Environmental footprint of road freight: Case studies from Switzerland

Current Swiss policy aiming to reduce the environmental footprint of heavy vehicles is presented. The environmental footprint of 46 heavy vehicle cases defined as dynamic load, noise, vibration and gaseous emissions is measured based on criteria set by the European project Eureka Logchain footprint. These parameters were measured for freight vehicles selected from the traffic stream and were compared to the criteria set up as a result of current Swiss policy. Results show that parameters that are currently controlled and their reduction encouraged such as gaseous emissions, axle loads and gross weight are indeed below or close to acceptable limits. However, other important parameters such as tyre pressure and noise remain higher than acceptable limits. In order to encourage the operation of vehicles with a low total environmental footprint parameters need to be set and controlled systematically.