Explosive detection systems installed in truck weighing stations

Published 7 July 2006

A new market opportunity opens up for explosive detection systems: truck weighing stations

Here is a new market for makers of explosive detection devices: Truck weigh stations. Concern over trucks being used by terrorists as weapons has lead to more and more truck weigh station to install explosive detection devices which scan the truck’s cargo before being weighed. Two scanners have been installed at the Truckee scales in California. The Truckee station is located on Interstate 80, the second longest interstate highway in the United States. The Interstate carries a large volume of commercial truck traffic heading toward and out of California. Trucks now pass under a new archway which contains explosive detectors on their way through the Truckee weigh station. An undisclosed number of detectors have been installed throughout California.

The new arch is not just a bomb detector, it also detects chemicals,” said Tom Marshall with the California Highway Patrol’s headquarters in Sacramento. Marshall said the new sensors are similar to those in airports in their ability to see more than a normal x-ray. “The new model detects a wider variety of materials,” he said. “Because of the homeland security nature of it, we don’t talk a lot about them. I can assure you that we have them and deploy them throughout the state.”