Wed, Feb 10 2010
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Last month, a tractor-trailer plowed into a line of stopped cars on the Will Rogers Turnpike in northeast Oklahoma, killing 10 people. The truck driver, Donald Creed, survived. Authorities are still investigating the accident but have speculated that driver fatigue might have been a cause. Creed, a driver for Associated Wholesale Grocers Inc., had worked 10 hours when the crash occurred June 26. Creed was within the legal limits, although authorities said the long hours and heat of that day might have led to fatigue. There is little hard data as to whether truck-only lanes would improve safety on the roadways and help prevent such crashes. Mullett said, intuitively, one would think it would, although “a lot of the data is assumptive at this point.” Missouri could be the first to put it to the test on a large-scale. A study charged with exploring needed long-term improvements to Interstate 70 recently recommended the state add four truck-only lanes to the stretch between Kansas City and St. Louis as the best option. That proposal calls for construction of two truck-only lanes and two or more general-purpose lanes in each direction along the existing I-70 highway. The truck-only lanes would be reserved for vehicles that include tractor-trailers, delivery trucks and buses, and be separated from the general-purpose lanes with concrete barriers or grassed areas. “We have talked to very few people who don’t like the idea,” said Bob Brendel, the Missouri Department of Transportation’s project manager for the I-70 study. Missouri started weighing the idea several years ago, Brendel said, as it started looking at how to address projected increases in traffic volumes on I-70. First built in the 1950s, the intended lifespan of the highway was about 20 years. The state says the highway needs to be rebuilt. During discussions about how to do that, Brendel said, the public indicated it did not like the growing number of trucks on the highway. That number is projected to jump from 10,000 per day now to 20,000 by 2030. If implemented, the truck-only lanes on I-70 “would be a demonstration of an innovative concept that could have other applications in the United States,” he said. Trucks are involved in 28 percent of the accidents and 40 percent of the fatalities on I-70, according to MoDOT. Costs But the cost of the truck-only option is formidable: Up to $4 billion, according to the study. That compares with a cost of up to $3.5 billion to rebuild and widen I-70 to six lanes, although the truck-only option would mean a total of eight lanes throughout I-70. 
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