Author Description

The Indiana House Enrolled Act 1481 (HEA-1481) requires that INDOT delivers the HEA-1481 study by December 31, 2014. This will precede the adoption of final rules for the issuance, fee structure, and enforcement of permits for overweight divisible loads; a fee structure of permits for loads on extra heavy duty highways; and a fee structure of permits for overweight loads. On December 26, 2013, INDOT adopted the Emergency Rules regarding these items, as required by HEA-1481, effective January 1, 2014. HEA-1481 requires INDOT to use the results of this impact study to inform the setting of the final rules. Three different fee structures were considered: Pre-HEA-1481 fee structures in place prior to HEA-1481; Interim Policy fee structures in place between June 1 and December 31 of 2013; and the Emergency Rules that took effect January 1, 2014 and superseded the above two fee structures. INDOT commissioned this study to evaluate the impacts of overweight divisible load permits on revenue, asset consumption, alternative transportation modes, and Indiana's economic development and economic competitiveness relative to other Midwestern states. The results of the analysis indicate that overall, the overweight commodities divisible permit structure arising from HEA-1481 is not expected to dramatically change the consumption of Indiana's pavement and bridge assets, but it will lead to a slight increase in the revenue collected per permit and a slight decrease in the gap between consumption and revenue. However, the gap between revenue and consumption is still significant: for the pre-HEA-1481 and the Emergency Rule periods, the consumption-revenue gaps were estimated as approximately $33 million and $30 million, respectively. From an operations standpoint of mobility and safety, it was estimated that HEA-1481 will have an ambiguous impact due to the twin but opposing effects of traffic impairment and trips reduction associated with overweight vehicles.Overall, HEA-1481 is expe