1. Trucks: A Quality of Life Issue

By: William M. McCall, P.E., Senior Professional Engineer, Transportation & Land Development Review

Most of us would be a lot more comfortable driving on our streets and highways if there were no trucks.  Trucks are big (huge), ugly, noisy, smelly and intimidating when around you on the highway.  And, we sure don’t like having big trucks driving through our neighborhood (unless they’re bringing us something nice like packages or new furniture).

It’s true the quality of our lives while traveling on the road is lowered by the presence of truck traffic.  But on the other hand, the quality of our lives would take a drastic hit if there were no trucks to stock the store shelves, keep gasoline available to us, and build our homes, businesses and schools.  The list of things that trucks do for us is too long to list.  The cost of everything is affected by the cost of delivery, and anything that effects truck traffic, is ultimately reflected in the price of something else.

Although it seems we have more than our fair share of truck traffic here in Hillsborough County, mostly due to construction, retail, mining and phosphate; that really isn’t the case.  Truck traffic in Hillsborough County varies for different roads, but averages between 6-10 percent of the total traffic.  This is pretty typical for other areas of the country.  However, it is true that truck traffic is increasing here and everywhere else, and will continue to do so. 

Retailers have learned there is no profit in warehousing inventory.  The faster merchandise goes from manufacture to store shelf to your home, the lower the cost and the greater the profit.  With better market analysis and computer control of inventory and shelf stocking, most of the country’s inventory is in trucks on the road, eliminating the need for warehousing.  The manufacture of merchandise, its loading, transport and shelf stocking is timed to be there when it is wanted, not before and not after.  While all this keeps prices down and causes the things we want to be there when we want them, it has also led to increased truck traffic, and will continue to do so indefinitely.  You can expect to see more trucks on the road in the future.

Hillsborough County Truck Route Plan:

In 1992 and 1993, construction of the Veteran’s Expressway led to convoys of trucks hauling dirt for fill material from Pasco County via Gunn Highway to the construction site.  This caused large crowds of Keystone residents to gather in front of the Board of County Commissioners, begging for relief from the trucks.  Citing safety issues, they pleaded for the Commissioners to keep the trucks out of their peaceful neighborhood.  The Commissioners considered prohibiting truck traffic on Gunn Highway, but were warned by the Expressway Authority that re-routing the trucks would add millions to the cost of the Expressway -- additional cost that had not been written into their budget for this project.  The State threatened to recoup the additional cost by withholding State funds from Hillsborough County, or by filing suit against the County.

After months of wrestling with the problem, and many trial and error attempts at a solution, the Board eventually adopted the Hillsborough County Truck Route Plan in November of 1993.  The same plan remains in place with only a few changes.

Although in effect for 17 years, there still exists today a lot of misunderstanding about our Truck Route Plan.  Most expected the existence of the Plan would keep nasty trucks out of their neighborhood, and off of their favorite roads.  It has not.  The plan only regulates “Thru Trucks” that are defined as “Regulated Trucks,” by restricting these trucks to designated truck routes. 

A regulated truck is one with more than two axles, and a thru truck is one that leaves a truck route and drives through a neighborhood to another truck route without making a stop somewhere in between.  In other words, it had no business being there.  This leaves the door open for lots of trucks to drive in your neighborhood and on your favorite road because they are leaving a point of origin and driving to another truck route, or for the purpose of reaching a destination (like your house to drop off a piece of furniture).

Two points to remember regarding truck traffic in Hillsborough County:

• We have to allow trucks to reach every piece of property in the County.
• A truck can drive on any road in the County, even roads with weight restrictions as long as the truck weighs less than the weight limit.

This means a truck can go anywhere in the County, and drive on any road in the County it needs to in order to do its job, so long as it does not cross another truck route along the way.  In the end, we cannot keep a truck from doing its job, as long as it is following the Truck Route Plan.