billy.pilgrim wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 3:32 pm
I looked back and see it. Of course I stand by that. Of course though I can't back it up.
The numbers are based off of a 60 Minutes segment from 1975 about the transportation cost of our foods.
Their numbers compared the cost to build and maintain roads to carry these 80,000 lb. vehicles and cargo.
While a 4,000 lb vehicle doesn't require much of a roadbed and requires about half the asphalt or concrete, the 80,000 lbs trucks according to 60 Minutes require 6,000 time the cost to build and maintain roadways. We've all seen the ruts in the right lanes caused by the trucks to roads that would require almost no maintenance without them.
I happened to be taking a senior level Building Technology course and a freshman level physics class (that I had been putting off - wish I hadn't, I loved it) at the time I watched the show, I had a fair knowledge of how weight increases affect structural elements.
I still find it strange that I've never seen anything comparing tractor trailers to cars. We have the ability to forensically establish the cost to run these trucks and adjust their permitting accordingly.
This to me is all about this so-called Free Market of ours. If the trucks had to pay their way, there would be fewer trucks and fewer big box stores selling Chinese crap and more mom and pops and locally grown food stuffs.
Small is better.
That's all well and good. However you still haven't provided any evidence to support your claim that EACH tractor trailer costs $6 million in road construction/maintenance.
Now If what you meant was that $6 million is the sum total of ALL the infrastructure costs of tractor-trailers, in the USA, I'd accept that. But it's not what you wrote, AFAIK.
As for Vladdie's repeated assertions that I'm declaring some sort of victory (which you quoted so I'm unable to ignore it), that's just more of his ample supply of BS, in another of his failed attempts to discredit that which he does not comprehend.
And as for road maintenance costs... I'd estimate that all roads everywhere require significant maintenance at least every 10 years, even with no semi traffic on them. Filling potholes, filling in cracks, new surface layer, or a complete rebuild.
And I'd still like to see a link to a published paper that supports the "tractor trailers cost $6 million per tractor trailer to maintain the roads they travel" assertion. I suspect there is no such link. And to cite a 60 minutes segment from over 45 years ago with no transcript isn't very convincing, either. Not saying you're lying, nor am "claiming victory", it's just that $6 million per tractor trailer is a HUGE sum. Is it per year? Life of vehicle?
That said, I do agree that smaller is generally better. Perhaps not in the bedroom, but that's another subject. LOL.
Gotta link to support the $6 million figure?
Oh, and an 80,000 lb tractor trailer weighs 20 times a 4,000 vehicle. Not 6,000 times. Not saying a heavy tractor trailer doesn't require more expensive infrastructure, and perhaps there's a direct link between weight and maintenance cost, but something seems a bit off there. Like by a factor of 300.