SALISBURY, N.B. — Pulling into roadside scales can be a time-and-fuel consuming process. Exiting the coops can be downright dangerous.

That’s why the New Brunswick Department of the Environment (DOE) is forking over $500,000 to the Department of Transportation. They’re expanding the province’s "Weigh in Motion" system at the inspection station on the eastbound lane at this station east of Moncton.

(Four Weigh in Motion systems are already in use: Longs Creek; Deerwood Waweig; and westbound at Salisbury.)

Trucks approaching these coops must be in the right lane. Loops embedded in the roadway track the movement of each truck and system registers weight, axle configuration, and other information automatically.

WIM technology saves truckers fuel, reduces
emissions and makes highways safer

A recent evaluation of the Longs Creek site showed that approximately $600,000 per year is saved by the trucking industry because the number of trucks required to report to the scales has been reduced by more than 50 percent.

The system also reduces fuel consumption, GHG emissions, and at least in the view of Amour Transportation boss Wes Armour, risk.

"When you’re trying to merge into traffic that is going the flow," he told the New Brunswick Business Journal, "it is at times pretty risky, and now we’re able to keep up with the flow of traffic because we don’t have to slow down.

"I’ve pulled out on scales before and some of them are even on a grade and when a truck pulls out into the flow of traffic it’s not always the best situation."

Construction on the new station should start in summer and be finished by fall.

Commented Jean-Marc Picard, executive director of APTA: "Our carriers are always very conscientious when it comes to the environment and they are continuously focusing their efforts on how they can save fuel and reduce GHG emissions. Initiatives such as this one are always great news for the industry."