"Chicago Paddling-Fishing" wrote in message
...
In rec.boats.paddle Don Freeman wrote:

: "Mark Sprague" wrote in message
: ...
: Another way to look at it. That guy in the SUV is paying road use taxes
: with every gallon of gasoline that he buys. The bicyclist isn't paying
: his way.
:
: I (as a bicyclist) am not producing the stress on the highways that an
SUV
: (or any other vehicle of significant weight) causes which necessitate
the
: repairs that road use taxes are earmarked for.

Most calculations for stress on highways start at 18k pounds per axle...
SUV's, like most cars and light trucks don't cause much damage except for
slowly rutting ashphalt roads...

That's not the case in the Pavement Management Systems (the acronym drove
the women in my office at the time crazy) that are used to determine
maintenance scheduling on city streets. Though, if I remember correctly the
emphasis was more on the amount of traffic then the weight of the vehicles.
But it doesn't take much extrapolation to assume that bicycles are not going
to produce the damage that the more massive vehicles are going to cause.
Got to admit I've only experience with one city's PMS (god I loved saying
that for some perverse reason) but its a fairly large one, San Mateo CA, so
don't think it is too atypical. Often the trucks of the size you mention
are not even allowed on them other then the arterial routes.

There was some ruckus in the news lately about the larger SUVs such as
Hummers, Expeditions, and Escalades exceeding the allowed weight on some
city streets. Haven't heard much more about it so it was probably just some
BS that the media jumped on during a slow news day.