Research Report KTC-93-28 IMPACTS OF THE EXTENDED-WEIGHT COAL HAUL ROAD SYSTEM (INTERIM REPORT) by Joseph D. Crabtree Research Engineer Jerry G. Pigman Research Engineer John A. Deacon Professor and Kenneth R. Agent Research Engineer Kentucky Transportation Center College of Engineering University of Kentucky Lexington, Kentucky in cooperation with Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Commonwealth of Kentucky and Federal Highway Administration U.S. Department of Transportation The contents of this re2ort reflect the views of the authors, who are responsible for the facts and accuracy of the data presented herein. The contents do not necessarily reflect the official views or policies of the University of Kentucky, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, or the Federal Highway Administration. This report does not constitute a standard, specification, or regulation. October 1993 Technical Report Docu.mentatlon Page 1. Report No. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient'•CotaiOiJ 2. No. lffi}�SoS& ··� T111e Subtitle 5. Report 4. and Data October 1 993 Impacts of the Extended-Weight Coal Haul Road System (Interim Report) 6. Porfonnlng Organization Cede Porfonnlng Organization Report 7. Au1ho�s) B. No. KTC-93'18 J.D. Crabtree, J.G. Pigman, J.A. Deacon, K.R. Agent 28' 9. PorfonningOrganization Address 10. WorkUnR No. Nameand (TRAIS) Kentucky Transportation Center 11. or Grant No. College of Engineering Contract KYHPR-93-151 University of Kentucky Lexington, KY 40506-0043 13. Typo of Report and PeriodCoverad Interim Report 12. SponsoringAgency Nama Address and Kentucky Transportation Cabinet State Office Building 14. Sponsoring Agancy Cede Frankfort, KY 40622 15. SupplamentaryNotas Prepared in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration, US Department of Transportation. Study Title: Impacts of the Extended-Weight Coal Haul Road System 16. Abstract The Extended-WeightCoal Haul Road System, created by Kentucky's Legislature in 1986, consisls of all roadswhich carry over 50,000tons of coal in a caondar year. Truckshauling coal on this system are authorized to oxcoed nonnalweight limils through tho payment an annual doca too. rosoanch study was initiated in of A Ju� of t992 to analyze tho impaclsof tho axtonded-woightsystom. Trus interim report, preparedafter one year of a throe-year study, describes tha ana� pertonnad thus far and presents preliminary findings, recommendations, and a discussion of future work. Ana�sos in this reportare on: historical data on coal production and transportation: datalrom coal dacal applications; interviews of togislators, transportation basad officia�. coal com ny roprosantativos, and coal trucl<ing roprosontativos: newspaper articles; vehiclecl assification data; a pavament costana�s; and acci�nt data. Prolirrinary conclusionspa include: Tho axtandod-woight system has apparontiybean somewhat sucoosslul in accomplishing primary objactivos: to enhancethe 1) lis competitiveness and econorric viability of Kentucky's coal industry and to alin;nata tha perceived need for coal haulers to violate the law in order to becompetitive; 21 Overall accident ratosare no higher on the extended-weight system than on other comparable routes, the fatal accident rata �gnifica�higher on thaextended- but is weight system; The coaklacalfaa structure rosullsin a nat annual in Road Fundrevenue of approximate�$2 rrillion; Forty percent of tharevenue from 3) loss 4) sales allocated to the countios, although lass than tan percent of theextended-weight system is county-maintained; The heavier weights of coakfacal dataadd is 5) appro�mata�$9 million annual� to pavement overlay cosls increase othar highway coslsto an (as yet) undalaminad extant; 6) Road users throughouttruckstha state and are subsidizing movement of Kentucky coal by underwriting the increased costs of maintaining and i�roving the infrastructure. the The following preliminaryrecommendations ware developed: t) Routegeometry and crosssection should be considered when dactdingwhich routoswill beincluded in the extended-weight system; 2) The selectionof routes for the extended-weight system shouldinclude consideration of sys1em connectivity; 3) Countermeasuresshould be evaluated and implemented to alleviate the brakingproblem for heavy approaching signalized intersections; revision to thaallocation of EnergyRecovery 1/lJCks 4) A Road Fund dollars should be considered to mora accurately reflect the compostionof the extended-weight system. 17. Key Words 1 Distribution B. Statamont Coal Pavement Revenue Trucks Safety Unlimited, with approval of the Weight Economics Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Highways Cost 19. of this raport) (of tihlspage) 21. No. of SecurityCloss lt. ( 20.Security Closs rt. Pagas 22. Prico Unclassified Unclassified 94 Form DOT 1700.7 (8-72) Reproduction ol completed page authorized METRIC CONVERSIONFACTORS APPROXIMATE CONVERSIONS TO METRIC UNITS APPROXIMATE CONVERSIONS FROM METRIC UNITS Symbol When You Know Multiply Hy To tind Symbol Symbol When You Know Multiply By To Find ymbol LENGTH LENGTH inches 25.40000 0.03937 inches in. in. millimetres mm mm millimetrea 1 0.30480 3.28084 ft feet metres m m metres feet !ft yd yards 0.91440 metres m m metres 1.09361 yards mi miles 1.60934 kilometres 0.62137 miles lydnti kilometres km km AREA AREA square inches 645.16000 millimetres mm' mm' millimetres 0.00155 sq·uare inches lin.l in.' squared squared I ' metres ft' square feet 0.09290 metres m m' squared 10.76392 square feet squared ' yd' square yards 0.83613 metres squared m' m metres squared 1.19599 square yards ft'd' ac acres 0.40469 hectares ha ha hectares 2.47103 acres I c 0.38610 �� mi2 square miles 2.58999 kilometres km' km' kilometres square miles mil squared squared - FORCE FORCE 4.44822 0.22481 kip pound-force kilonewton kN kN kilonewton pound-force ikip VOLUME VOLUME 29.57353 0.03381 oz 11 oz fluid ounces millilitres ml ml millilitres fluid ounces 11 3.78541 0.26417 gal. gallons litres I I lltres gallons gal. cubic feet 0.02832 35.31448 cubic feet ' l't' metres cubed m' m' metres cubed ft 0.76455 1.30795 yd' cubic yards metres cubed m' m' metres cubed cubic yards yd' PRESSURE PRESSURE psi pound-force 6.89476 kilopascal kPa kPa kilopascal 0.14504 pound-lorce I pSI per square inch per eqt.tare inch MASS MASS oz ounces 28.34952 grams g g grams 0.03527 ounces oz 0.45359 2.20462 lb lb pounds ltilograms kg kg ltilograme pounds T short tons 0.90718 megagrams Mg Mg megagrams 1.10231 short tons T (2000 lb) (2000 !b) TEMPERATURE (e:o:act) TEMPERATURE (exact) O Fabrenh•it Celsius 32 Fahrenheit ! F "F t"1"-32n.8 "C "C Celsius (l.BCJ + temperature temperature temperature temperature I TABLE OF CONTENTS xecuhveEunimary ......... .........................; .... �fr--- Acknowledgements . x1 Introduction . 1 The Coal Industry in Kentucky . 5 History of Coal Transportation . 6 Economics of Coal Transportation . 14 Perceptions . 16 The Population of Coal Trucks . 24 Revenue and Cost Analysis . 30 Accident Analysis . 43 Pavement Condition Analysis . 48 Conclusions . 50 Preliminary Recommendations . 52 Future Work . 53 References . 54 Appendix A: Issues Surrounding the Trucking of Kentucky Coal in the 1990's . 55 Appendix B: Sampling of Newspaper Articles Related to Extended Weight Coal Haul Road System ............... 67 App endix C: Details of Revenue and Cost Analysis fo r Extended Weight Coal Haul Road System ............... 71 11 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Extended-Weight Coal Haul Road System was created (effective April 1, 1987) by the Kentucky State Legislature during the 1986 General Assembly. This system was defined to include those highways which had carried over 50,000 tons of coal during the previous year. Trucks hauling coal on the extended-weight system were authorized to exceed normal weight limits through the payment of an annual decal fe e. The weight limits and the corresponding decal fe es were established as follows: Vehicle Type Weight Limit Decal Fee Single-unit, 3-axle 90,000 lbs $160 Single-unit, 4-axle 100,000 lbs $260 Tractor-semitrailer, 5 or more axles 120,000 lbs $360 A research study was initiated in July of 1992 to analyze the impacts of the Extended-Weight Coal Haul Road System. This interim report, prepared after one year of a three-year study, describes the analyses performed thus far, presents preliminary findings and recommendations, and briefly outlines the work to be accomplished during the remainder of the study. STUDY METHODOLOGY Informationfo rming the basis for this interim report was extracted from a wide variety of sources. Historical data regarding the production and transportation of coal were summarized from the annual report published by the Kentucky Department of Mines and Minerals and from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet's annual report entitled "Kentucky's Official Coal Haul Highway System." A listing of all extended-weight decals issued for license year 1992-93 was obtained, entered into a database, and analyzed. Interviews were conducted of a small sample of legislators, transportation officials, coal company representatives, and coal trucking representatives. Computerized files of newspapers were searched for those articles related to coal transportation and the extended-weight system. Vehicle classification data from coal-haul roads were analyzed to determine if changes were occurring in the truck fleet. A pavement cost analysis was extracted fr om an earlier study to estimate additional pavement overlay costs resulting fr om the extended-weight trucks. Accident data for the extended-weight system were analyzed and