Milan Supply Chain Solutions’ John Ross pushes infrastructure improvements in second half of TTA chairmanship
ON THE ROAD AGAIN…
BY JIM HARRIS Contributing Writer
John Ross laughs when he thinks about
being halfway through his two-year term as chairman of the Tennessee Trucking Association. The group had its annual convention in September, where Ross gave his state of the association address, and he remarked that he compared it to halftime of a football game. “I’ve got a little bit of a better un-
derstanding after a year, with my feet on the ground with what’s going on with the association and things like that,” he said. “I compared it to being at halftime of a game, and somebody said, ‘Well, make sure your second half isn’t like Tennessee football’s second half.” As most Tennesseans know, that was a
reference to the Volunteers having trouble in September and early October holding on to double-digit leads late in three games and losing. John Ross appears to have figured out
how to have a big second half in his term as chairman, though there is plenty to address. Ross, whose family started Milan Express in 1969, when he was 1 year old, sees roadway funding as the huge problem
facing not only the industry, but everyone. “Right now, overall, business is good in
our industry,” he said. “It’s a good time to be in trucking. We had some really, really lean years starting in 2008 and 2009 … before it started to turn it around in late 2010, and we’ve had a couple of good years now.” With the economic turnaround, Ross
said, the association has been trying to get the membership and the trucking industry as a whole to encourage the Tennessee leg- islature, as well as the federal government, to become active on roadwork. “We just haven’t had any kind of road
system help, we’re not addressing the is- sues of our infrastructure,” Ross said. “It would be a help not just for trucking, but for the person driving to work every day, or a mom taking her kids to school, or just going to the store. Road work is important to our everyday lives.” The problem, he acknowledges, starts
with assessing more taxes — nobody wants them. The trucking industry opposed fuel taxes for many years, he noted, but now it’s understood among truckers that the infra- structure improvements have to be funded somehow. “Tax is an ugly word,” Ross said. “We’d like to call it more of a user fee, because
everybody uses the road. People want good roads, bridges, decreased traffic conges- tion, everybody is for that — but you don’t get it without funding. We need some lead- ership in [Congress] and the state legisla- ture to push those things forward. “We have a vested interested on the
roads being the best they can be and we’re willing to pay for it, put money where our mouth is and willing to step out there.” Ross also said he’s happy that several
Milan drivers have been selected to the Ten- nessee Road Team, an education and out- reach program for several years now that is funded by the 501(c)(3) TTA Foundation. Team members spend a year visiting with and speaking to high school students and young drivers about safety and sharing the road with trucks. Team members also man “Safety Breaks” at rest areas from Memphis to Johnson City, educating drivers. The foundation also provides college scholar- ships and recently partnered with Nashville Diesel College for potential technical and maintenance students, he said. “Technicians are maybe in shorter
supply than drivers now,” Ross said. “Next, we could expand the program to drivers. We’re trying to invest in people wanting to
18 TENNESSEE TRUCKING NEWS Q3 2015
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