How a $14M project will help drivers keep on truckin’ across WA-OR border
The Plymouth Weigh Station at the Oregon border will resume screening commercial vehicles entering Washington state in late May or early June.
Most of the time, however, it will screen trucks electronically instead of making drivers pull over for physical inspections and to get weighed.
The weigh station at Interstate 82 and Highway 14 is a prominent roadside feature greeting motorists and truck drivers entering Washington via the Columbia River bridge at Umatilla, about 30 miles south of the Tri-Cities.
Before it closed for the project in late 2024, most commercial vehicles were required to stop for safety checks at the Plymouth point of entry.
For more than a year, it has undergone a major $14 million makeover that includes an electronic screening system that relies on technology to let drivers bypass stopping at the station.
The Plymouth station joins a growing list of weigh stations equipped with electronic screening equipment.
The system works in tandem with transponders, license plate readers and weigh-in-motion systems. Trucks that don’t need to stop get a green light to drive on by.
To date, 15 weigh stations including Plymouth have been upgraded.
Most commercial vehicles can bypass the weigh in, saving time and fuel.
The Washington State Department of Transportation said electronic systems processed more than 6.5 million commercial vehicles in 2023, translating to $39 million in benefits.
The I-82/Highway 395 corridor just north of the border had an average daily traffic load of about 21,000 vehicles in both directions, according to 2024 state counts. A high proportion are heavy trucks.
The system lets the Washington State Patrol to focus enforcement efforts on carriers considered more likely to violate laws governing weight limits, size, safety and other concerns.
Granite Construction Co. of Yakima is the contractor on the project. It is funded by the state, which required that small and veteran-owned businesses have an opportunity to perform some of the work.
This story was originally published April 28, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "How a $14M project will help drivers keep on truckin’ across WA-OR border."