Trucking Technology Likely to Be Affected by Wireless Capacity Crunch, Official Warns

By Seth Clevenger, Staff Reporter

This story appears in the Aug. 27 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

MINNEAPOLIS — Trucking companies that rely on wireless technology to improve their operations soon could feel the effects of a looming “capacity crunch” facing the nation’s wireless carriers, an industry leader told truckers.

“We are fast approaching a serious capacity crunch, and when that happens, the great innovation and service you’ve come to expect could be challenged,” Steve Largent, president of CTIA, a trade group representing the wireless communications industry, said Aug. 13 here.

“We simply need more spectrum, more highways to handle the traffic that we know is coming,” he said.

The former Republican U.S. congressman from Oklahoma urged attendees to contact their elected officials and ask them to open up more spectrum for the wireless industry.

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N.Y. Thruway Toll Increase Could Have 'Damaging Effects,' State Official Says

A proposed 45% increase in truck tolls on the New York State Thruway could have “damaging effects” on consumers and businesses struggling to recover from the recession, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said.

In an analysis of the proposed toll increase released last week, DiNapoli said that instead of increasing truck tolls, the thruway authority should cut costs and find other ways to raise revenue.

Under the proposed toll rate schedule unveiled in May, a five-axle truck now paying $68.95 to run the length of the road would pay almost $100.

Meanwhile, a $5.4 billion plan to build a new Tappan Zee bridge in New York was approved Monday by a New York State transportation board, the Associated Press reported.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a letter of intent to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, after the vote to formally apply for the funds to build the new bridge, according to the governor’s website.

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