3.4 Weigh Stations

Weigh stations are used by state transportation agencies to help enforce commercial truck weight regulations. This enforcement activity is essential to help project the roadway infrastructure (pavement, bridges, etc.) from costly damage.

Some weigh stations are situated next to a highway and require trucks to pull off the highway, get weighed, and then re-enter the highway, such as the one located along I-10 in Florida shown in Figure 3.2. Some of these stations use static scales; that is, the trucks needs to stop temporarily to get weighed. Some the stations use weigh-in-motion (WIM) technology; that is, trucks can get weighed while they moving over the weight measurement device. See Telemetered Traffic Monitoring and Weigh-in-Motion Systems: How it Works to learn more about WIM technology (in particular, starting at 1:30 in the video). See https://www.fdot.gov/mcsaw/weighstationlisting.shtm for the locations of the roadside weigh stations in Florida.

Figure 3.2: Truck Weigh Station (lat/long: 30.639846, -84.98288)

Florida and many other states also use numerous WIM stations along the highway (i.e., trucks do not have to pull off the highway). These station locations are generally not publicized and many truck drivers will not be aware of when they are traveling over such a station.