Distribution of Trucks by On-Road Vehicle Weight
May 31, 2010
According to weigh-in-motion data collected by fifteen states, the majority of 5-axle tractor-trailers on the road weigh between 33,000 and 73,000 lbs. Eleven percent of the tractor-trailers had weight recorded around 72,800 lbs and 10% around 68,300 lbs. Another 10% of tractor-trailers were on the lighter end of the scale – around 37,500 lbs. These data show that only a small percent of trucks on the road are near the maximum roadway gross vehicle weight of 80,000 lbs. Thus, most trucks are filling the trailer space to capacity (cubing-out) before they reach the maximum weight limit (weighing-out).
Distribution of Five-Axle Tractor-Trailers by On-Road Vehicle Weight, 2008
Note
Data are from these 15 States: California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington.
Sources
- National Academy of Sciences, Technologies and Approaches to Reducing the Fuel Consumption of Medium and Heavy-Duty Vehicles, prepublication copy, March 2010, p. 5-45.
- Original source: Federal Highway Administration, Vehicle Travel Information System, 2008.