Facing an over $7 million road repair bill, officials in Saline County say that the time has come to crack down on overweight trucks, which they believe are responsible for the road damage.
It has been almost 20 years since Saline County has had portable truck scales. In the early 1990s, the scales were damaged and it was too costly to repair or replace them. Before the scales were out of commission, about 10% of trucks were overweight, but officials now have no clue how many overweight trucks are currently driving on country roads.
Sheriff Glen Kochanowski says that he plans solve the problem by borrowing portable scales from a motor carrier inspector in Concordia to determine how extensive the overweight truck problem is. He also plans to work with KDOT to “get a feel” for how many overweight trucks are travelling through Saline County.
If Saline County determines that overweight trucks are a problem, they will consider spending $10,000 to purchase portable scales of their own and devoting the time of three officers to weighing trucks.
Sources:
Salina Journal
KSAL