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The Roads and Bridges Authority announced Thursday that it has activated the truck weighing station (weighbridge) at the Ghout al-Rumman checkpoint on the main coastal road, in Tajura, east of the capital, Tripoli. It stated that the weighbridge has started operating, weighing trucks according to the authorized legal loads.
This announcement came during the inauguration ceremony of the weighbridge, in the presence of the Head of the Roads and Bridges Authority, Hussein Sweida, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Transport for Land Transport Affairs, Fadlallah Al-Shilwi, the Mayor of Tajura Municipality, Khaled Al-Azrag, and the Director of the Tajura Security Directorate, Major General Mohamed Dakhil.
Speaking exclusively to Libya Herald, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Trasport for Land Transport Affairs, Fadlallah Al-Shilwi, confirmed the importance of having weighbridges along the coastal road to weigh the loads of transport trucks to determine which roads can be taken by violating trucks carrying loads that exceed those permitted on Libyan roads. These violators have in the past years caused damage to many roads, including cracks to flyovers.
Restrictions will be applied
Al-Shilwi added, from now on, heavy transport trucks will not be allowed to use roads except for those that adhere to the specified load according to traffic safety standards. There will also be limits on truck loads for light transport on some roads within cities. Anyone who violates the regulations, standards, and conditions of heavy transport inside and outside cities will be fined, he added.
Weighbridges along the coastal road from Egyptian to Tunisian border
Al-Shilwi said there will be several truck weighbridges at several points along the coastal roads from the Egypt border in the east to the Tunisian border in the west. The weight of trucks will be checked at all these points so that the weights are not tampered with by drivers crossing the coastal road.
Transporters of building materials are the most violators
Al-Shalawi said that marble, ceramics, cement, and some types of building materials are the most harmful to the roads because their weights are very large. He said drivers, especially those coming from Egypt, deliberately load building materials above the permissible weight and so are fined at the first weighing point and not allowed to use Libyan roads except after reducing the load of their trucks, he explained.
Libyan authorities coordinating to regulate heavy transport
He explained that this work comes within the framework of strengthening the partnership between the ministries and the competent authorities to regulate heavy transport through complementary work between all concerned parties.
Six other weighbridges will open as well as mobile bridges
It is worth noting that this weighbridge is the first to open since 2010 after ceasing work for 13 years. The Roads and Bridges Authority reported that there are six other weighbridges that will open successively. The authorities will also be operating impromptu mobile weighbridges at different locations in cooperation with the Traffic and Licensing Affairs Department and the regional Security Directorates.
