Prairie company weighs in on U.S.

SASKATOON, Sask. (Sept. 25, 2001) – A Canadian company out of Saskatoon, Sask. continues to throw its weight around U.S. highways.

This past summer alone International Road Dynamics Inc. was awarded either initial or additional contracts for its Single-Load-Cell (SLC) scale Weigh-In-Motion (WIM) Mainline Vehicle Pre-Screening System in Nebraska, Indiana, California, Arizona, and New York State. Yesterday IRD has been granted yet another $1.2 million contract for the automation of two more weigh stations in Arizona.

The WIM technology, first developed at the University of Saskatchewan has been around for about 15 years. Sensors are built into the road, which measure the weight and even height and length of an oncoming truck, on an axle by axle basis, at highway speeds. A program then quickly compiles all that data and provides it to the weigh station operator, who then sets the criteria if he needs the truck to report, notifying the driver through signs or transponders.

Ironically, the technology is not been widely accepted to date in the country it was invented. Although he sees that changing in the near future, IRD CEO Randy Hanson says that the volume of traffic in Canada hasn’t historically been able to support wide-scale implementation. “The major advantage of using the technology is improving efficiency of truck operations on interstates, so given the volume of trucks there, at this point it probably benefits them a bit more than here,” he told Today’s Trucking.