Maryland Hails Savings for Truckers, State Thanks to Automated Permitting System
Maryland’s Department of Transportation said Nov. 2 that the automated permitting system it introduced in May will save the trucking industry $6 million annually in fees.
According to MDOT, the Maryland One System is a first-in-the-nation automated truck permit system and will reduce overweight-hauling permit processing from days and weeks to hours and eliminate review fees.
“The Maryland One System makes transporting goods through our state significantly easier and less expensive,” Gov. Larry Hogan said in a statement. “[We are] delivering on our promise to be more business friendly, reduce fees and put money back into the pockets of hard-working Maryland families and businesses.”
According to MDOT, Maryland receives more than 140,000 overweight/oversize permit applications each year. That used to require bridge engineers and motor carrier experts to manually review each application to determine the safest route, calculate the safe speed and reduce the overall impact on road infrastructure, especially bridges.
With Maryland One, 69% of applications are issued the same day and 97% within two days. The trucking industry has 24/7 immediate access to initiate, revise and update permits. Maryland One also offers streamlined billing and invoicing along with a routing function which automatically provides the best route along Maryland highways and provides suggestions for continuity of service onto county roads.
“Maryland One is significantly improving efficiency for carriers needing permits, and we appreciate the technological investment by our state to streamline the permitting process for motor carriers,” Maryland Motor Truck Association CEO Louis Campion told Transport Topics.
“This tool is another great example of MDOT’s customer-driven commitment to delivering intelligent transportation solutions to our partners in the trucking industry,” MDOT Secretary Pete Rahn added. “Time is money, and the Maryland One System allows us to save truckers both time and money.”
According to MDOT, since Maryland One went into effect, overweight/oversize trucks have crossed bridges 2.4 million times in the state using 50,756 permits. Trucks that used Maryland One saved the $8 review fee. Those 35,000 automated permits project to more than $6 million in annual savings for truckers and more than $440,000 saved to taxpayers in MDOT staff time no longer needed to review permits.
