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Weigh
Stations in Virginia:
Or
How Heavy is That 18-Wheeler?
Anyone
who travels up and down I-95 or other Old Dominion
highways passes those cryptic turn outs once known
as “weigh stations.” It is here that truckers
must check in to make sure the loads they carry
conform to federal and state limits.
Now
called "Motor
Carrier Service Centers" and operated by
the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, there are
13 such permanent centers scattered throughout the
state. In northern Virginia, you’ll find one on
Rt. 50 near Rt. 15 in Loudoun County; in the western
part of the state, there is one on Rt. 11 north of
Roanoke; and in southeastern Virginia, a weigh
station is located on Rt. 58 west of Chesapeake
City. These centers are staffed with technicians
that weigh vehicles, collect truck data and report
overweight infractions to the Virginia State Police.
In
addition, there are 12 mobile crews staffed with
technicians who can set up to randomly check truck
weights. “NOMAD,” as the program’s mobile
operations unit is nicknamed, consists of a
custom-manufactured van and allows crews to use
advanced technologies for various weighing
functions.
According
to 2005 Department
of Transportation statistics, there are almost
84,000 tractor-trailer trucks registered to travel
in Virginia. Each of them must abide by regulations
set out in “Virginia’s Size, Weight, and
Equipment Requirements,” a booklet based on the
Motor Vehicle Code of Virginia. The Code requires
that any truck with a registered gross weight in
excess of 7,500 pounds must drive their vehicles
onto a scale when directed by a law enforcement
officer or a regulatory sign. Failure to do so is a
misdemeanor.
Weight
limits for trucks have a long history in the U.S.
The second issue of Public Roads magazine,
published in 1918, featured an article entitled
“Highways of the Country and the Burden They Must
Carry.” As early as 1913, four states – Maine,
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Washington –
enacted weight limits ranging from 18,000 pounds to
24,000 pounds GVW (gross vehicle weight). Such early
laws were passed to limit damage to earth and
gravel-surfaced roads from iron and solid rubber
wheels on heavy trucks. The first federal weight
limits were imposed as part of the Federal-Aid
Highway Act of 1956 and updated several times over
the following decades. Today, Virginia’s weight
limits conform to federal regulations. The maximum
weight for a single axle is 20,000 pounds and
maximum gross weight can not exceed 80,000 pounds or
40 tons.
Trucks
that exceed these weights have to pay violation fees
ranging from $.01 to $.30 per pound over the limit.
However, truck owners can apply for overweight
permits. To do this, they must demonstrate that no
other form of transportation is available for the
product and that the load cannot be reduced to meet
the legal limits. Some types of haulers can
receive overweight permits at no cost. These include
trucks hauling coal, gravel, sand, crushed stone and
liquids from gas or oil wells; concrete haulers;
trucks carrying solid waste; and those hauling
Virginia-grown products in certain counties, among
other categories
The
issue of overweight truck loads received publicity
last summer after the August bride collapse in
Minneapolis, Minn. Some experts believed it might
have been a factor in that incident. An editorial in
the Lynchburg News & Advance (“Keep
Closer Scrutiny on Too-Big Trucks,” September 19,
2007) cited a government report that claimed one
40-ton truck does as much damage to a road as 9,600
cars. Also, one study
showed that the number of overweight permits issued
nationwide between 1985 and 1995 increased by 60
percent. But, because of our aging road
infrastructure and the fact that so much of the
nation’s resources are delivered by ground
transportation, there are no simple solutions. In
the meantime, the roving “NOMAD” operation and
staff at the permanent “Motor Carrier Service
Centers” continue to do their part.
NEXT:
Undercover in the Old Dominion: Spies and Traitors
of Virginia.
--
November 12, 2007
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