FREDERICTON, N.B. — Lineups at truck scales may soon be history if Transportation Minister Percy Mockler gets his way.

Mockler announced a new pilot project that will see only overweight trucks hauled off the road.

“The improvements we are announcing will mean fewer illegal loads travelling on the highway and less damage to our roads,” says Mockler. “It will also mean better use of the valuable time of commercial vehicle enforcement staff, and improved enforcement.”

The department is calling for proposals for the supply, installation and maintenance of an Intelligent Transportation System for the eastbound lanes of the Trans-Canada Highway near the Longs Creek scales, approximately 25 kilometres west of Fredericton.

This will allow trucks to be weighed while travelling at highway speeds while overweight vehicles will be signaled to exit the highway to report to the scales. Weight-compliant vehicles will continue on without stopping and the system will continuously collect traffic data.

Targeting only non-compliant trucks will provide the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement officers more time to perform inspections, says Mockler.

Many American states and a few provinces already have this technology in use, but it will be the first of it’s kind in New Brunswick. There was no indication how much this pilot project will cost or how widespread it could become in the future.