Last month the Colorado Department of Transportation made a significant policy change to its old weight chart to increase dual-lane weight allowances. The revision was a step in the right direction for the Transportation industry and United States economy. It started about a year ago when various transportation industry representatives visited the CDOT offices with the intent to discuss increasing the permit weight allowance on the state’s double dolly transportation restrictions. Among them were John Ehr, our Chief Operating Officer at Perkins STC and the Specialized Carrier & Rigging Association (SC&RA).
Left: Direct Houston to Alberta
Right: Routing to avoid Colorado
The state of Colorado was more restrictive than any of its’ neighboring states. They acted as the "rock in the stream" when travelling within the Houston, TX to the Alberta corridor. The picture on the left illustrates a direct route from Houston to Alberta, through Colorado. The picture on the right illustrates a route avoiding Colorado, which then requires more states and several additional miles of transport, permits, and costs.
Perkins typically was forced to use larger trailers than necessary during the summer, fall, and winter weight seasons though Colorado, which also translated into additional costs for our Canadian customers. Meaning regardless if we avoided Colorado or permitted through it, the added costs became difficult to justify. The new dual-lane axle weights now nearly match the fall weight season for Alberta,which gives Perkins the opportunity to provide better pricing and timelines by reducing unnecessary axle lines and trans-load costs.
It was a collective effort made by many and Neil Perkins, President/CEO at Perkins STC concurs with the need for the updated restrictions and believes in adapting to change where it can benefit multiple parties, as well as the safety of the general motoring public.
“Constant improvement is necessary to sustain a viable and sustainable transportation service for our customers. Looking at every aspect of how we perform our work and asking if there are changes that would improve the value and competitiveness of our customers products and services is what we have to do. When industry and government can work together to achieve that goal we’ve benefited the economy and country as a whole. Thank you to CDOT and all involved to make this change happen.” ~Neil
We have invested interests in getting the state authorities educated on some of the challenges that oversize and overweight transportation face regularly. If you're curious, please visit our contact us page to get in touch with us regarding how you can start to make a difference in working together towards reciprocity and safety within the Transporation industry.