Modernized Plymouth Weigh Station set to reopen after major renovations

The Brief

The Plymouth Weigh Station near the Oregon border is set to reopen after nearly two years of renovations to the facility, which was originally built in 1973.

The renovated facility features updated equipment and an inspection shed with a pit that allows officers to inspect commercial vehicles more safely and efficiently while standing up rather than crawling underneath trucks.

The modernized Plymouth Weigh Station is expected to be fully operational by the end of August and will resume screening commercial vehicles traveling between Washington and Oregon.

BENTON COUNTY — A commercial vehicle weigh station near the Oregon border is getting ready to reopen after over a year of renovations.

The Plymouth Weigh Station, located along Interstate 82 and Highway 14 near the Oregon border just before Umatilla, serves as a checkpoint where commercial vehicle enforcement officers screen commercial vehicles for weight, safety and other regulations before they continue down the highway.

Kevin Osborn, a commercial vehicle enforcement officer with the Washington State Patrol, explains how the weigh station operates.

"So as they're coming through here, we're able to… we have two scale pads here where we can weigh them. We're also looking at them. And we may see an anomaly that, hey, we need to stop that truck and that needs to get fixed right away," Osborn said.

However, the original Plymouth Weigh Station, which was built in 1973, had aging infrastructure that made inspecting commercial vehicles more difficult, leading to a nearly two-year renovation of the facility. Osborn describes the challenges officers faced at the old facility.

"When we inspected a truck, we had to actually park the truck, and then we would use creepers and crawl underneath it and inspect everything, whether it was raining, whether it was snowing ten degrees below 0 or 100 degrees, it didn't matter," Osborn said.

Now that is about to change. The new facility, which recently became operational, features updated equipment designed to help officers more safely and efficiently inspect commercial vehicles. The modernized weigh station brings significant improvements to how inspections are conducted.

"Now, with the new building, we've got an inspection shed with a pit that we can actually go in and our officers can inspect things standing up. They can look at things a little bit more carefully because it's in the natural view. But this building, it is bringing state of the art technology to this section of the highway, like we see on I-90 in Spokane, I-90 going through Clallam," Osborn said.

The new inspection shed with a pit represents a major advancement in working conditions for officers. By allowing inspectors to stand and view vehicles from below rather than crawling underneath, the facility improves both safety and the quality of inspections. Officers can now conduct more thorough examinations in a controlled environment regardless of weather conditions.

The renovations to the weigh station will better help officers and officials conduct commercial vehicle enforcement, as well as help continue their mission of protecting the driving public. Osborn emphasizes the importance of this work by sharing his perspective on road safety.

"My biggest concerns when I first started as an officer, my approach was the next person this truck could come in contact with was my 16 year old daughter who had just gotten her license, and I wanted to make sure that she's safe. I changed that shortly thereafter, when I went to my first collision and realized somebody's 16 year old daughter or son or their mother or father is who's going to see this truck next? And we want to make sure it's safe," Osborn said.

Officers say keeping the roads safe is a shared responsibility, which is why they encourage drivers to give commercial vehicles plenty of space and remember just how large and heavy those trucks can be. David Brandt, another commercial vehicle enforcement officer, explains the challenges commercial vehicle drivers face.

"They're just trying to get from one place to another. But remember, they're 80,000 pounds. They're hard to see around. The drivers are aware, but they're hard to see the little, smaller cars that are around them. And it takes longer for them to stop or move or negotiate a possible hazard," Brandt said.

The modernized Plymouth Weigh Station is expected to be fully operational by the end of August. Once fully operational, the facility will resume screening commercial vehicles traveling between Washington and Oregon.