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Illinois among states eyeing truck-only traffic lanes

Posted December 03, 2007 10:00 pm

Tim Landis

Illinois is one of four states participating in a federal study of truck-only traffic lanes as a way of improving safety and easing congestion on some of the nation's most heavily traveled interstate highways.

Federal Highway Administration administrator J. Richard Capka said during a visit to Springfield Tuesday the project remains in its formative stages, but that up to $6 million has been set aside to study the feasibility of separating big trucks from other traffic on Interstate 70 in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.

"In order for this to work, it can't be just a short stretch. It would allow for higher speeds and larger rigs, but separate from passenger cars. We'd also have to build pavement that would stand up to larger loads," Capka said.

Capka was in Springfield to tour the MacArthur Boulevard extension construction project, which eventually will link Wabash Avenue to Interstate 72, and to address a state convention of road contractors at the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel and Conference Center.

According to an initial proposal posted on the FWHA Web site, the project would include four dedicated truck lanes, two in each direction, along the 750-mile I-70 corridor from Kansas City, Mo., to the Ohio-West Virginia line.

There would be at least one truck-access interchange in each county.

The agency proposal projects that average daily traffic of 45,000 vehicles a day along the I-70 corridor will increase to 100,000 by 2035, including an average of more than 25,000 heavy trucks per day.

Capka said the next step will be a feasibility study or pilot project that would test the trucks-only concept. But he said paying for the additional lanes obviously would be a major undertaking that would require cooperation from state and local governments along the route, as well as the trucking industry.

"It makes for interesting political decisions," he said.

California, Florida and Georgia have truck-only lanes in some heavily congested areas, and several other states are studying the possibility. But the concept would be new to Illinois.

Mid-West Truckers Association executive vice president Don Schaefer said truckers certainly support truck-only lanes in theory.

"This issue is cost. Do we charge a toll, or do we charge extra fees? How do we assess whoever is going to use that road?" he said. "We know we have to do something or we're going to overwhelm the system we have."

The Springfield-based association represents 2,600 trucking companies in 15 states.

Tim Landis can be reached at (217) 788-1536 or tim.landis@sj-r.com.

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