Heavy on roads
Page 7
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THE TRANSPORT and Road Research Laboratory has concluded that structural damage to roads is caused almost exclusively by commercial vehicles, writes DAVID WILCOX.
In the report which the Department of Transport was accused of "covering up" because of its allegedly unfavourable conclusions on heavy lorries (see CM last week), TRRL has not in fact discovered anything revolutionary.
Its principal conclusion is that the damaging power of an axle is considered to be related to the fourth power of the axle load. But the report does not state clearly either an adverse or favourable reaction to the heavier EEC lorries, even running on five or six axles. No estimates of the extra cost incurred by their operation on British roads is given.
The TRRL collected its figures from 31 weighbridges installed at 15 different locations throughout the country. They were on motorways and trunkroads, including one on a road leading to a refinery and port. The weighbridges were of the dynamic type and took readings without stopping traffic.
The outstanding observation to come out of these readings was the remarkable increase in damage to the left-hand lanes of the motorways. This is due primarily to greater numbers of heavier vehicles with multi-axles.
More conclusively, the damage to the roads leading to a port and a refinery was even greater.