Maryland offers new automated truck permit system

In addition to eliminating truck permit paperwork, the “Maryland One System” is expected to reduce the overweight hauling permit processing from days or weeks to hours.    The state of Maryland has fully implemented what it deems to be a “first-in-the-nation” automated truck permit system for state, toll and Baltimore’s city roads, eliminating the former paper-based process altogether.
   The so called “Maryland One System” is also expected to reduce the overweight hauling permit processing from days or weeks to just hours and ends review fees, the state said.
   “The Maryland One System makes transporting goods through our state significantly easier and less expensive,” said Gov. Larry Hogan in statement.
   The Maryland Department of Transportation receives more than 140,000 overweight/oversize permit applications each year, which until recently, required engineers to manually review for safety.
   “Now, Maryland One is auto-issuing 69 percent of applications the same day or even within hours of submission,” the governor’s office said. “At this point, 97 percent of these permits are issued within two days or less, while it previously took up to 10 or more days.”
    According to the state’s numbers, since May, overweight/oversized trucks collectively crossed bridges 2.38 million times under 50,756 permits, with an average of 47 bridges. The previous review fee was $8 per bridge. With 35,000 automated permits, or 69 percent, truckers in the state have saved $3 million in fees since late May.
   Over the same period, the state saved more than $440,000 in staff wages that would have been otherwise spent physically reviewing paper-based permits.
   The full implementation of Maryland One is estimated to save more than $6 million annually.
   “The technology automates the tedious process that once required bridge engineers and motor carrier experts to individually analyze each overweight move to determine the safest route, calculate the safe speed, and reduce the overall impact on road infrastructure, especially bridges,” Hogan’s office said.
   “Maryland One relieves staff to focus on ‘super-load’ and ‘mega-load’ moves from 500,000 to more than a million pounds, which means quicker turn around on more complex moves that require more scrutiny for safe travel,” the office added. “In 2015, there were more than 100 mega moves in Maryland.”