M.O.T. Project (Overload Monitoring on Route)
Restriction on vehicles with a total weight exceeding 40 tonnes on the Nocera Inferiore – Salerno section of the southbound carriageway and the Salerno Cava de’ Tirreni section of the northbound carriageway.
The Rome Territorial Inspection Office of the Ministry of Infrastructure has ordered safety checks to be carried out in accordance with the current NCT2018 regulations on a number of viaducts on the Cava de’ Tirreni – Salerno section of the A3 Naples-Pompei-Salerno motorway.
Pending the completion of ‘safety checks’ on the viaducts, a restriction has been imposed, which is still in force, on the transit of vehicles weighing more than 40 tonnes.
The above checks were completed in collaboration with technicians from the University of Naples Federico II. These checks showed that the works examined comply with the static design of the construction project, but have not been fully verified under the load conditions required by the most recent regulations (NTC2018).
The positive verification coefficient of the aforementioned works was verified in accordance with NTC2018, which showed that the works are capable of withstanding a load of 44-tonne vehicles on both lanes.
The verification highlighted the need to restore the load conditions by implementing continuous and objective monitoring of compliance with the load conditions of the structures in order to avoid overload conditions not verified by the aforementioned reports.
With a view to restoring traffic conditions in line with the capacity of the infrastructure, the Company has taken steps, in conjunction with the Grantor, to develop this control system.
The MOT (Monitoraggio Overload su Tratta, or Route Overload Monitoring) project integrates and develops existing dynamic weighing components, providing, in the event of confirmed violations by vehicles exceeding the permitted transit conditions, a protocol that physically and automatically inhibits:
- Access to motorway stations/junctions by implementing automatic closure of the same until the vehicle exceeding the pre-established weight limit has left the area.
- The closure of the motorway section (before the area where the bridges to be preserved are located) in all cases where vehicles exceeding the weight limit, despite being informed of the confirmed exceeding of the limit and the obligation to exit the motorway section, disregard the instructions and attempt to force the prohibition.
Static signs will be placed at the approach to the section subject to traffic restrictions in order to remind all motorists in transit that the Nocera Inferiore – Salerno section is closed to vehicles weighing more than 40 tonnes, and special signs will be placed to indicate the safety closure of the section.
The system, provided for in the Guidelines for risk classification and management, safety assessment and monitoring of existing bridges, was approved and made enforceable by Ministerial Decree No. 578 of 17/12/2020. On 26/06/2021, the MOT system came into operation, providing for the control of all vehicles with a total mass exceeding 40 tonnes on the Nocera Inferiore – Salerno section, for all users coming from Naples and heading south, and on the Salerno – Cava dei Tirreni section, for users coming from Salerno and heading north.
