Methodology to Map Routes from Truck Permit Database, Using a Linear Reference System and Network Analysis

Trucking companies can obtain permits from state agencies allowing them to haul oversize and overweight (OSOW) loads. Most permit systems assign a specific route to be followed that accounts for various network travel restrictions. The routes assigned in these permits can provide a wealth of information for different types of transportation analyses. Unfortunately, the permit data are not always generated by a geographic information system (GIS) or archived in a manner that facilitates analysis in a GIS platform. This paper presents a methodology that was developed to process archived permit records from the West Virginia Department of Transportation (DOT) so that the records could be imported into a GIS and plotted by using the existing West Virginia DOT linear referencing system (LRS). Some agencies do not have a GIS-based OSOW permitting system, and those that use a GIS permitting system are still faced with the challenge of integrating archive data with existing GIS-LRS platforms. The methodology pres...