FERIC worked with a company in western Canada (Alpac) to complete the first phase of a study to assess the impact of road roughness on haul costs. The study's main objective was to find the right balance between minimizing costs and maximizing the efficiency of the transportation system. The potential benefits for the company were large, since according to Alpac, each reduction of 1 minute in cycle times translated into a saving of more than $75 000 for their feet. The paper presents a summary of the potential offered by opti-Grade as well as the results for our going research