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OUR 75th YEAR IN WORDS AND PHOTOS


BY KAREN RASMUSSEN Executive Editor


As we looked back over the events


and issues of 2012 just prior to press time, we picked a few to include in this 75th Anniversary Commemorative Yearbook.


TRUCK SAFETY AT THE CAPITAL -


JANUARY 19, 2012 ATA officially launched its 75th


Anniversary year with “Truck Safety Day at the Capitol” on January 19, 2012. This event—months in the planning—was staged to salute ATA’s enforcement partners with whom we’ve worked to reduce truck- involved crashes to the lowest rate in


Arizona’s history. Not coincidentally, the impressive line-up of trucks was a reminder to decision-makers about the essentiality of trucking to the Arizona economy. Trucks transport 92 percent of total manufactured tonnage in the state (355,988 tons per day in 2010), and over 85 percent of Arizona communities depend exclusively on trucks to move their goods. In addition, the trucking and distribution industry in Arizona provides one out of every 18 jobs in the state. Trucks and professional drivers


Arizona State Capitol


representing different industry segments stood side-by-side with Arizona Dept. of Transportation, Dept. of Public Safety and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration officials while 250 legislators, legislative and executive branch staff visited trucks staged along 17th Avenue in front of the Capitol Complex. ATA officers, Board members and about three-dozen other members hosted their legislators at a buffet lunch on the House lawn, taking the opportunity to discuss issues such as highway funding and alternatives to tolling for repairing roads and bridges and building new capacity. Thanks to these companies that


displayed trucks or had drivers on hand for the event: Central Arizona Freight Inc.; Con-way Freight; Dircks Moving Services; Empire Transport; J &L Transportation Inc.; Jonesco Trucking Inc.; Knight Transportation Inc.; Marco Crane &Rigging; McLane Foods; Swift Transportation Co. of AZ LLC; System Transport, Inc.; and YRC Inc. ATA’s Board of Directors and


Legislators visit ATA’s Share the Road Trailer. Left to right are: Sen. Al Melvin (R-Tucson); an unidentified visitor (back to camera); Rep. Tom Chabin (D-Flagstaff); ATA President & CEO Karen Rasmussen (back to camera); ATA Board member Mike Nesbitt of Jonesco Trucking, Bellemont and Chris Hammond of Jonesco.


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participating members decided the event was such a success that it should be repeated again next year.


RALLY TO STOP TOLLS ON EXISTING


ARIZONA ROADS - FEBRUARY 9, 2012 ATA members trekked back to the


Capitol in early February to tell legislators that “toll” is a four-letter word. About 50 ATA members showed up at a February 9 hearing of the House Transportation Committee, which was considering House Bill 2358, a bill that would have authorized ADOT to use a private contractor to rebuild bridges on the 29-mile section of Interstate 15 through northwestern Arizona and charge tolls of up to $12 per truck per use. (That comes out to about $.42 per mile each direction, loaded or not.) But HB 2358 was about more than just I-15. For a dozen years at least, the Arizona


trucking industry has opposed privatizing and tolling existing transportation facilities. ATA does not oppose the tolling of new capacity as long as certain guidelines are followed to avoid the problems that toll roads in other states have created for truckers. As introduced, HB 2358 had serious flaws and few consumer protections, and ATA had no choice but to oppose it. However, following the February 9 Committee approval of the bill by a vote of 6-2, HB 2358’s lead sponsor, Rep. Karen Fann (R-Prescott) worked with ATA, ADOT and other stakeholders to attempt to reach a compromise. ATA offered several amendments


over the course of dozens of meetings that provided truckers and other highway users some consumer protections that were lacking in current statute and that were not in the bill as it came out of committee. Rep. Fann had stated in hearings and in public meetings her opposition to tolling existing roads—which is ATA’s position—but said she had made an exception with Interstate 15 because there appeared to be no alternative funding to rebuild I-15’s deficient bridges. Ultimately, many of ATA’s amendments


Arizona Trucking Association 2012 Yearbook


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