Construction of e-Permit/VWS Model Sites: Project Summary Report
Laurel, Kentucky and Unicoi, Tennessee

1. Report No.

FHWA-HOP-18-016

2. Government Accession No.

3. Recipient's Catalog No.

4. Title and Subtitle:

Construction of e-Permit/VWS Model Sites: Project Summary Report
Laurel, Kentucky and Unicoi, Tennessee

5. Report Date:

February 2019

7. Author(s):

Mark Jensen (CS), Brian Stewart (CS), Jory Krogsgaard (IIS), Brian Taylor (IIS)

8. Performing Organization Report No.

9. Performing Organization Name and Address:

Cambridge Systematics, Inc.
101 Station Landing, Suite 410
Medford, MA 02155

Intelligent Imaging Systems
Ste. 170, 6325 Gateway Blvd.
Edmonton, Alberta T6H 5H6 Canada

10. Work Unit No.

11. Contract or Grant No.

12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address

U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
Office of Operations
1200 New Jersey Avenue S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20590

13. Type of Report and Period

Final Report

14. Sponsoring Agency Code

HOP

15. Supplementary Notes

16. Abstract

Rising commercial traffic volumes, staffing cuts, and expanding roadside enforcement personnel roles and responsibilities are stretching the ability of States to conduct effective commercial vehicle enforcement. To address this, the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Office of Freight Management and Operations and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's (FMCSA) Technology Division deployed two virtual weigh station (VWS) 'Model Sites' on U.S. 25 in Laurel County, Kentucky and on Interstate 26 in Unicoi County, Tennessee. VWS provides screening and monitoring capabilities like that found at fixed weigh stations but does not require continuous human staffing and can be deployed at a lower cost than a fixed site. The two 'Model Sites' are intended to demonstrate the functionality and viability of VWS and advance the "Smart Roadside Initiative" (SRI) concept developed by FHWA and FMCSA.

Following installation and calibration, a site performance review began to ensure that the above functionality was met. Each site utilized the Smart Roadside Inspection System (SRIS) as an automated tool to assist enforcement officers in screening commercial vehicles. Overall system performance was found to be good.

An independent analysis by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) found that the Unicoi County, TN site was working reasonably well but that the Laurel County, KY site was not functioning properly, the project team was given an opportunity to re-run some of their performance tests to potentially record a higher system performance. However, the project team believes that the recommendations made by ORNL showed gaps in definitions and understanding of the SRIS system operation and thus the ORNL analysis presents differing performance numbers. The project team conducted the initial proscribed performance analysis with results consistent for the site conditions and equipment deployed. The performance numbers officially collected by the team meet the project goals and expectation of the system and continue to do so in subsequent monitoring. The sites began full operations in May, 2016.

17. Key Words

Truck Size and Weight, Virtual Weigh Station, Automated Truck Enforcement

18. Distribution Statement

No restrictions. This document is available to the public through the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA 22161. https://www.ntis.gov

19. Security Classif. (of this report)

Unclassified

20. Security Classif. (of this page)

Unclassified

21. No of Pages

60

22. Price