THE surface of a new expressway in Longgang District is being seriously damaged by overloaded dump trucks.
The 13.34-kilometer expressway connects Shuiguan Expressway and Hengping Road, and is one of the quickest ways to get to downtown Shenzhen from Henggang, Buji, Pinghu, Longcheng, Pingdi subdistricts and Dongguan and Huizhou cities.
New traffic regulations implemented in August stipulate that fines of up to 80,000 yuan (US$12,077) will be imposed on overloaded trucks and the fines will be shared by the driver, truck owner and employer. Many dump truck drivers ignored the new rules and took the risks to make more money, a Southern Metropolis Daily report said.
Many overloaded dump trucks from areas such as Huizhou travel to cement plants in Buji and Henggang subdistricts using the road and some were giant trucks weighing more than 100 tons, said a resident surnamed He.
A growing number of overloaded dump trucks have been using this road to save time. Compared with many regular dump trucks, these are quite big and similar in size to a container truck and some are even taller. If they keep driving like this without any supervision, the new road will soon be seriously damaged, He said.
A standard dump truck weight limit was 30 tons, but many of these trucks weighed more than 100 tons, said Deng Yuqing, the person in charge of the preparatory committee of the Shenzhen Dump Truck Association.
If two dump trucks loaded with more than 100 tons of sand and stones pass a bridge from one side at the same time, the bridge could collapse, Deng said.
(Wang Yuanyuan)
