Weight scales at Padma Bridge installation completed

The installation work of electric sensor-controlled weight measuring scales has been completed at the Jazira and Mawa ends of the Padma Bridge.

Cargo vehicles weighing more than 27 tonnes will not be allowed on Padma Bridge from next January. After the construction of the three-lane O’scale, experimental measurements are underway.

Due to this modern weighing technology, cars can be weighed while running without the need to be queued up.

In an on-spot visit at the Jajira end of the bridge on Friday, our correspondent found engineers busy testing the performance capabilities of the O’scale while workers are busy marking the lanes.

A sand-loaded truck was used to examine the performance capabilities of the O’scale technology. The weight is instantly displayed on a digital display.

According to bridge authority sources, the Korean Expressway Contracting Company has installed the scale at a budget of Tk 692 crore.

The movement of vehicles weighing more than 27 tonnes was prohibited on Padma Bridge. However, since the inauguration of Padma Bridge, all types of vehicles have crossed because there was no automatic weight measurement system.

Henceforth, every cargo vehicle coming through the expressway from both ends crossing the Padma Bridge will have to go through the three designated O’scale lanes before reaching the toll plaza.

Vehicles weighing up to 27 tonnes will cross the Padma Bridge directly through the green zone after paying the toll. And heavy vehicles will go through the red zone to the stockyard built next to the toll plaza. There, the vehicles will cross the Padma bridge through the green zone after reducing the weight within 72 hours.

In this regard, Chief Engineer of Bangladesh Bridge Authority Kazi Mohammad Ferdous said, the O’scale will be fully operational from January. Overweight vehicles will not be able to cross the bridge afterwards.