The Minnesota Department of Transportation spent two years adding traffic lanes in both directions on Interstate 94 between Maple Grove and Rogers and putting in a new interchange at Dayton Parkway.
The agency also put in two cameras in the vicinity of Dayton Parkway with both of them focused on westbound traffic. None were installed on the eastbound side. Drive reader Jeff noticed them and wondered what they are for.
"Are the cameras to track traffic or are they license plate readers?" he asked the Drive in an e-mail. "Why are they there? What is their purpose especially since only facing one direction?"
The cameras are not license plate readers, nor are they hooked into the department's network of cameras that allow motorists to check traffic conditions. The cameras are part of the state's weigh-in-motion truck enforcement system, said MnDOT spokeswoman Anne Meyer.
The cameras are one of 17 weigh-in-motion systems around the state, said Sgt. Jesse Grabow of the State Patrol.
The weigh-in-motion system is used by the Minnesota State Patrol's Commercial Vehicle Inspection (CVI) Section to determine if there are any violations with a commercial vehicle, such as a semitrailer truck, box truck or charter bus or limousine transporting passengers.
The weigh-in-motion system takes a photo and weight reading of all vehicles that cross the sensors in the pavement. The photo helps troopers identify a commercial vehicle if the system indicates it may be violating one of Minnesota's weight laws.
The images obtained by the cameras are not transmitted anywhere or monitored by anyone except troopers who are actively working that site, Meyer said.