Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/284466
12 COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | APRIL 2014 JOURNAL NEWS S everal trucking companies and trade groups last month joined a band of other business and consumer organizations to form an anti-tolling group that says its mission is to keep existing interstates toll-free. The Alliance for Toll-Free Interstates includes UPS (CCJ Top 250, No. 1), FedEx (No. 2), Old Dominion (No. 12), the American Trucking Associations, all 50 state trucking associations, the Truckload Carriers Association, Quality Transport, H&J Trucking, NATSO and others. ATFI, a lobbying group, said it wants to show both the public and members of government the effects implementing tolls on interstates would have on busi- ness, the economy and consumers alike. The group said it formed in response to three states implementing pilot pro- grams to allow tolls on existing interstate lanes, even though federal law prohibits tolling on existing interstates. "The toll- ing industry is pressuring lawmakers" to change the law and allow tolling on existing lanes, ATFI said. Also, as the next highway bill looms and Congress searches for a solu- tion to keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent, ATFI said it hopes to show tolls as "unreliable, expensive and inefficient" as a mechanism for generating infra- structure funding. Old Dominion representative Bill Cranfill said that while his company sup- ports better highway funding, tolls aren't the route to take. "Tolls are an inefficient method of funding, would increase the cost of moving goods, and would decrease efficiency by pushing interstate traffic onto less safe and slower local roads," Cranfill said. "[The] concept of unrestricted movement is a pillar of the modern economy." Jay Perron, vice president of govern- ment affairs and public policy for the International Franchise Association, said unrestricted commerce "revolutionized" American business and that tolling the existing system would undo those eco- nomic gains. – James Jaillet Text INFO to 205-289-3554 or visit www.ccjdigital.com/info Trucking companies join industry alliance against interstate tolling