Commercial trucks and their affect on road congestion and economic loss in the Fifth District has been address by a recently released report.
An article from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond is focusing on the issues that commercial trucking are bringing to the Fifth District, due to its busy truck transportation industry.
According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, cited by the Richmond Fed, between 1999 and 2004, the national gross output of the truck transportation industry grew nearly 12 percent, from $198.7 billion to $225.1 billion. Data from the Bureau of Truck shipments dominate heavily among all types of shipments originating in the Fifth District and have grown substantially in recent years.
Roads in the Port of Hampton in Norfolk rank as the second largest by container volume on the East Coast, second only to the Port of New York/New Jersey.
The U.S. Department of Transportation reported that 12,769 large trucks were involved in serious crashes in the Fifth District in 2004, 521 of that total involving fatalities.
In Old Dominion University’s annual State of the Region report, costs of traffic congestion for local commuters in the Hampton Roads area were analyzed. Researchers calculated the value of time spent in traffic and the cost of gasoline used while traveling at slower than optimal speed for 2006 was $473 million, or $296 per person, up from the 2003 estimate of $347 million, or $231 per person.
"Right now, we're full speed ahead, but if [road congestion] isn't addressed, it could become a significant issue in attracting distribution centers and other businesses," notes C. Jones Hooks, president and CEO of the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance.
To review Old Dominion University’s report on traffic congestion, click here.
To read the entire article from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, click here.
