Evaluation of the Percent of Overloaded Vehicles Receiving Proper Permits

All state agencies have truck size and weight restrictions on their roadways based on federal and state legislation. However, drivers can typically apply for special permits allowing those limits to be exceeded, particularly when the load is non-divisible. The permit application often includes the origin and destination of the load, as well as characteristics about the truck’s size and weight. This information is used by state highway agencies to evaluate the impact of the loading on the roads and bridges that the vehicle will cross to determine a preferred route and the need for a police escort. The primary objective of this project is to estimate the percentage of overweight trucks on West Virginia highways that are not properly permitted by comparing truck weight data measured by weigh-in-motion (WIM) systems and oversize/overweight permit records. Analysis of the WIM data revealed concerns with the accuracy of the weight data. Therefore, a tuning procedure was developed to adjust the data based on national truck characteristics. The route information in the permit database was processed in geographic information system (GIS) to determine which WIM stations the permitted vehicle should have crossed. The percentage of overweight trucks were calculated for five locations using one week of data in 2011. The percentage of overweight trucks without proper permits ranged from 2% to 46% based on the adjusted WIM data.

• Record URL:
  http://www.mticutc.org/assets/pdf/RP-271_OverweightTrucks_FinalReport_20150518.pdf
• 
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Cover date: May 18, 2015.
• Corporate Authors:

  Rahall Appalachian Transportation Institute

  Marshall University
  Huntington, WV  United States  25755

  West Virginia Department of Transportation

  Division of Highways, Building 5, Room 550
  1900 Kanawha Boulevard East
  Charleston, WV  United States  25305-0430
• Authors:
  • Nichols, Andrew P
  • Chou, Chih-Sheng
  • Dayan, Sinaya
• Publication Date: 2015-5-13

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 127p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Accuracy; Evaluation; Geographic information systems; Overweight loads; Permits; Routes; Trucks; Vehicle weight; Weigh in motion scales
• Geographic Terms: West Virginia
• Subject Areas: Freight Transportation; Highways; Motor Carriers; Operations and Traffic Management; I70: Traffic and Transport;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01567459
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: RP-271
• Files: TRIS, ATRI, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jun 26 2015 1:41PM