The following post is related to the Center’s work on a Health Impact Assessment of a proposed biomass-powered energy facility in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.  The facility was proposed as a potential remedy to the issue of nutrient concentration related to trends in livestock production.  Each post in the series describes one particular aspect of interest from the Center’s analysis. 

Traffic Accidents

Because of its current use as a fertilizer, poultry litter is already routinely trucked from poultry farms to cropland throughout the Valley. According to estimates by Virginia Tech, between 276,000 and 294,000 tons of litter are moved by truck every year in the area. Most of it is moved for very short distances but as much as half or more leaves the county in which it originates.

Heavy trucks are of particular concern as road hazards. Accidents that involve heavy trucks are disproportionately more likely to result in fatalities. Nationally in 2010, large trucks were involved in 1.22 fatal accidents for every 100 million vehicle miles travelled. Traffic accidents disproportionately impact young adults.

Traffic Patterns in the Valley

The current route for poultry litter in the Valley is to move from the poultry farms to the brokers to some of the thousands of acres of cropland throughout the Valley. Adjusting to a centralized facility would mean that traffic would change from diffuse patterns all over the area to a more concentrated pattern near the facility. Because some of the litter that is currently being exported from its original county would remain in county, it is possible although not assured that the facility could reduce truck traffic Valley-wide.

Even if that is the case, some areas of the Valley would experience significant increases in truck traffic. In these areas, it is highly likely that traffic accidents would increase as well as potential fatalities resulting from these accidents. One of the most important considerations in determining the location of the facility should be to avoid creating heavy truck congestion in areas of high population density, especially in areas near places like schools.

Factors That Reduce Truck Traffic

According to our estimates, the facility could impact truck traffic throughout the Valley by several hundred thousand miles annually. The most important factors in determining whether the impact is a net increase or decrease are the amount of litter that is burned and especially the distance from the facility the litter would be coming from.

If the facility is supplied by poultry farms relatively close to the facility, total truck miles could likely decrease. However, if the facility has to be supplied by counties farther away, potentially even outside of the Valley, it would result in a much bigger impact on truck miles. For this reason, it is important that the poultry grower community in the Valley supports the facility before it is to be constructed. If growers refuse to sell to the facility, the impact on truck traffic and subsequent traffic accidents could be large.