New weight restrictions

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by fisheye

Is this happening in your County: “Since June 1, PennDOT has announced new weight limits on nine Monroe County bridges, bringing the total number of bridges with weight limits up to 41 — including a new 19-ton limit on the bridge that carries Route 191 over Brodhead Creek north of Analomink.” This is part of a Pocono Record article that ran in yesterday’s paper.

A 19 ton weight limit is not going to effect most single axle trucks, a 10 ton weight limit would though. Keep in mind you can always go across the bridge if for example you're not fully loaded and fall below the limit. A lot of trucks are 25,000GVW (or 12.5 ton) because they don't require a CDL if they don't have air brakes. The largest single axle trucks would be effected by a 19 ton limit.

Dual axle, tri axle and tractor trailer trucks would all be above that loaded.

It will cost you more to get goods delivered if the trucker needs to make a long detour. I used to make a lot of rural deliveries, the cost of the product started out with base cost in town and rose as the mileage went up to deliver it. You have fuel costs, wear and tear on the truck and most important in my eyes lost time.

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One of the biggest problems PA faces is the amount of roads we have. In PA there is more road miles both state and interstate routes than NY and all the New England states combined. In Interstates alone it ranks number 4 in mileage.

Texas 3,233.45 miles
California 2,455.74 miles
Illinois 2,169.53 miles
Pennsylvania 1,759.34 miles
Ohio 1,572.35 miles

[fisheye]

Thanks for your input the coalman,
The reason that I posted this thread is because of a conversation between several volunteer firefights. They were talking about response times and how it would be affected. We do have at least one bridge that that is now reduced to 10 tons. The detour around it would add considerable time.
Here is a link to a search that I did on our local newspaper: http://search.poconorecord.com/?source=spr&q=new+bridge+weight+restrictions&a=Sho w+Results
Many of these bridges are on major secondary roads. If you have ever driven through our area; you might be familiar with the way trucking will bypass an accident on Route 80 or Route 380? It will not be that easy anymore.
I have to presume that this is playing out all across our State?
PS PennDOT has yet to post many of the new weight limits.

[thecoalman]

Not exactly sure what a firetruck weighs but I'd guesstimate it's going to be in the 17 to 20 ton range especially a tanker. Maybe even more but once you get into those kinds of weights they go dual axle.

While there is lot of bridges on major roads there is a 10's of thousands of bridges out in the rural areas and that is going to be significant problem in the future. You might be traveling over some and not even realize it.. They simply haven't been maintained and some are a century old. They weren't designed for these heavy weights but a lot of them are stone arch so have held up well. They might just span a small creek or even provide drainage from one side of the road to the other. There's really not an option not to fix them because they support a lot of small communities.

[fisheye]

thecoalman,
I had a friend that got caught in Allentown overweigh on a bridge. The fine was originally $12,000. He was dispatched over the bridge. They did negotiate the fine down to a reasonable figure. However, being overweight on a bridge; should not be taken lightly.
We have one bridge, on Route 314, that is a favorite bypass for accidents on Route 80/Route 380. They haven’t marked the new weights on the bridge. Many garbage haulers will detour over this bridge. Now, legally, they will have to go through Mount Pocono on Route 611.
I drove for the Big R and CF. Now retired, fortunately!