Keep On Truckin’

“Proposal for Truck-Only Lanes Gets Rolling” (June 19) has a lot of merit. Before $4 billion is spent from the gas tax fund there should be an analysis to determine that the current benefits and costs are fairly distributed. It is clear that the original design and construction costs of freeway pavements and structures are substantially higher because of truck traffic than they would be for light vehicles only. Most of the maintenance work we see on the freeways is to repair damage done by trucks.

I doubt very much if contributions to the trust fund from the fuel tax paid by trucks are proportional to the added costs. If not, this amounts to an unfair subsidy of the trucking industry, which in turn is causing heavier traffic on the freeways.

Richard Young

Claremont