“I think it’s safe to say that the trucking industry is paying at least 4 times more taxes than you.”
But it still does not cover the damage trucks do to our roadways. I was stopped on the side of I-680 the other day checking the tie-downs on a small load in my 5x8 utility trailer in an area where the shoulder pavement was so narrow that I had to walk two and from the driver’s seat on the edge of the concrete roadway. I was shocked when an 18 wheeler went by, that the section of the roadway slab I was on jumped perceptibly. I might add that this section of roadway has had some “pavement restoration” recently. So now, i just imagine the when it rains, these individual slabs get water under them, and the truck traffic “pumps the base” causing the slab to ultimately fail. My only point is that all users of the nation’s roadways should pay in proportion to the amount of damage their use causes.
And I am really pi$$ed off here that the State gives EV’s and Hybrids, stickers to allow them free use of HOV lanes and that in the case of the EV’s pay no fuel taxes at all.
So some guy gets a subsidy to buy a Tesla (a luxury vehicle by any standard) and then he gets to drive in on the roadways on electricity on which he pays no road use tax because he doesn’t buy and gasoline where these taxes are imposed. And the real irony is that since most of our electricity comes from burning fossil fuels, these cars are in the net, greater polluters than ordinary IC engined vehicles.
Here in S.E. Michigan the roads are in horrible shape. Here in Macomb county the patching crews are out there daily, just throwing the hot asphalt into the cracks and holes and letting traffic pack it in. A week later they have to be filled in again. Decades ago the patching crews would use a heavy tamper to pack the asphalt but not anymore. (The constant rain, snow, freeze then thaw is the main culprit for destroying our roads)
I firmly believe that the roads here are built to self destruct within 5 to 10 years so as to guarantee future work for the paving companies.
You can't convince me that the materials used on our highways can't be improved in order to prolong their longevity...........