Ironic Trade-Of f

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When Congress passed the nickel gas tax, designed to save the nation's crumbling highway system, it offered a trade-off to the depressed trucking industry. To be sure, truckers will be paying more not only for fuel but also for user fees, which will balloon from $210 a year to $1,900 (in 1987) for the biggest rigs. But in return they will now be allowed to drive outsize double-trailer trucks on the full length of the interstate highway system and on most of the nation's 230,000 miles of "primary" federal and state roads. Previously, Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois barred the big rigs entirely, creating a mid-America roadblock.

The trade-off is ironic, since the double trailers—more than 75 ft. long, 102 in. wide and up to 80,000 Ibs. in weight—are highway crushers. The Georgia transportation department estimates that one fully loaded big rig does as much damage as 4,550 cars. Moreover, federal studies show that the large trucks are not as safe as standard models because, empty or partly loaded, their wheels are more likely to lose contact with the road when brakes are applied.