OPERATIONAL CONSIDERATIONS RELATING TO LONG TRUCKS IN URBAN AREAS

The Surface Transportation Assistance Act (STAA) of 1982 mandated the operation of large trucks (generally 102 in. wide and 41 ft from kingpin to rear axle) and twin tractor-trailer combinations on most Interstates and many primary highways, and in 1987 the Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act reinforced the trend. Many states have rapidly expanded the highway system for longer vehicles by adding secondary highways, many of which involve urban streets and intersections. Many of the intersections are substandard if compared with the ideal 62-ft wheelbase turning template. However, truck operators and automobile drivers take compensatory measures that allow the longest vehicles to successfully negotiate most of these marginal geometric configurations. Demonstrably, full-scale improvements are unnecessary in many instances in which street widths meet or exceed certain minimum tolerances. However, when intersections are so seriously deficient that the operation of long trucks through them endangers public safety, a rational way to identify them should be available to engineers, local officials, and other decision makers. A methodology is presented that allows decision makers to rationalize this process and defend their judgment.

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1989/1249/1249-002.pdf
• Record URL:
  https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=OPERATIONAL+CONSIDERATIONS+RELATING+TO+LONG+TRUCKS+IN+URBAN+AREAS&author=P.+DeCabooter&author=C.+Solberg&publication_year=1989
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  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0309049717
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1249, Truck Transportation and Safety Issues. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

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• Authors:
  • DeCabooter, Philip H
  • Solberg, Clinton E
• Publication Date: 1989

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 5-15
• Monograph Title: TRUCK TRANSPORTATION AND SAFETY ISSUES
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 1249
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Decision making; Deficiencies; Identification systems; Intersections; Methodology; Operations; Safety; Tractor trailer combinations; Turning radius; Urban areas; Wheel base
• Uncontrolled Terms: Identification; Longer combination vehicles
• Old TRIS Terms: Operational effects
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Design; Highways; Motor Carriers; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors; I21: Planning of Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00495517
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0-309-04971-7
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Jul 31 1990 12:00AM