BMT-AprMay-2020

APRIL/MAY 2020
Features
14 > ‘Pride in my ride’:
Arkansas trucker brings
solar power, style to his
‘96 Peterbilt
10 > On Trucking
22 > Puzzle
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Georgia’s planned ‘truck-only’ lanes
would be first to officially exclude
noncommercial vehicles
By Linda Garner-Bunch
While the concept of separate “truck-only” drive lanes,
separated from other traffic by barrier walls or medians,
is not a new idea, the actual implementation is a
relatively novel concept for the U.S. Sure, it’s common for truckers to see
signs directing them to restrict usage to one or two lanes, but those lanes
are not usually physically set apart from the others.
Two of the nation’s first truck-only lanes are along Interstate 5 in Los
Angeles, and more may be implemented in the near future. Black-andwhite
signs, which are enforceable by law, direct trucks to follow these
lanes. However, green signs, NOT enforceable by law, advise passenger
cars and noncommercial vehicles to remain in the main travel lanes, according
to California’s state transportation department (Caltrans). The
result? Noncommercial vehicles can mingle with the big rigs in the socalled
“truck-only” lanes, effectively canceling the lanes’ original purpose
“to separate trucks from other mixed-flow traffic to enhance safety and/
or stabilize traffic flow.”
While several states, including Texas, Arizona and others, have tossed
around the idea of creating truck-only lanes with similar goals of facilitating
traffic flow in congested areas, only one has set a concrete plan into
motion.
Although the concept in Georgia will be the first to exclude
noncommercial vehicles by law, there are two truckonly
lanes in Los Angeles. Shown above is a rendering of
Georgia’s proposed truck lanes. (Courtesy: Georgia Department
of Transportation)
The Georgia Department of Transportation’s Major Mobility Investment
Program (MMIP), a long-range, five-pronged plan put into
motion in 2016 with a projected total completion date of 2032, includes
the I-74 Commercial Vehicle Lanes project. The project will
add barrier-separated lanes devoted to commercial traffic along a
40-mile stretch of northbound Interstate 75
between Macon and McDonough, part of a heavily traveled freight corridor
between Savannah, one of the nation’s major shipping ports, and
Atlanta, where shipping giant UPS Inc. is headquartered.
The nontolled lanes are slated for the use of commercial trucks only,
with passenger and general-use vehicles prohibited — a first for the U.S.
Other prongs of MMIP include revamping interchanges at I-16 and
I-95, I-285 and I-20 West, and I-285 and I-20 East; adding express lanes
at three points along I-285 and along SR 400; widening parts of I-85
and I-16; and completing advanced-improvement projects in a variety
of areas.
According to GDOT’s website, “The I-75 Commercial Vehicle Lanes
Project will improve mobility and safety for freight operators and vehicles.
… The project will benefit all motorists by reducing congestion and
improving safety while offering direct economic benefits to travelers in
Georgia as well as freight and logistic carriers in the Southeast.”
In the Winter 2020 issue of Milepost, GDOT’s quarterly publication,
Tim Matthews, MMIP program manager, described the I-75 commercial-vehicle
lanes project as a “big win” for GDOT.
“The acceleration of this project supports freight mobility and traveltime
reliability for all along this important corridor,” Matthews wrote.
“Through these major projects, Georgia DOT will deliver some of the
nation’s most innovative transport solutions and the newest engineering
and technical advances by addressing congestion, adding capacity and
supporting transit.”
An article published in March 2018, Roads & Bridges, a trade publication
aimed at the road- and bridge-construction industry, quoted the
estimated cost of the project at $1.8 billion, adding that GDOT estimates
a 40% reduction in traffic delays along the route.
According to a timeline posted at majormobilityga.com, a website
that offers updates on the program, construction on the commercialvehicles-only
lanes is slated to begin in 2024, and GDOT hopes to have
the stretch open to traffic by 2028.
10
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‘Pride in my ride’: Arkansas trucker brings solar
power, style to his ‘96 Peterbilt
By Wendy Miller
Photos of a Peterbilt with solar panels on top and a Batman
logo on the side of the sleeper have made their rounds online
with sightings and posts from Pennsylvania to Arizona. Social
media trucking groups are buzzing as many wonder “who’s truck is
that?” and “how do you put solar panels on a truck?” Well, The Trucker
tracked down the owner of this striking Peterbilt and luckily, he was
willing to share the details of what he says is “just a work truck.”
First things first, what’s up with those solar panels? “That’s what everyone
talks about —those panels,” Chad Fowler, a native of Conway,
Arkansas, said with a smile. He suggested making a small sign with
all the details and standing it in front of the truck while he is parked
at the truck stop. He gets lots of questions.
“When I was a kid, we would get these magazines that always had
things in the back for sale, and I always saw these solar panels and I
thought ‘why isn’t everybody doing that?’” Fowler said. “It is free energy.”
As he got older, solar panels became more common and more affordable.
After a long career as a diesel mechanic, Fowler was ready for
a change and decided to buy a truck and go over the road. He purchased
a 1996 379 Peterbilt with a simple black and chrome design, but only a
couple of years after he bought the truck, it was hit in a truck stop parking
lot. He took the downtime for repairs as an opportunity to design a
truck that would be as cool as it is comfortable. And he remembered that
“free energy” he had seen advertised.
“Everybody said ‘you can’t put solar panels on a truck,’” Fowler said.
“To my knowledge, I’m one of the first ones to do that.”
Fowler debunked that myth quickly with the help of a few friends
who were up for a challenge. Within 90 days, a damaged 1996 Peterbilt
was transformed into the striking, energy-efficient truck that is catching
eyes all over the country.
Simply put, the panels funnel energy into a charge controller underneath
the sleeper that charges a battery bank. When the batteries are fully
charged, the controller shuts the panels off. That means Fowler doesn’t
have to idle when he isn’t on the road — at least not for about 10 hours.
The energy banked from the solar panels is enough to power everything
in his sleeper, including a television, cooking equipment and even
the air conditioning system. Fowler said he also saves fuel. How much
fuel? Fowler said in the first year the energy from his solar panels kept
nearly $20,000 in his pocket.
After the accident but before the work got started, Fowler took to
Texas where the company he is leased to, Generic Trucking, is based.
He found the owner had recently purchased two trucks with 110-inch
double eagle sleepers. He asked to have one, and that sleeper now dons
a large Batman logo as a tribute to his ex-wife’s son who passed away.
The truck’s 255-inch wheelbase is stock, but with a sleeper that size
it should be somewhere around 270-inch, so Fowler said someday he
would like to stretch it. To accommodate the sleeper now, he had to
move his fifth wheel all the way to the end of the frame, which has yet to
cause any problems.
Seemingly Fowler’s favorite part of the truck is the hood. He is sure to
use the proper voice inflation to stress that it is a SHORT hood Peterbilt,
but with a few adjustments.
“We took the hood apart and redid it because on a short-hood Peterbilt,
the hood is sloped,” Fowler said. “We got some extended Peterbilt
hood panels and cut them down to fit my front end and took all of the
slope out of it. There’s only a couple of guys who have ever walked up to
it and said ‘man, that’s a short hood.’ It’s just one of the subtle details.”
The EKG design that runs along the hood is an actual heartbeat pattern,
and placed on the hood for a good reason. Fowler said, “It represents
the power under the hood — that’s the heartbeat.”
The heartbeat Fowler refers to is a 700 horsepower 3406E model Caterpillar
engine with a 13-speed transmission. It averages 8.4 miles per
gallon. All in all, Fowler said his truck is a “brand new 1996 Peterbilt,”
which has served him well as he spends most of the year on the road
hauling trade show equipment from coast to coast.
Next question: “Why pink?” The answer will surprise some: “Pink is
my favorite color,” Fowler said. “It’s different.” He admits that he’s often
gotten some comments about pink being his favorite color, but he’s been
told it sets off the color of his eyes.
The speed with which Fowler and his crew completed the transformation
of what he calls his “solar Peterbilt” was in hopes of completing
the job in time to show it to his dad. Unfortunately, his dad passed away
before the truck was completed.
“[My dad] saw it originally when it was black and silver and he loved
it,” Fowler said. “I talked to him on the phone and he said, ‘you’re where
you belong’ because my dad was a worker and he said, ‘get the truck
done, get back on the road and get to work.’ So, that is what I did.”
Even though Fowler didn’t initially jump right into truck driving, he
and his brother basically grew up in the cab of a Kenworth as his dad
hauled chickens for 47 years. He held back tears as he fondly remembered
being raised by a single truck driver. During the school year, he
and his brother stayed with their grandmother, but when school was out,
they were right there in the truck with their dad.
“I don’t see how he did it, because you know how toddlers are,” Fowler
said. “You’ve got two kids in the cab of a little bitty truck, I don’t see
how he didn’t kill us, but we made it work.”
Fowler’s background as a trucker’s kid put a specific idea of a truck’s
décor in his mind, so naturally there are hints of old-school trucking
throughout his solar Peterbilt including chrome accents and lots of
chicken lights.
“I grew up on that stuff,” he said.
Fowler didn’t skimp on the interior details, either. Inside the truck,
the floors are real hardwood which Fowler installed himself for a lot less
money than the $1,300 he was quoted for the job.
“I was raised different than that, so I went down to Lowe’s and got
¾-inch solid wood floor, tongue and groove and made my own wood
floor for a couple hundred bucks,” Fowler said.
14
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Unique but subtle is the overall look that Fowler sought, and he
topped it off with a Batman emblem on the front of the truck where
most feature a Peterbilt logo. The emblem was specifically designed for
him and the “1 of 1” marking on the back ensures that the design will
not be duplicated.
The part of the truck that makes Fowler’s eyes light up the most is
among the most common additions to any trucker’s rig — his CB handle
on both sides of the hood. Fowler goes by Phantom 33, but his dad had
the title first.
“Someday I hope I’m half the man that he was,” Fowler said.
The latest detail Fowler has added to his truck is a replica Rubber
Duck hood ornament (from “Convoy,” of course), but even that purchase
was one that Fowler thoroughly thought through.
“I don’t shop like a lot of people. I pick stuff up and I look at it and
then I put it back,” Fowler said. “It took a while to get the hood ornament,
but that was the final touch to the outside.”
As for the questions Fowler gets while he is one the road, he doesn’t
mind too much. He does, however, get asked often if his truck is a show
truck. He doesn’t have any immediate plans to go that route, but he does
hope that he can help to show that everyone should take pride in their
work.
“I take a lot of pride in my ride; I take pride in everything I do,”
Fowler said. “If I can inspire a few people or the next generation, I’ve
done my job. I want people to get active in the trucking community
again. Years ago, people out here would go out of their way to help one
another. People would even tell their kids ‘if you have a problem out on
the road, just flag down a trucker. They will help you.’ Somewhere along
the way America has lost all of this.”
Chad Fowler and a group of friends transformed his 1996 379 short-hood Peterbilt into a comfortable, energy-efficient ride
in about 90 days. The truck features solar panels, a 110-inch double sleeper, a pronounced Batman symbol and a plethora
of other small details. (The Trucker: Wendy Miller)
16
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22
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• Percentage Paid Weekly
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