By Staff
SURVEYING THE LAND Terry Haskett, left, and Daniel McNeil, both employees of the Mississippi Department of Transportation, survey the ground for a new weigh station on Interstate 20/59. The station is expected to open in 2005. Photo by Kyle Carter/The Meridian Star
By Steve Gillespie / staff writer
Sept. 2, 2003
The wide open spaces where an old weigh station once stood at Kewanee on Interstate 20/59 near the Alabama state line are making room for an updated weigh station.
Brad White, spokesman for Central District Transportation Commissioner Dick Hall, said the project is still in its infancy.
Dana Cleveland is the project engineer for construction of the new weigh station.
Work on the federally funded project by the Mississippi Department of Transportation began earlier this summer and will cost more than $13 million.
The new weigh station will have "weigh-in-motion" scales on each side of the interstate, which will allow trucks coming from Alabama and going into Alabama to literally weigh as they pass through.
Administrative buildings and inspection barns are also part of the project.
Cleveland said the replacement of the old weigh station, which she believes was built in the 1960s, was sorely needed.
MDOT's Office of Law Enforcement is responsible for enforcing Mississippi's size, weight and load laws, fuel tax laws, privilege license laws, and the collection of those taxes.
When MDOT closes a weigh station, it increases its use of MDOT officers who use portable scale units to help enforce the state's commercial vehicle regulations.