NCHRP Research Report 1115: Transporting Freight in Emergencies: A Guide on Special Permits and Weight Requirements provides a guide to state departments of transportation (DOTs) to consider options to better anticipate and respond to state and federal emergencies, specifically related to the movement of overweight commercial vehicles carrying emergency commodities within a state or across a region. The guide documents (1) current legal requirements on emergency declarations and options for state DOTs to address emergency movement of commodities, (2) options to prepare for emergency overweight special permitting, and (3) tools and resources. The guide identifies the challenge of navigating the overlays of federal, state, and local laws and regulations on truck movements during emergencies. The guide will be of interest to elected officials and permitters at state DOTs and other public agencies.
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Commercial vehicles delivering consumer goods must observe the applicable size and weight requirements and seek permits for oversize loads. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, significant changes accelerated in commerce, adding pressure for the freight community to deliver goods directly to consumers in an environment of uncertainty where consumers were buying in bulk, exhausting supplies of common and necessary goods. On top of consumer disruptions to the freight system, truckers urgently had to make deliveries of much needed pandemic-related supplies. Several actions were needed to facilitate the continuity of freight flows. For example, the states increased allowable weight limits for vital health supplies, food deliveries, and other emergency commodities transported on commercial vehicles.
Under NCHRP Project 23-13(05), “Regulatory Relief of Commercial Vehicle Weight Requirements for Emergency Transportation of Critical Commodities,” the Texas A&M Transportation Institute was asked to develop a practitioners’ guide for DOTs to (1) achieve consistent definitions for emergencies and emergency commodities; (2) identify successful practices, procedures, and processes for increasing weight limits during emergencies, including coordination and harmonization with neighboring jurisdictions; and (3) develop a decision framework that considers different emergency scenarios that are linked with successful practices, procedures, and processes.
In addition to the guide, published as NCHRP Research Report 1115, the following deliverables can be found on the National Academies Press (https://doi.org/10.17226/27898) web page for NCHRP Research Report 1115 under “Resources.”
- A research results presentation [“TRB Webinar NCHRP 23-13(05): Regulatory Relief of Commercial Vehicle Weight Requirements for Emergency Transportation of Critical Commodities”]; and
- An implementation memo (“Regulatory Relief of Commercial Vehicle Weight Requirements for Emergency Transportation of Critical Commodities: Implementation of Research Findings and Products Technical Memorandum”).
The conduct of research report, which is the research agency’s report documenting the development of the guide and the entire research effort, is available on the National Academies Press (https://doi.org/10.17226/27899) web page for NCHRP Web-Only Document 397: Developing a Guide for Transporting Freight in Emergencies: Conduct of Research.
