Crane co.’s overweight haul hit with biggest ticket in R.I. history

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Updated Jul 29, 2017

Heavy Hauler Load Overweight

The most expensive ticket in Rhode Island history just went to a trucking company that did not have an overweight permit for a 280-ton truck.

Bay Crane Northeast was fined $57,000 Tuesday for attempting to travel through Rhode Island recently in an unpermitted 560,000-pound rig destined for Massachusetts, according to wpri.com.

The truck, which was carrying a massive generator, was pulled over last month on Interstate 95 and impounded for nearly two weeks while state officials and Bay Crane worked out an arrangement to get the 16-axle truck safely to Massachusetts.

The Rhode Island Department of Transportation had said that the truck’s original route would have likely resulted in a bridge collapse. The state later reported that the four bridges and roads that the truck had traversed before being impounded had not been damaged.

Before being allowed to hit the road again last week, Bay Crane had agreed to reimburse the state $60,000 for its trouble in dealing with the truck, pay for a police escort to Massachusetts and issue a $25 million insurance policy with the state as a co-insured party.

The truck, which weighed over seven times the legal limit of 80,000 pounds, slowly ambled along a government-approved route and reached its destination in Medway, Mass. on July 14.