Your weight is
... 100,000-pound limit goes into effect on Waldo Hancock
Bridge
By Tina Shute, Andy Kekacs
VERONA ISLAND (Dec 6, 2005): The Maine Department
of Transportation's 100,000-pound weight limit on the Waldo-Hancock
Bridge went into effect Monday, Dec. 5.
The DOT had reduced the allowable load to 80,000
pounds after engineers discovered structural flaws in the aging
bridge. But a successful project to buttress the span enabled a
return to the higher weight limit.
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| A
Weigh-in-Motion sign displays a weight of 100,400 on Monday.
(Photo by Tina Shute) |
Along with the increase, the DOT’s bridge posting
committee recommended tougher weight enforcement for the bridge
using a retrofitted Weigh-in-Motion site on Verona Island.
The WIM site shows each vehicle's weight as it
crosses. A camera takes a picture of any overweight truck, including
its license plate, company name, gross weight and a time/date stamp.
There are no exemptions that would allow the carrying
of greater loads on the bridge, according to Chip Getchell,
assistant to the chief engineer at DOT. But the WIM site only is
accurate to within 2 percent, he said, which means that trucks
recorded as weighing up to 102,000 pounds might actually be below
the legal limit.
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| Don Humer, vice president of Electronic Control
Measure, (ECM, Inc.)
stands at the control panel of the Weigh-in-Motion machine.
(Photo by Tina Shute) |
The Maine Motor
Transport Association and the Maine Forest
Products Council support the weight enforcement measures, and local
mills and truckers have pledged to help keep trucks in compliance.
The DOT said it is not seeking to have summonses
issued based on pictures taken. However, the department believes the
displays will help to bring local pressure to bear on carriers who
violate the 100,000-pound limit. If a carrier continues to break the
law and jeopardizes the increased limit, then pictures would be
provided to the Maine State
Police and the Motor Carrier Review Board for follow-up.
Increasing the weight limit on the Waldo-Hancock
Bridge will get some large trucks out of downtown Bangor and Brewer,
according to DOT, and save about 25,000 gallons of diesel fuel per
month.
Based in Belfast,
Photographer Tina Shute can be reached at 207-338-0484 or by e-mail
at tshute@villagesoup.com.
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