Quantify Bridge and Pavement Consumption Due to Permitted Overweight/Oversized (OW/OS) Vehicles

In 2012, the Rider 36 study indicated that damage caused to bridges and pavements by overweight (OW) vehicles surpassed the revenue collected by permit fees by approximately $200 million annually. This finding was corroborated by a recent 2022 study mandated by House Bill 2223, which quantified this gap at $168 million. Besides the revenue shortage to cover bridge and pavement maintenance and rehabilitation costs due to the damage cause by OW vehicles, the 2022 study also identified additional shortcomings that need to be urgently addressed. These shortcomings include: (1) lack of a methodology for periodically adjusting permit fees to account for changes in traffic patterns and configurations and higher inflation rates; (2) lack of accurate data and process for calculating annual vehicles-miles-travelled (VMT) by each permit type; (3) uncertainty in the identification of routes and number of trips for monthly, quarterly, or annual permits; (4) absence of a method and process to assess the damage caused by OW vehicles to the off-system bridges and highways. The research team will develop, recommend, and provide Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) a well-established and documented step-by-step method to periodically update the permit fee structure.

• Record URL:
  https://library.ctr.utexas.edu/Presto/project=0-7195

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $828584
• Contract Numbers:

  0-7195

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Texas Department of Transportation

  125 E. 11th Street
  Austin, TX  United States  78701-2483
• Managing Organizations:

  Texas Department of Transportation

  125 E. 11th Street
  Austin, TX  United States  78701-2483
• Project Managers:

  Adediwura, Jade

• Performing Organizations:

  Center for Transportation Research

  3925 W. Braker Lane
  Austin, TX  United States  78759

  Texas A&M Transportation Institute

  Texas A&M University System
  3135 TAMU
  College Station, TX  United States  77843-3135

  University of Texas at San Antonio

  One UTSA Circle
  San Antonio, TX  United States  78249
• Principal Investigators:

  Prozzi, Jorge

• Start Date: 20230901
• Expected Completion Date: 20260228
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Fees; Methodology; Oversize loads; Overweight loads; Pavement maintenance; Permits; Rehabilitation; Vehicle miles of travel
• Subject Areas: Finance; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Pavements;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01894848
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Texas Department of Transportation
• Contract Numbers: 0-7195
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Sep 27 2023 4:02PM