Large‐Truck Properties and Highway Design Criteria

Abstract

Substantial increases in truck weights and dimensions have occurred over the past decade and these changes have important implications for the criteria used for the design of various components of highway infrastructure. The paper reviews the findings of a wide range of studies on truck characteristics and the ways in which these characteristics influence the design criteria. The truck properties examined include braking distances, rollover thresholds, traffic capacity impacts, speed profiles on grades, passing sight distances, low‐speed offtracking at intersections, intersection capacity and signal timing, force effects in bridges, and pavement axle‐load equivalencies. The paper concludes that the many design procedures used for infrastructure design should be revised to incorporate this new evidence.