Gov. Janet Napolitano stops by ATA’s “Share the Road/NO Zone” truck at a 2006 event.


 Construction on Loop 303 around the greater Phoenix area in 2011


President George W. Bush signed The Patriot Act into law, granting law enforcement organizations new tools for detecting and stopping terrorist attacks and imposing strict new background check and licensing requirements on hazardous materials haulers. By 2003, trucking was moving over


80 percent of U.S. freight and generating revenues of $525 billion, or about 4.8 percent of gross domestic product, and employing more than 8.6 million people in trucking-related jobs. New truck emissions standards went


into effect in 2004, along with new driver hours of service. The industry faced a growing shortage of long-haul truck drivers as the strengthened economy lured drivers away to other jobs that allowed them to be home at night. By the fourth quarter of 2005, driver turnover had reached 130 percent. Commercial vehicle technology system providers such as Qualcomm, PeopleNet and others began offering new telematics systems to monitor fuel consumption, idling, driver hours, maintenance and other controllable factors. Economic growth in every sector


except housing remained strong through 2006 and the trucking industry added as many trucks as it could find drivers to fill. But by January 2006 housing starts had begun to decline, and trucking services tied to homebuilding and other construction saw their volumes begin to shrink. From 2007-2009, the U.S. experienced the largest


Arizona Trucking Association 2012 Yearbook


percentage declines in construction and manufacturing—both significant users of trucking services—since before WWII. For two years, trucking shed capacity rapidly and, for much of the recession, there was no real driver shortage. Although the recovery has been


slower than any in history since the Great Depression, by December 2010, there were more than 378,000 for-hire motor carriers on file with U.S. DOT, along with more than 620,000 private fleets (compared to just over 20,000 interstate motor carriers in the U.S. prior to deregulation). Just over 90 percent of the fleets operated six or fewer trucks, seven percent operated seven to 20 trucks and only 2.9 percent had fleets of more than 20 trucks. In Arizona, legislators decided in 2000


that the most effective way to attack the “brown cloud” over the Valley would be to mandate CARB diesel for the state. AMTA and its members lobbied to defeat several different attempts to pass CARB diesel legislation. In April 2001, AMTA’s 78 carrier and


41 allied member companies mourned the sudden passing of Executive Vice President Terry Smalley. AMTA President Casey Hughes convened a search committee, which recruited and hired former California Trucking Association Vice President and then-Director of Government Relations for Ryder System Inc., Karen Rasmussen.


After the 2001 attacks, the road over


the Hoover Dam—the only direct route to Las Vegas—was closed to trucks. AMTA became involved in the Highway Watch Program and helped train more than 14,000 drivers over a three-year period. In 2002, the trucking industry


employed more than 110,000 people in Arizona, with a combined annual payroll of more than $2.5 billion. In 2004, AMTA changed its name to


Arizona Trucking Association (ATA) and in May 2007, moved into a new headquarters on 75th Avenue just south of Interstate 10 in Tolleson. In 2009, ATA chartered the Arizona


Transportation Education Foundation, a non-profit charitable subsidiary that develops safety programs and provides college scholarships for children of families associated with the industry. In 2011, ATA became the 27th state


association to pass an anti-indemnification law prohibiting most shippers from making truckers responsible for the shipper’s negligence. In late 2011, ATA began making plans to celebrate its 75th Anniversary in 2012.


In 2012, ATA continued to fight for


truckers’ best interests in the ongoing fight against privatizing and levying tolls on existing roads in Arizona, including proposals to toll Interstate 15 in far northwestern Arizona.


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