Truck Traffic To Grow On Nation’s Roads

By: Raju Chebium

"WASHINGTON -- Think the highways are getting crowded with 18-wheelers? Just you wait.

One million more of the big rigs are expected to ply the nation's highways by 2016, up from 2.7 million operating today, according to the American Trucking Associations.

The group's chief economist, Bob Costello, cited American consumerism as the main reason for the increase in trucks - from 18-wheelers carrying products over thousands of miles across interstates to smaller ones like those delivering FedEx and UPS packages.

As people buy more at Wal-Marts and Targets across America, retailers rely increasingly on trucks to keep their shelves stocked, he said. More trucks are also required to haul freight to and from seaports and across this country's land borders with Mexico and Canada.

"Trucks haul about 70 percent of all freight tonnage in the economy. So as the economy grows, we are going to need to grow," said Costello, whose organization says trucks carried
10.7 billion tons of merchandise last year. "As you and I consume more, and the economy grows, there is going to be a need for more trucks on the road. ... We are going to have to deal with more trucks on the roads as a society."

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