County to purchase 8 vehicle scales

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Local authorities plan to crack down on vehicles causing cracks, potholes and other damage to area roads.

The Stark County Road Department will purchase scales to weigh trucks using county roads.

Road Superintendent Al Heiser estimated a set of eight scales will cost between $35,000 and $40,000.

“If we don’t protect and patrol those roads, these overweight trucks can do more damage than the scales are going to cost in a short afternoon,” Heiser said. “With the oil coming, we’ve got to kind of be a little more proactive.”

Fines for overweight vehicles depend on several factors, including how overweight they are Sheriff Clarence Tuhy said.

The Stark County Commission also authorized Tuhy to hire another deputy to help with truck regulations.

“If you go out there, it’s not just the oil activity, it’s the trucks even coming off the farm are larger and the loads are larger,” Commissioner Jay Elkin said at a Tuesday meeting. “It’s something that’s needed and probably long overdue. It’s nothing like we’d have to go out there and weigh trucks on an everyday basis or sit out there and weigh them all the time.”

Most of the county roads allow 105,500 pounds gross weight unless there are other posted restrictions, Tuhy said.

The Sheriff’s Office does truck regulations, but usually must call the North Dakota Highway Patrol if they think a vehicle is overweight, he added.

Heiser hopes to have the scales, which will fit in a vehicle, in the next month.

City authorities are also working on weight enforcement.

Dickinson commissioners passed an amended ordinance March 21 addressing truck traffic, though it is not being enforced yet.

The ordinance states no truck or commercial vehicle exceeding a gross weight of 26,001 can operate within Dickinson, except on designated truck routes.

Under the ordinance vehicles can travel through the city to get to their destination to drop off or pick up items. It also allows emergency and city-owned vehicles to travel off the truck route.

The Dickinson Police Department doesn’t have a vehicle scale and Capt. Dustin Dassinger said vehicles thought to be overweight will have to drive to the city’s bailer building to be weighed.

“More than likely they were already driving that overweight truck in town,” he said. “I’m hoping we can actively get rolling with it at least the first portion of May.”

Some logistics are still being researched, including establishing another truck route in the city, he added.

“It is a work in progress, but we’re not going to implement anything until the Is are dotted and the Ts are crossed and we’re doing it the right way,” Capt. Joe Cianni said.

Tags: stark county, news, roads, scales