Oregon’s Green Light Truck Preclearance System has topped its previous record for the number of weigh stations bypassed, allowing more than 50,000 bypasses of trucks throughout the state during May
.
A truck equipped with the Green Light transponder can bypass a weigh station at normal cruising speed instead of pulling off the highway and having to wait in line to weigh at static scales. The transponders are attached to the inside of a truck for identification and to allow the truck to weigh using sensors and scales in the highway. This eliminates the need for the driver to pull his truck over, forcing him to merge back into traffic.
ODOT currently has 1,000 trucking companies enrolled in the Green Light Program, with more than 12,400 trucks equipped with the transponders.
In February, Oregon withdrew its Green Light program from the Norpass weigh station preclearance system in protest against an inter-operability agreement between Norpass and its competitor, PrePass. Weeks later the state severed its relationship with Transcore, the company that administered its electronic weigh station preclearance system.
"We are very pleased with the amount of use the system is showing," said Randal Thomas, manager of ODOT’s Green Light Program. "We are also happy that Green Light has been so well-received by the trucking community."