A Synthesis of Overweight Truck Permitting

For purposes of safety and system preservation, trucking operational characteristics are regulated through legislation and policies. However, special permits are granted for trucks to exceed specified operational restrictions. Thus, the Indiana Department of Transportation seeks not only highway operations policies that retain/attract heavy industry, including those that haul large loads, but also to protect the billions of taxpayer dollars invested in highway infrastructure. As such,...
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For purposes of safety and system preservation, trucking operational characteristics are regulated through legislation and policies. However, special permits are granted for trucks to exceed specified operational restrictions. Thus, the Indiana Department of Transportation seeks not only highway operations policies that retain/attract heavy industry, including those that haul large loads, but also to protect the billions of taxpayer dollars invested in highway infrastructure. As such, INDOT seeks to avoid policies that may lead to premature and accelerated deterioration of assets through excess loading or undue safety hazard through oversize loads. This study was carried out primarily to document the state of practice of truck weight permitting in Indiana vis-à-vis those of its neighboring states. This was done on the basis of the fee amounts, fee structure, and the ease of the permit acquisition process for the permit applicant. This report documents the streams of revenue from the permits issued for extra-legal trucking operations over the recent past: approximately $12 million annually. On the subject of revenue neutrality, the study reports that highway agencies that had switched from a single-trip permit system to an annual flat fee permit system report that they benefited from cost savings due to reduced monitoring efforts of truck trips but had lost significant revenue overall. Using data from a national study, this report quantifies the extent to which each additional payload increases pavement deterioration. The data suggests that having more axles on a truck reduces pavement deterioration and consequently, damage repair cost, but could decrease the revenue to be derived from overweight permitting. The report recommends that a cost allocation study be conducted to update these load-damage relationships, as well as the overweight permit fee structures, to reflect current conditions in Indiana.