The acting head of the Department for Road Infrastructure Recovery and Development of the Agency for Restoration Oleg Fedorenko talks about this in a story on the TV program “Prokydaisia” on the “MY UKRAINA +” TV channel.
Today Ukraine has almost 40,000 km of paved public roads. More than 68% are asphalt concrete. Every overloaded truck in the heat is a direct path to their destruction.
At high air temperatures asphalt heats up even more. According to research, the impact on the road increases exponentially depending on the weight of the vehicle. Doubling the weight can increase the destructive effect 16 times.
For example, at +28°C the asphalt heats up to over +43°C. From this point on, the bitumen begins to melt and the road becomes vulnerable to deformation: rutting, cracks and potholes, waves and the “plasticine” effect. According to research, one overloaded truck (for example, weighing 40 tons instead of the permitted 24 tons) can cause damage to the road equivalent to the passage of thousands of passenger cars. And that means thousands of hryvnias for resurfacing.
In order to save both roads and money, traffic restrictions or even bans are in place for trucks during the hottest hours of the day. Weight restrictions have also been established. The Agency for Restoration has introduced a system for monitoring axle load and total vehicle weight on the road — Weigh-in-Motion (WIM). This makes it possible to monitor traffic around the clock and automatically record violations with minimal human intervention. Weight parameters are monitored by UkrTransBezpeka (State Service of Ukraine for Transport Safety) and the National Police.
We are also installing appropriate road signs and information panels for this period and setting up parking areas for trucks. We are separately notifying motor carriers about changes to freight transportation schedules with a shift to nighttime operations.