce. A vibrant economy depends on highways capable of carrying truck traffic. But the tax structure supporting highway construction and maintenance is too generous to the hauling industry, even with the current shortage of trucker-friendly pit stops. Virginia lawmakers need to get into gear to change this.
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