CHESTERTON, Ind. – The Indiana Department of Transportation, Indiana Department of Revenue, Indiana State Police, Purdue University, and Kapsch TrafficCom announced today the start of a pilot program to study a technology-driven approach to overweight vehicle and credential enforcement that holds the potential to extend highway pavement life, capture fees now being evaded, increase truck compliance, and enhance safety. State officials made the announcement at the Chesterton Weigh Station on eastbound Interstate 94 in Porter County, Ind.
Under the pilot program, the State will leverage Kapsch TrafficCom’s commercial enforcement platform to identify, weigh and assess the legal compliance of all trucks in real-time and at highway speeds 24 hours per day.
“As the volume of trucks on the State’s highways continues to increase, Indiana is leading the way in developing a 21st-century approach to compliance,” INDOT Commissioner Brandye Hendrickson said. “This pilot program will give us valuable insights to develop a modern approach to enforcement that extends pavement life and enhances safety.”
The system the State is testing combines high-speed cameras with sophisticated in-pavement scales to identify and weigh all trucks as they travel, eliminating the need for trucks to slow down and pass through a weigh station. The system, when combined with compliance information from federal and state databases, provides a near real-time compliance assessment report to assist enforcement officers in targeting potential violators or, if proven accurate, generate citations for some violations.
“New technology is increasingly valuable across all law enforcement efforts,” Kim Judge, Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Administrator for the Indiana State Police said. “In combination with our mobile enforcement program and traditional weigh stations, the State Police now has a robust new tool that will multiply the effectiveness of each officer and provide round-the-clock coverage to help identify carriers who may be operating beyond the illegal limits.”
“The use of technology to automate the enforcement of oversize/overweight permit laws and ensure all carriers are legally travelling on Indiana’s roads levels the playing field for all carriers operating in the state,” INDOR Deputy Commissioner James Poe said. “Ensuring carriers have the proper credentials protects Indiana roads and drivers.”
The Joint Transportation Research Program at Purdue University will review the results of the pilot program to validate the accuracy of the sensors and provide third-party verified results to recommend possible future legislative changes to the State’s enforcement program.
To learn more about the Overweight Vehicle and Credential Enforcement pilot program, visit www.in.gov/indot/3415.htm.
