Prior to 2010, New Jersey handled its oversize/overweight (OS/OW) permitting manually through the Motor Vehicle Commission using a non-route-specific paper process. To increase public safety and protect the state’s infrastructure, however, the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) required a solution that ensures all OS/OW vehicle permit applications are properly checked against permit law, rule and policy, as well as against existing infrastructure limits. NJDOT needed to maximize the automated issuance of permits, as well as analysis of routes, bridges and restrictions, while minimizing the manual review time required by its staff. The need to achieve all these objectives without adding any new information technology costs was a further challenge. With more than 5,000 unique logins and more than 14,000 hauling companies with varying technology experience, NJDOT needed a cost-effective, accessible and user-friendly application to ensure adoption of its new processes and solution across the trucking industry.
Solution
Working with Bentley, NJDOT deployed Superload as the foundation for its automated OS/OW permitting, routing and analysis system. Established via a public-private partnership transaction-fee-based approach, which automatically passes transaction fees onto permit applicants, the system reduced the implementation cost and risk for NJDOT. The software was configured to enable data input for permit administration, comprehensive routing, clearance and bridge analysis, restriction management for construction activity, and automated applicant notifications to accommodate changes after permit issuance. Using Bentley software, NJDOT has improved public safety, promoted efficient interstate and intrastate commerce, and increased industry compliance.
Using Superload enables NJDOT to perform real-time live load analysis of every bridge crossed by overweight vehicles, optimizing public safety and protection of roadway infrastructure assets. The application enables roadway and bridge crossing data to be shared and stored for every permitted trip, offering expansive querying capabilities. The functionality further enables the use of historical data for transportation planning, law enforcement and regulatory compliance.
Outcome
Since its launch in 2011, Bentley’s Superload system—which is accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week—has increased the automatic permit issuance rate by 33%. In 2016, 80% of the 105,000 permits granted were automatically reviewed and issued by the system without human intervention. The automated process has considerably reduced the amount of time it takes to issue permits. Based on the level of system issuance and the minimized need for manual review, approximately 92% of all permits are issued in less than two hours, approximately 94% in less than four hours, and approximately 99% in less than two days. By improving the turnaround time for applicants, it is estimated the trucking industry is saving up to $16 million per year in idle time. In addition, the ability of the Superload system to provide automated, consistent reviews of every application and trip reduces the risk of damage to the state’s infrastructure to the lowest level possible.
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