ON THE USE OF LIFTABLE AXLES BY HEAVY TRUCKS

Options to increase the gross weight of heavy trucks are being addressed through studies on size and weight in the United States. These options would require more axles per truck. If the truck configuration and equipment are not tightly controlled by regulation, many of these axles would be liftable axles, and the trucks would be similar to those used already in central and Atlantic Canada. Allowing heavy trucks to use liftable axles, where the axle load is controlled by the driver, may lead to axle weight compliance problems and, eventually, result in damage to roads and bridges. However, the use of liftable axles does allow truckers to haul heavy loads efficiently, which benefits shippers and consumers with a low-cost transportation service. The economic impact on trucking in central and Atlantic Canada of four alternative regulatory scenarios having different constraints on the use of liftable axles is examined in this paper. Findings indicate that the cost of even the most severe measure, an outright ban, is relatively small, no more than 1.14% of total industry cost. This is because there are alternative trucks with comparable payload and operating costs, but without liftable axles, to which the freight can be diverted. A few trucking operations could be faced with hauling cost increases as high as 10 to 13%.