2014•Transport Research Arena (TRA) 5th Conference: Transport Solutions from Research to DeploymentEuropean CommissionConference of European Directors of Roads (CEDR)European Road Transport Research Advisory Council (ERTRAC)WATERBORNEᵀᴾEuropean Rail Research Advisory Council (ERRAC)Institut Francais des Sciences et Technologies des Transports, de l'Aménagement et des Réseaux (IFSTTAR)Ministère de l'Écologie, du Développement Durable et de l'ÉnergieRequires access
Possible impacts of increasing maximum truck weight: case Finland
Lasse Nykänen, Heikki Liimatainen
Open publisher page 9 citations
Abstract
As of October 2013 the maximum weight limit of trucks increased up to 76 tonnes, although Finland already differed from most EU countries by using EUrs exemption to allow longer and heavier trucks to operate in national roads. With the increase, the Finnish government hopes to achieve both economic and environmental benefits in the road freight sector. However, at the same time Finnish road infrastructure has been reported to be in poor condition. At EU level, attitudes to heavy trucks have been inconsistent. Mainly in the northern part of Europe, countries prefer large trucks while the rest of Europe avoids them. At the moment, there is lack of data on how far the real benefits are from the estimated potential benefits of heavy trucks. The aim of this paper is to analyse the possible impacts of the new heavier trucks.