Summary

Compliance inspection stations have not increased at the same rate as commercial vehicle traffic on California's highways. Queues form at stations, causing trucks to waste fuel, worsen air pollution, and clog roadways. These queues are relieved by allowing some trucks to bypass inspection, causing pavement and structural damage and possibly endangering other drivers.

A solution to this problem is the use of communication and detection technologies for virtual compliance stations (VCS). The research plan includes three phases:

Phase 1 includes a stakeholder workshop hosted by METRANS at Long Beach State, an investigation into the magnitude of the pavement damage, a review of the institutional and legal barriers to VCS, and a test of camera technology to capture truck license plate numbers at the Cordelia Weigh Station in Northern California.

Phase 2 of VCS research includes an inventory of current compliance and enforcement processes in California, the frequency and distribution of non-compliance related problem, some estimates of future demand for enforcement and resources to fund enforcement efforts, the identification of alternative VCS technology and applications, and preliminary alternative assessments.

Phase 3 focuses on operational testing and evaluation in the field. This determines how VCS can be modified and incorporated into California's Highway Patrol (CHP) and the CalTrans fleet. A Northern California site will then be identified for a field operational test (FOT). A designated vendor will provide technologies at the FOT site like weigh-in-motion, brake screening, emissions sensing, sensors for expired inspection tags, gamma ray detectors, and vehicle identification.

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