The number of overweight trucks barreling across the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway’s triple cantilever is way down, thanks to the city’s weigh-in-motion technology, according to a new report released Tuesday.
Since the tech was deployed in the fall of 2023, overweight truck traffic on the Queens-bound BQE is down 60%, per the report. The weigh-in-motion sensors actively detect overweight trucks and issue their drivers with $650 violations. According to the city’s Department of Transportation, before the tech was activated, 7,920 overweight trucks were crossing the roadway each day. Now, it’s down to about 3,041 per month.
Sensors are only active on the Queens-bound portion of the roadway, and are set to be activated on the Staten Island-bound portion this year.
The reduction is a win for the city’s Department of Transportation, which implemented weigh-in-motion hoping to cut truck traffic and extend the lifespan of the aging triple cantilever. Long-term repair of the roadway is years away, and heavy trucks cause significantly more damage than normal passenger cars, and before weigh-in-motion was activated, some overweight trucks were exceeding the cantilever’s 80,000 pound weight limit by more than 100%, according to the DOT.
“Weigh-in-Motion technology has successfully eliminated 60% of the overweight truck traffic on the Queens bound BQE,” said Councilmember Lincoln Restler. “I am pleased WIM is finally being implemented on Staten Island bound lanes and hope to see a similar reduction in illegal, overweight trucks to extend the lifespan of the triple cantilever structure.”
But the bill that allowed weigh-in-motion to take effect is expiring this year, and city lawmakers are pushing for state legislators to extend the program. DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez made the trip to Albany on Tuesday to urge his colleagues to extend the timeline and allow the city to install weigh-in-motion tech in other places, like on the Washington Bridge between Washington Heights and Highbridge.
“Modern problems require modern solutions, deploying cutting-edge technology is the key to addressing our city’s most complex infrastructure needs,” Rodriguez said in a statement. “I hope our productive partnership with legislative leaders and the governor to bring weigh-in-motion to New York City, and the results it has yielded, can serve as a national model for other cities and states, including the rest of New York State.”
