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Freight Facts and Figures 2012

Table 3-8. Commercial Vehicle Weight Enforcement Activities: 2005-2011

Federal and state governments are concerned about truck weight because of the damage that heavy trucks can do to roads and bridges. To monitor truck weight, approximately 185 million weighs were made in 2011, about 65 percent of which were weigh-in-motion, and 35 percent were static. Considerably less than 1 percent of weighs discover violations.

Table in Excel format

Blank cell. 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
All weighs 230,464,926 229,450,656 217,444,117 200,419,382 182,256,996 198,564,690 185,498,220
Weigh-in-motion 136,380,657 142,598,736 132,257,618 119,826,305 116,176,399 118,025,789 119,718,032
Static weighs1 94,084,269 86,851,920 85,186,499 80,593,077 66,080,597 80,538,901 65,780,188
Semiportable scales 493,574 422,860 425,731 357,502 373,073 285,484 323,936
Fixed scales 93,038,479 85,900,007 84,213,507 79,644,702 65,182,174 79,703,573 64,922,321
Portable scales 552,216 529,053 547,261 590,873 525,350 549,844 533,931
Violations2 567,949 621,391 530,350 555,168 489,975 478,576 415,545
Axle weight violations 275,442 269,758 233,563 248,813 220,631 216,735 178,209
Gross weight violations 118,328 149,561 126,761 120,384 116,291 114,171 84,490
Bridge weight violations 174,179 202,072 170,026 185,971 153,053 147,670 152,846
Permits3 3,625,898 4,598,227 4,827,668 5,215,724 4,528,654 4,838,663 4,944,334
Non-divisible trip permits 2,711,500 3,399,435 3,743,323 3,693,248 3,285,801 3,510,301 3,762,553
Non-divisible annual permits 233,160 250,505 332,148 322,288 298,805 303,230 320,767
Divisible trip permits 288,145 426,381 398,003 489,712 369,906 341,737 334,650
Divisible annual permits 393,093 521,906 354,194 710,476 574,142 683,395 526,364

1Static weights include the total number of vehicles weighed from semiportable, portable, and fixed scales.

2Violations include those from axle, gross, and bridge formula weight limits.

3Permits issued are for divisible and non-divisible loads on a trip or on an annual basis, as well as the overwidth movement of a divisible load.

Note:

Incomplete data from District of Columbia (2008), Hawaii (2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011), Indiana (2005), Massachusetts (2010), New Hampshire (2011) Pennsylvania (2006), South Dakota (2006 and 2007), and Vermont (2011).

Source:

U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Office of Freight Management and Operations, Annual State Certifications of Size and Weight Enforcement on Federal-aid Highways, as prescribed under CFR Part 657, personal communication, August 10, 2012.

 


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