Commercial Vehicle Operations Information technologies are streamlining paperwork and reducing congestion.

Commercial buses and tractor-trailer operators face a daunting mound of paperwork to do business. Making that task easier is the mission of Georgia Tech Research Institute senior engineer Bill Youngblood.

photo courtesy Georgia Dept. of Transportation Tractor-trailers are required to stop for weighing on U.S. interstate highways. In Georgia, some carriers can now make just one stop for weighing if they apply for electronic credentialing. This procedure could reduce traffic congestion at weigh stations.

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Youngblood has completed work on an intelligent transportation systems (ITS) project that focused on electronic credentialing for operators of commercial vehicles in 12 eastern states. ITS concepts use current and emerging information technologies to make transportation more efficient and safer, and to minimize impact on the environment.

Electronic credentialing will streamline filing of commercial vehicle paperwork, Youngblood says. The project is good news for operators, particularly in Georgia, where carriers have to file paperwork with five different offices in four government agencies. Some of this can be done by mail or fax, but in many cases, carriers from across the state have to travel inside Atlanta's perimeter highway to conduct this business. Georgia has one of the highest number of originating commercial vehicles in the eastern United States. Thus, new procedures that allow carriers to file paperwork electronically will produce significant savings for both carriers and agencies. Also, it may even reduce tractor-trailer traffic in Atlanta by a few percentage points, Youngblood estimates.

"This was a massive information systems project," Youngblood explains. "We started by gathering all forms used and developing models for the carrier credentialing processes in these states. There are about 600 unique data elements used in these forms. We have another document, about 700 pages, that defines the messages that must be sent back and forth in a standardized electronic version of the credentialing processes. And then we created consistent, uniform forms for use by all agencies in these states."

The project, which was funded by the Federal Highway Administration and the 12 states, was completed in January 1999. Youngblood hopes each state will begin gradual implementation of the system as early as this fall. When the system is fully implemented, carriers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia will be able to file necessary paperwork with their home states via the World Wide Web and/or electronic data interchange (i.e., computers talking to computers). Also under this system, Georgia's "mom-and-pop" operators without computers may be able to go to their county tag office, rather than coming to Atlanta, to file paperwork.

Youngblood is also conducting a separate, but related research project that deals with electronic clearance of commercial vehicle operations (CVO). For the Georgia Department of Transportation, he has modified the Advantage CVO project that began about six years ago on Interstate 75 nationally. It allows enrolled truckers — those having transponders and operating under legal weight and size limits — to stop for weighing only once on a single trip.

Youngblood will add to the system the capability for electronic clearance of enrolled truckers who have a permit to carry overweight or oversized loads. Georgia will begin implementing the modified version of the system this year on all the interstate highways within its borders. Other states are expected to want this capability after it has been proven to work, Youngblood says.

"This system improves efficiency for both the carriers and the weigh stations, as well as minimizes wear and tear on weigh station equipment," Youngblood says. "Also, it will prevent congestion at the weigh stations, where accidents could occur if entering trucks are allowed to back up into the travel lanes. And, of course, it eliminates the acceleration and deceleration that causes air pollution. Trucks can maintain highway speeds rather than having to stop and start up again at each weigh station."

— Jane M. Sanders

For more information, contact Bill Youngblood, Aerospace and Transportation Laboratory, Georgia Tech Research Institute, Atlanta, GA 30332-0844. (Telephone: 770/528-7832) (E-mail: bill.youngblood@gtri.gatech.edu)

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Last updated: May 28, 1999