House Democrats counter with trucks-only tolls

Except from CT Mirror article.

The House Democratic proposal would be more expensive for trucks than Lamont’s most recent plan to toll trucks and cars. It would mirror the tolls charged trucks in New York, where the EZ-pass rates range from $11.06 for a two-axle truck to $84.52 for a seven-axle vehicle.

The rationale for trucks-only tolls is the greater damage they cause to the highways, Ritter said. “Trucks do 80 percent of the damage, and they pay nothing in Connecticut,” Ritter said. “That has to change.”

It is a figure the trucking industry disputes.

“The claim that trucks do 80 percent of the damage to our roads and bridges is a made-up number,” said Joe Sculley of the Motor Transport Association of Connecticut. “There is no data to support that statement. In fact, the Federal Bridge Formula ensures that a truck cannot inherently damage a road or a bridge. In short, the bridge formula requires that a truck’s gross weight is distributed over a certain number of axles, which must be appropriately spaced, over a specified length of the truck or tractor-trailer combination.”

Read the full article at the CT Mirror website.