The South Dakota Department of Transportation (SDDOT) is expanding its truck screening program, as part of its aim to keep overweight vehicles of the state’s roads in order to protect highway infrastructure and improve road safety for all users.
Canadian company International Road Dynamics Inc. (IRD) has been awarded a contract by SDDOT to supply, install and maintain a weigh-in-motion (WIM) sorting system at the Blunt Port of Entry (POE) on US Highway 14 and US Highway 83 east of Pierre, South Dakota.
The project is valued at approximately US$1.1m, with installation of all the equipment to be completed by October this year. This project is the fifth POE WIM system supplied by IRD to South Dakota, as the agency continues its deployment of additional systems throughout the state. SDDOT already operates IRD-supplied POE WIM stations at Jefferson, Sioux Falls, Sisseton, and Tilford.
South Dakota’s POE Commercial Vehicle Identification System (CVIS) protects highway infrastructure by weighing all commercial vehicles, capturing license plate numbers, and directing suspected violators to report to the Truck Inspection Station. The latest project includes IRD’s Single-Load-Cell (SLC) WIM, intelligent Roadside Operation Credentialing (iROC) system, and license plate reader (LPR) technology. Commercial vehicles are automatically identified, and their safety, operating authority and credentials are verified, while confirming compliance with weight regulations. The combination of screening technologies improves highway safety and provides efficient enforcement of credentials and overloaded trucks.
IRD’s SLC WIM weigh pads use a self-contained weighing unit that is installed into existing or new asphalt or concrete pavement, and are used for medium to high speed WIM and/or vehicle classification applications. The SLC system will weigh and measure commercial vehicles at highway speeds upstream of the weigh station, and will also use an IRD-supplied LPR and automated vehicle identification (AVI) system in conjunction with the WIM to check vehicle credentials. This information will then be screened using IRD’s iROC system that will exchange information with the state’s Commercial Vehicle Information System (CVIS). South Dakota’s CVIS program is a key component of the Federal Motor Carrier Administration’s (FMCSA) initiative to improve commercial vehicle efficiency, compliance and safety. Vehicle information, such as weight, dimensions, and identification, is collected at highway speed and passed to the iROC system to determine in real time whether a truck is permitted to bypass a weigh station, or to notify the vehicle to report to the station for inspection.
“We are pleased to have been awarded this new contract in South Dakota, which demonstrates the growth of our commercial vehicle screening system deployments throughout the USA,” commented Terry Bergan, IRD’s president and CEO. “In addition to making the station more efficient, South Dakota’s roadway infrastructure will be better protected from truck overloading, traffic safety will be improved, and weight enforcement will be enhanced.”
