Economic, Environmental and Congestion Impacts of Trucking

AbstractIn this paper, two different measures of economic linkage are derived for various segments of the trucking industry and compared against the indicators of two types of negative externalities: congestion and greenhouse gas emissions. Overall, the correlation between economic linkages and the negative externality measures is not very strong, indicating there may be many economically inefficient movement (e.g. transport of low value goods over a long distance) of freight.The analysis seems to point out that mixed freight and construction-related material and equipment are some of the most economically important commodities that are moved by trucks. Although those commodities rank high on the list of negative externalities, to a degree, the burden associated with the movements of those goods is justified from the economic point of view. On the other hand, transportation of goods such as miscellaneous manufactured products, paper and paper products, vehicle and parts, and electronic equipment put undue burden on the road network and emit disproportional amount of CO2 that may not be justified in light of the relatively weak economic importance as measured in this study