EFFECTS OF HEAVY VEHICLES ON ROADS-TRANS-EUROPEAN NORTH-SOUTH MOTORWAY PROJECT (TEM)

As recommended by the Panel of Experts on Transport Operations at a meeting which was held in Warsaw in October 1983, a study on weights and dimensions of goods vehicles has been undertaken. This report has been prepared with assistance from a number of sources: responses to a questionnaire distributed among TEM countries, data and information received from ECE and CMEA, and available technical documentation. The report is in four sections. The first part deals with limits of weights and dimensions and covers: present legal limits in TEM and adjacent (in Europe, Middle-East, Asia and Africa) to TEM countries. Limits recommended by international agencies like ECE and CMEA are covered by the second part of the report. The third part deals with possible influence of changes in maximum gross weights and maximum axle load on the cost of transport and cost of construction and maintenance of roads. The conclusions on the possibility of changes and unification of limits of weithts and dimensions, which are feasible in the future considering economic and technical aspects, constitute the last part of the report. This report concentrates on the impact of heavy goods vehicles on the transportation cost and on the costs of pavement and bridge construction and maintenance; therefore, it does not cover such items as traffic safety or environmental aspects in connection with heavy vehicles. This approach provides a clearer picture of the fundamental problem which has to be confronted when even an introduction of higher total and axle weights is considered. This report does not cover the issue of abnormal loads, since they are not typical features of road traffic and are governed by special terms set up by individual countries. However, brief information on this topic is annexed to the report. The study will help to elaborate more precisely the terms of motorway construction and operation, as well as to establish conditions of transport operation which will result in smoother, more efficient and, at the same time, less costly international traffic movement along the TEM. (Author)

• Corporate Authors:

  United Nations

  Economic Commission for Europe
  Palais des Nations
  CH-1211 Geneva 10,   Switzerland 
• Publication Date: 1985-3

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 41 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Axle load force; Construction; Cooperation; Costs; Heavy vehicles; International; International compacts; Laws; Maintenance management; Size; Size and weight regulations; Standardization; Trucks; Weight
• Uncontrolled Terms: Construction costs; Maintenance costs
• Old TRIS Terms: Truck pavement damage
• Subject Areas: Construction; Finance; Highways; Law; Motor Carriers; Pavements; Society; Vehicles and Equipment; I23: Properties of Road Surfaces;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00395944
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: TEM/CO/OP/2
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Sep 30 1985 12:00AM