[Vwdiesel] Per mile costs

[Val Christian]

Forwarded message:
>  I agree that big trucks damage roads more, but the piper is being paid,
> believe me.  thing is, the piper toodles off to the bar at the end of the
...
> 
> While the big trucks do use more fuel, the amount of road damage they cause
> is MUCH more than the amount of fuel that they use.  They use about 4 to 10
> times the fuel of a diesel pickup truck per mile but cause more than 20
> times the road damage.
> 

In 1978, while driving a Diesel Rabbit, I got curious about the wear and 
tear on the road.  I did some rather extensive research on the matter,
and wrote a paper, which unfortunately is not in electronic form.

Salient points:

-A US GAO study found that one truck, loaded at 50,000#, traveling at 55 mph,
caused 9,600 times the wear of one passenger car doing the same speed.

-The wear factor on roads can simplistically be thought of as:

	WearFactor = (weight ** 2)  *  (speed ** 2) * (roadconstructioncoef)

Note that this GAO study was done when common speeds were much lower,
and the max weight of a truck was much less.  A quality road buys you a lot,
but it's inescapable that weight is the biggest factor.  Looking at a 
typical interstate, the cost to run ALL the cars and light vehicles 
over the cost of one day are less than ONE truck, from a road wear 
perspective.

Of course there are other costs and needs associated with road maintenance.
Including median and shoulder maintenance, rest areas, police coverage,
enforcement revenue, etc.

Val