Drivewyze Adds Four New Sites in Western Illinois
Illinois has added Drivewyze PreClear weigh station bypass to four new sites - two on U.S. Interstates 55/70 and I-64 in southwestern Illinois near St. Louis and two on I-74 and I-80 in northwestern Illinois near the Iowa – Illinois border.
Drivewyze now offers service at 12 of Illinois’ busiest weigh stations, which are jointly operated by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and the Illinois State Police. Across the United States and Canada, Drivewyze offers weigh station bypass at over 700 sites in 42 states and provinces.
Drivers with Drivewyze weigh station bypass on their Drivewyze-enabled electronic logging devices, tablet and smartphones began receiving bypasses at these four new sites in early April: East Moline WB on I-80; Moline EB on I-74; Maryville WB on I-55/70; and O’Fallon EB on I-64.
In 2015, Drivewyze activated service at eight locations - four sites in the Chicago area, two in the southern and eastern parts of the state and two in central Illinois, north of Springfield.
“This expansion has been eagerly anticipated as a number of carriers have been asking us about improving coverage at the sites they travel most since we first activated Drivewyze,” said Brian Heath, CEO of Drivewyze. “With Drivewyze now active at weigh stations in the Greater St. Louis metro area, drivers traveling on the Chicago-Kansas City Expressway will have opportunities to earn bypasses along that busy route. Drivers will also appreciate having bypass opportunities in the Quad Cities Metropolitan Area, a busy metro region that includes Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa and Rock Island, Moline and East Moline in Illinois.”
The latest figures from IDOT show vehicle traffic on I-80 in the Quad Cities area has increased by 32 percent from 2002 to 2015. Additionally, IDOT’s counts from 2015 indicate segments of I-74 and I-80 in the Quad Cities saw average daily counts of nearly 4,000 trucks and more than 11,000 trucks respectively. The department anticipates vehicle traffic in the Quad Cities to grow another 39 percent at the I-74/I-80 interchange and by 67 percent at the Middle Road interchange by 2040.
IDOT’s 2015 count further shows the two sites on I-55/70 and I-64 in the Greater St. Louis area in 2015 saw average daily counts of between 9,000 and 9,500 trucks. A 2015 study on freight transportation conducted by IDOT and the Leadership Council of Southwestern Illinois, identifies the Greater St. Louis area as the fourth largest inland freight hub in the nation generating 210 million tons of inbound and outbound freight in 2012. With about 42 percent of all inbound and outbound freight being moved by truck in the Greater St. Louis area, it ranked No. 8 in truck shipments among all inland freight hubs, according to the joint 2015 study.
“Drivewyze is an important part of the state’s efforts in keeping freight moving by allowing trucks operated by safe carriers to stay on the road,” Heath added. “It also helps safeguard the motoring public by allowing commercial vehicle enforcement officers to prioritize their enforcement efforts.”
Three years ago, the Illinois DOT and State Police activated Drivewyze at eight locations in Chicagoland and the eastern, central and southern parts of the state. Drivewyze analyzed the visits at those eight locations by all vehicles with active service during those three years. That analysis shows that Illinois has the highest number of annual visits among all states with active Drivewyze service in Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s Region III. Besides Illinois, this would include Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Illinois is also among the top 10 states nationwide visited by trucks with active Drivewyze service.
The Drivewyze PreClear weigh station bypass application comes pre-loaded on in-cab telematics devices and ELD software provided by Omnitracs, PeopleNet, Pegasus Transflo, Rand McNally and Zonar. Fleets can turn on a free analytics weigh station loss reporting tool to help them determine how much Drivewyze can potentially save them before activating the subscription-based weigh station bypass service. The application is also available for Android and iOS-based tablets or smartphones.
To learn more about Drivewyze, visit www.drivewyze.com.