Technology Profile |
A free-flow weigh-
in-motion system
Road infrastructure
maintenance projects
are a PR nightmare.
Their completion is never
accompanied with an opening
ceremony, no ribbon is cut and
no pictures are taken, meaning
no political points can be scored.
It is, therefore, no wonder that
these projects are notoriously
underfunded. Europe and the
USA are not immune from the
pains arising from crumbling
infrastructure.
Historically, funds for
maintenance operations were
raised through road tolls, where
vehicles would pay according to
their road usage. In the
European context, road usage is
mostly defined as a linear
function of distance travelled;
emissions released measured in
grams of carbon monoxide or
nitric oxide; as a function of
road availability as a nod to
supply and demand for the day
and time of week; and as a
function of vehicle type and
axle count.
The first three metrics are
intuitive. Vehicle class, however,
is quite arbitrary and unfair.
Axle count is a poor proxy for
both road usage and more
importantly road damage, which
ultimately determines the road
maintenance funding required.
Road damage
The real driver of road damage
is axle weight and scales with its
fourth power. In the weigh-inmotion
(WIM) business, it is
anecdotally quoted that road
damage caused by an
18-wheeler truck is 10,000 times
that of a passenger car, but what
about a poorly loaded versus an
overloaded vehicle? In financial
terms, it was estimated that an
overweight truck causes a
marginal road damage ranging
€0.50 to €4.50 (US$5) per
kilometer. This is two to 10 times
| Need to know
An overweight truck
that causes marginal
road damage costs
approximately €0.50
to €4.50 (US$5) per km
080 Traffic Technology International September/October 2019
www.TrafficTechnologyToday.com
> OptiWIM is a new
generation high speed
WIM that utilizes fiber
optical technology
> Its features include 5%
accuracy on a single row of
sensors, accuracy
independent of wheel
position, and operation in a
fully free-flow
configuration
the standard per km tolling price
in the Czech Republic. Using this
as a point of reference, why
should an empty 18-wheeler pay
as much – or more – as a threeaxle
truck heavily overloaded
with wet sand?
It has become clear there is a
need to devise a fairer, roaddamage
reflecting tolling pricing
model that would not only not be
a burden for well-behaved truck
operators or logistics companies,
and would simultaneously
Above: Cross Zlín’s
OptiWIM has been
certified to 5% accuracy
calibrated and thus reduces
recalibration costs, and has
sensors that are non-intrusively
hot-swappable thanks to an
installation in a U-Bed profile
and thus have a long life-time
and a lower total cost of
ownership than existing systems.
It is clear a pricing model that
fairly accounts for the damage
caused by road users is needed,
in particular to fund the
maintenance and even renewal
of road infrastructure globally.
Such conversations about tollper
ton applications are
increasingly heard on
conferences worldwide.
The current state of the art
of WIM technology – such as
Cross’ OptiWIM solution –
has the ambition to become
an enabler of toll-per-ton.
The market and the technology
are certainly ready for it.
discourage operators from
misusing public infrastructure
for their own marginal gain.
Most importantly, such a model
could fairly facilitate a total
increase of tolling incomes to
continuously fund the muchneeded
maintenance of roads.
Cross Zlín strongly believes
the future of the tolling business
lies with a fairer pricing model
like toll-per-tonne, where axle
weight is in focus. Such a system
will then have to be enabled by
next generation WIM systems.
The next generation WIM
To enable toll-per-ton
applications, Cross Zlín
developed OptiWIM, a new
generation high speed WIM that
utilizes fiber optic technology.
It improves on existing WIM
systems in seven key areas
including being certified for
a 5% accuracy on a single row
of sensors, having accuracy
independent of wheel position,
being the first worldwide Weigh-
In-Free-Flow system, and
operating in a fully free-flow
configuration. OptiWIM also
natively measures additional
vehicle parameters like width,
double-tire and underinflated
tire, is fully RF immune and
compensated for temperature
change, can be statically
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Cross Zlín
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visit: www.magupdate.co.uk/ptti
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