NEWS

I-65 detour’s delays near Lafayette costing truckers

John Tuohy
john.tuohy@indystar.com

Though delays on the northbound I-65 detour near Lafayette are down to about an hour, a long closure could add up to serious money for trucking companies, transportation officials said.

“The cost is going to be huge,” said Barbara Hunt, vice president of the Indiana Motor Truck Association. “It adds hours of service for the trucking companies and causes delays for the shippers and receivers.”

The association is surveying transport companies to get an estimate of the cost. It also has been keeping the national organization, the American Trucking Associations, updated on the highway shutdown.

About 290 million tons of freight worth $281 billion is hauled by semitrailer trucks on Indiana highways each year, ranking the state ninth in the nation in the amount of commodities moved, said Michael Hicks, professor of economics and business research at Ball State University.

“Crossroads of America isn’t just a nickname; it’s well-earned,” Hicks said. In fact, Hicks said, more goods move through the state than Indiana generates, which is about $253 billion each year.

More than 16,000 cars and 8,000 trucks a day cross the bridge, which was closed Aug. 4 after inspectors found structural problems that made it unsafe.

Indiana Department of Transportation officials initially said the bridge would reopen in 48 hours but now say they don’t know how long repairs will take.

INDOT has suggested a detour using county and state roads that take motorists off I-65 for 40 miles before they can get back on the highway. In the first couple of days the delays lasted hours, but since then INDOT has made traffic changes on the local roads, and the detour now takes about an hour.

The American Transportation Research Institute estimates that the average trucking company cost is $68.21 per hour, so the bigger companies sending more trucks through Indiana to Northwest Indiana and Chicago will have bigger losses.

Sherman Wood, fleet manager for Fraley & Schilling Inc. in Rushville, said drivers will be hit in the pocketbook.

“They get paid by the mile, so for every minute they aren’t moving, they aren’t getting paid,” Wood said.

If a delay is long enough, a driver could arrive at a store after it closes, which could mean a next-day delivery and a bigger loss, Wood said. Long traffic delays also could force drivers to take themselves off the road because they aren’t allowed, by federal rules, to drive more than 11 hours straight.

Passenger bus services Greyhound and Megabus are telling their customers to expect a half-hour to an hour delay on routes through Lafayette. Amtrak could not say whether the number of riders on the Hoosier State passenger line from Indianapolis to Chicago has increased since the bridge closed.

Kroger spokesman John Elliott said trucks from Indianapolis-area warehouses to 15 Chicago stores are avoiding the INDOT detour and taking I-74 to I-57 in Illinois. The trucks going to five Krogers in Lafayette, West Lafayette and Monticello are taking I-74 to U.S. 231.

He said Kroger drivers have their own routing software that tells them the quickest route and said the delays “have been minimal.”

Hicks said consumers shouldn’t see any effect from additional costs that trucks incur. Suddenly rising gas prices should have a larger impact on the companies, but the biggest cost will be to the state and, ultimately, the taxpayer to repair the detour route, he said.

“Those roads and ramps aren’t designed for that much truck traffic, which accounts for 90 percent of the damage on the roads,” Hicks said. “The cost will be in the tens of millions, and the repairs will probably be needed within two weeks.”

Despite the added cost, transportation companies are used to disruptions, such as weather and construction, and are adept at making changes quickly, said David Holt, vice president for Conexus Indiana, a partnership that promotes manufacturing and logistics in Indiana.

“Delays always add up one way or another, but the companies take them into account and plan for them,” Holt said. “They leave earlier, make fewer stops. Those delays happen all the time.”

Call Star reporter John Tuohy at (317) 444-6418. Follow him on Twitter: @john_tuohy.