Bridge-Weigh-In-Motion by Two-Span Continuous Bridge with Skew and Heavy-Truck Flow in Fukuoka Area,Japan

Abstract

For clarifying maintenance requirements of National Highway 201 in the Fukuoka area, a project to investigate actual truck weights was initiated in the year 2002. To this end, the bridge-weigh-in-motion was employed. Nevertheless, a two-span continuous curved bridge with skew was the only bridge available in the area: the bridge is far from ideal for the weigh-in-motion. Preliminary field test taking account of various traffic situations was therefore conducted carefully to see if the project goal could be achieved with this bridge. The test result has confirmed that the bridge-weigh-in-motion employed in the present project can estimate truck weights with satisfactory accuracy, the error being 11.7% at most. The real-time weigh-in-motion system was then constructed and run for 237 days in the year 2004. The data thus obtained reveals characteristics of heavy-truck flow in National Highway 201 in the Fukuoka area.