Weigh scales undergo maintenance
Published 10:04 pm Wednesday, January 24, 2018
Motorists have noticed tractor-trailers continuing along their routes past the weigh station on Route 58 eastbound.
The motor carrier service center on Route 58 has been receiving intensive maintenance since mid-December, and it is expected to finish within the next two weeks, according to Brandy Brubaker, spokeswoman for the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Routine maintenance like this only happens every 10 years, and it requires the platforms to be fully removed from the ground and taken to a maintenance facility. DMV has outsourced the work to Coalfield Services.
While at the facility, Coalfield will “sandblast them, replace the bolts and repaint them,” Brubaker said in an email.
The scales also have to be recalibrated before they are placed back in use.
The maintenance has taken more than the scheduled month to finish, but Brubaker attributed that to the holidays and the company being extremely thorough.
Brubaker said since the maintenance happens only every decade, the work demands caution and thoroughness.
The scales for the eastbound side were replaced 10 years ago, and this is the first time since then this kind of maintenance has been performed.
Similar maintenance was completed on the westbound side last year, also the first time in 10 years the work had been done. The westbound side is back open.
The state of Virginia currently has 13 motor carrier service centers, and two are in the Portsmouth district, where Suffolk is located. The scales receive regular maintenance that is not as labor intensive year-round, according to Brubaker.