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Implications Of Future Heavier Trucks For Europe's Bridges, Colin C. Caprani, Bernard Enright, Eugene O'Brien

Conference papers

European road freight transport has increased by 38% between 1995 and 2005 and this strong growth trajectory seems likely to continue into the future. To address this growth without compromising the competitativeness of European transport, some countries are contemplating the introduction of longer and heavier trucks, with up to 8 axles and gross weights of up to 60 t. This has the advantage of reducing the number of vehicles for a given volume or mass of freights, reducing labour, fuel and other costs. However, many roads authorities are concerned about the implications for Europe's bridge infrastructure. For bridge loading, it …