County Highway officials are monitoring roads to know when to post and lift road restrictions. Fond du Lac County Highway Commissioner Tom Janke says that you may not see damage right away for hauling over the load limit as it is a progressive damage that deteriorates the infrastructure or pavement over time. He reminds farmers to pay attention to the weight of their loads and that there are permits available for heavy loads as the fines you may encounter otherwise can be costly.
“Our roads were built well before our current farming practices and larger agricultural equipment came to be,” Janke explains. “Pavement life is roughly 20 to 25 years and if people don’t follow the load restrictions for certain roads, it is ultimately affecting that lifespan.”
Janke inspects the roads every other year and rates them on a scale of 1 to 10 for cracks and different tests to determine the functionality. He says the dead of winter is the time to move your heaviest loads before things start thawing out in order to cause less distressing of the pavement and keep the roads rating high.
He adds, “We have a lot of bridges throughout the county and some are posted for loads. Even agricultural equipment is not exempt from those postings. There’s a reason that structure has been posted and if you exceed those limits, you’re definitely taking a chance that you can jeopardize that structure’s structural integrity.”
With the thawing of snow and frozen ground comes spring weather and more farm equipment back on the roads. Janke encourages those operators to have a dialogue with their engineers to make sure that when they are using the highways, they understand the conditions of the road and stay within those limits.
“If you need to do certain practices where your limits are exceeding the statutory limits, you need to have those discussions with your highway engineer and receive permits accordingly,” says Janke.
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