BLATANT VIOLATIONS + THAW = ROAD DAMAGE

Natural gas truck stopped on Bradford County road weighing 41.6 tons over weight limit

By Jason Whong •jwhong@gannett.com
pressconnects.com
January 28, 2010, 10:45 pm

The driver of a natural gas industry service truck that was more than 41.6 tons over the weight limit on a Bradford County road received more than $25,000 in traffic citations Tuesday, according to state police in Towanda.

Police said Kevin Parsons, 44, of New Albany, Pa., was the driver of the truck found parked on Covered Bridge Road in Burlington Township. The road has a posted weight limit of 10 tons.

"We've had so many problems lately with blatant (weight limit) violations," said Cpl. Roger Stipcak.

"We've tried ... to educate them about this stuff, but now we're going to start taking them forthwith to the magistrate," Stipcak said.

Police said the truck is owned by Hodges Trucking Co. of Oklahoma City, Okla., which Chesapeake Energy lists as a subsidiary on its Web site.

"It's only going to get worse with all these gas companies coming in," Stipcak said.

Police said they investigated the truck, which they said was parked illegally, at about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday and learned the truck's oversize load was being transported with an invalid permit.

Police then weighed the truck and saw it exceeded the road's 10-ton weight restriction by 83,208 pounds, or 41.6 tons, without a permit.

Police said they also learned of "numerous other permit violations" in the investigation. They did not provide a detailed list of the violations or the exact amount of the fines.

Parsons was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Timothy Clark, who impounded the truck and its load. Parsons pleaded guilty to the violations, police said.

Heavy trucks can damage roads that weren't built for heavy loads, Stipcak said.

"Take a look at some of the roads that these trucks are running on. They're clumping and breaking up," Stipcak said.

"With this last thaw we had, the roads are really starting to fall apart."
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