DOT cites 25 overweight grain trucks at ADM

Twenty-five grain trucks were cited for overweight violations in a spot check outside ADM's grain dumping area Wednesday in southwest Cedar Rapids, a Iowa Department of Transportation spokesperson said.

The enforcement action took place between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m. Wednesday, Iowa DOT spokesperson Dena Gray-Fisher said. Out of 156 trucks weight, 126 were cleared for weight. Twenty-five citations were issued to overweight trucks, carrying fines totaling roughly $10,000 to $15,000.

The DOT officers set up the state's Weigh in Motion scale on a public street between a staging area where trucks wait to be unloaded and a an area where their loads are probed and dumped, Gray-Fisher said.

The inspections are done once or twice a year, Gray-Fisher said, usually at the time of year when traffic into grain processing plants begins to pick up. She said some truck drivers who know their rigs are overweight refuse to leave the staging area when the scale crew arrives, and others even abandon their rigs temporarily.

The inspections are performed to enforce laws intended to minimize damage to public roadways from overweight vehicles and safety issues such as increased stopping distances that result when trucks are carrying excessive weight.