Don’t ask Sgt. Russell Billman to guess your weight.

He already knows it.

Billman manages the new weigh station in the westbound lane on Interstate 15-90 between Butte and Rocker, where his staff monitors some 400 to 600 rigs during each 10-hour shift.

“There are busier days than others,” he said at the station one recent afternoon.

The station opened in February 2006 and replaces a smaller building that had been located nearby on the westbound exit ramp at the Rocker truck stop.

This new station is more spacious, has new equipment and scales and a big parking lot with additional space for vehicle inspections.

 The station uses sensitive equipment to ensure vehicles traveling on the interstate are meeting weight and safety guidelines for the Montana Department of Transportation’s Motor Carrier Services Division.

“Our highways are expensive to build and they are vulnerable to weight and speed,” said Capt. Mike Pool of the division.

Weigh stations across Montana are also staffed with officers on the open road using enforcement vehicles equipped with radar, portable scales and high-band radios.

Billman, a Butte native and Army veteran, started with the division in April 2002 after retiring from the military in October of the previous year with 20 years of service.

“I’ve been in uniform 26 years,” said Billman, who now wears state-issued garb to work.

Billman’s station is equipped with radios, switches and computer screens showing him the weight of vehicles as they pass over a remote scale on the interstate west of Montana Street, about three minutes before they reach the station.

Overweight readings appear in red on the computer screen and drivers can be asked to stop at the station to face further inspection and possible fines.

Some drivers pay a monthly fee to pass the weigh station without stopping, as long as their weight and other licensing checks out from information tracked at the remote scale and relayed to the station.

All other vehicles weighing over 14,000 pounds, not including RVs, must stop and pass over the scales.

“We want to weigh as many of them as we can,” Pool said, as a semi truck pulled onto the scales.

Billman checks the weight of each vehicle’s axle, flipping a See STATION, Back Page Station
 switch giving drivers a green light to move forward and a red light to stop as the next axle pulls onto the scale.

A reader board shows drivers the weight of their vehicle and tells them whether they may continue on the interstate, or pull into the station parking lot.

Drivers are asked to pull over when they are carrying more weight than allowed, or for random inspections.

An officer inspecting the vehicles works from a small structure at the north end of the station’s parking lot. That employee will conduct a number of safety checks, inspect loads and make sure off-road diesel isn’t being used on the interstate.

“I don’t think a lot of people realize all that it entails with this job,” Capt. Pool said.

While Billman has been on the job nearly six years, he said it took about two years to learn the basics of federal motor carrier safety regulations, hazardous material guidelines, state laws and other regulations.

And whether officers with the division are stopping rigs at weigh stations or on the open road, Pool said each encounter is another learning experience.

“You’re dealing with something different every traffic stop,” he said.

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