(a) Weight limitations; weighing of vehicles.
Except as
otherwise provided by law, no commercial motor vehicle, truck-trailer,
trailer, or semi-trailer, nor combination of such vehicles, shall
be operated over, on, or upon the public streets and highways within
the corporate limits of the city having a weight in excess of one
(1) or more of the following limitations:
(1) No such vehicle nor combination of vehicles shall have a greater
weight than twenty thousand (20,000) pounds carried on any one axle,
including all enforcement tolerances; or with a tandem axle weight
in excess of thirty-four thousand (34,000) pounds, including all enforcement
tolerances; or with an overall gross weight on a group of two (2)
or more consecutive axles produced by application of the following
formula:
W = 500 X (LN/N-1 + 12N +36)
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where W = overall gross weight on any group of two (2) or more
consecutive axles to the nearest five hundred (500) pounds, L = distance
in feet between the extreme of any group of two (2) or more consecutive
axles, and N = number of axles in the group under consideration, except
that two (2) consecutive sets of tandem axles may carry a gross load
of thirty-four thousand (34,000) pounds each providing the overall
distance between the first and last axles of such consecutive sets
of tandem axles is thirty-six (36) feet or more, provided that such
overall gross weight may not exceed eighty thousand (80,000) pounds,
including all enforcement tolerances.
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(2) No such vehicles nor combination of vehicles shall have a greater
weight than six hundred (600) pounds per inch width of tire upon any
wheel concentrated upon the surface of the highway and using high-pressure
tires, and a greater weight than six hundred fifty (650) pounds per
inch width of tire upon any wheel concentrated upon the surface of
the highway and using low-pressure tires, and no wheel shall carry
a load in excess of eight thousand (8,000) pounds on high-pressure
tires and ten thousand (10,000) pounds on low-pressure tires, nor
any axle a load in excess of sixteen thousand (16,000) pounds on high-pressure
tires and twenty thousand (20,000) pounds on low-pressure tires.
(3) Nothing in this section shall be construed as permitting size or
weight limits on the national system of interstate and defense highways
within the corporate limits of the city in excess of those permitted
under 23 U.S.C. section 127. If the federal government prescribes
or adopts vehicle size or weight limits greater than those prescribed
by 23 U.S.C. section 127 for the national system of interstate and
defense highways, the increased limits shall become effective on the
national system of interstate and defense highways within the corporate
limits of the city.
(4) Nothing in this section shall be construed to deny the operation
of any vehicle or combination of vehicles that could be lawfully operated
upon the highways and roads within the corporate limits of the city
on February 14, 1980.
(5) In this section, an axle load is defined as the total load transmitted
to the road by all wheels whose centers may be included between two
(2) parallel transverse vertical planes forty (40) inches apart, extending
across the full width of the vehicle. Tandem axle group is defined
as two (2) or more axles spaced forty (40) inches or more apart from
center to center having at least one (1) common point of weight suspension.
(6)
(A) Any police officer having reason to believe that the gross weight
or axle load of a loaded motor vehicle is unlawful is authorized to
weigh the same by means of portable or stationary scales approved
by the police department of the city for such use, or the police officer
may cause the loaded motor vehicle to be weighed by any public weigher
and may require such vehicle to be driven to the nearest available
scales for the purpose of weighing.
(B) In the event that the gross weight of a vehicle weighed pursuant to subsection
(A) above is found to exceed the maximum gross weight authorized by law, plus a tolerance allowance of five percent (5%) of the gross weight authorized by law, such police officer shall demand and require the operator or owner of the motor vehicle to unload, or cause to be unloaded, such portion of the load as is necessary to decrease the gross weight of such vehicle to the maximum permitted by law plus such tolerance allowance. Such vehicle may not be operated further over the public streets and highways within the city until the gross weight of the vehicle has been reduced to a weight not in excess of the maximum authorized by law plus such tolerance allowance, except as authorized under subsection
(D) or
(E) below.
(C) In the event that the axle load of a vehicle weighed pursuant to subsection
(A) above is found to exceed the maximum authorized by law, plus a tolerance allowance of five percent (5%) of the axle load authorized by law, such police officer shall demand and require the operator or owner of the motor vehicle to decrease the axle load to the maximum authorized by law plus such tolerance allowance. The owner or operator may reduce such load by rearranging the cargo, if possible, or by unloading or having others unload such portion of the cargo as is necessary to decrease the axle load to the maximum authorized by law plus such tolerance allowance. Such vehicle may not be operated further over the public streets and highways within the city so long as any axle load exceeds the maximum authorized by law plus such tolerance allowance, except as authorized under subsection
(D) or
(E) below.
(D) If the load of a motor vehicle consists of livestock, the operator
shall be permitted to proceed to the destination without unloading,
providing the destination is within the state.
(E) If the gross weight of a motor vehicle or an axle load exceeds the
maximum permitted by law plus a tolerance allowance of five percent
(5%) of the gross weight authorized by law, but the police officer
believes that the cargo cannot be unloaded or rearranged safely at
the place where such vehicle was weighed, or the police officer believes
that the unloading or rearranging of the cargo at such place would
create an unreasonable disruption of traffic, he shall require the
operator to proceed to a location where the cargo can be unloaded
or rearranged safely without causing disruption to traffic. Such location
shall be the nearest such place on city property, on property under
the control of the driver or his principal, or on property where consent
has been given for such loading and where it is feasible to unload
or rearrange such cargo.
(b) Special permit.
Any person desiring to operate a vehicle
on city streets in excess of the load limit set out herein shall first
obtain a special permit from the city council, and such permit shall
not be issued unless reasonably necessary.
(c) Exemption for road making or road repairing machinery.
The limitation as to weight prescribed by this section shall not
apply to road rollers or other road making or road repairing machinery
being moved or used on a street by the United States, the state, the
city, or any contractor moving or using such road machinery in the
performance of or preparatory to the performance of a contract with
either the United States, the state, or the city, but in the event
of any such road making or road repairing machinery of a weight in
excess of the limit set out herein being moved over the streets or
bridges in the city, the person in charge thereof shall first obtain
from the director of public works and engineering a permit for such
movement, which permit shall designate the route or streets and also
the bridges over which such movement shall take place, and such machinery
may then be moved, but not elsewhere than over such designated routes.
(d) Liability for damage.
Any person moving or causing to
be moved a load which, together with the weight of the vehicle, exceeds
the limit as set out herein, shall be liable to the city for any damage
done by any such excessively loaded vehicle to the streets, bridges,
or culverts in the city, and the acceptance of either of the permits
provided for in this section shall be conclusive evidence that the
person to whom such permit is issued agrees to make good and pay all
such damages upon demand thereof made by the city.
(e) Compliance with state law.
The driver, owner, operator,
or other person operating or driving any commercial motor vehicle,
truck, tractor, trailer, or semi-trailer or combination of such vehicles
over, on, or upon city streets or public highways within the limits
of the city shall comply with the provisions of V.T.C.A., Transportation
Code, chapter 621.
(f) Penalty.
The driver, owner, operator, or other person operating or driving any commercial motor vehicle, truck, tractor, trailer, or semi-trailer or combination of such vehicles over, on, or upon city streets or public highways within the limits of the city who fails to comply with the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined in accordance with the general penalty provision found in section
1.01.009 of this code.
(1999 Code, sec. 10.1101)
(a) Weight limits specified by signs.
When signs are erected
giving notice thereof, no person shall operate any vehicle with a
gross weight in excess of the amounts specified on such signs at any
time upon any of the streets or parts of streets so signed. Under
this section, as vehicle weight is indicated by the number of axles
supporting such vehicles, signs limiting the number of axles on through
vehicles shall be official.
(b) Use of truck routes.
No person shall operate any commercial
vehicle exceeding ten thousand (10,000) pounds gross weight at any
time upon any streets or parts of streets within the city except those
streets designated and marked “truck routes,” except that
such vehicles may be operated thereon for the purpose of delivering
or picking up materials or merchandise or for vehicle storage and
then only by entering such street at the intersection nearest the
destination of the vehicle and proceeding thereon no farther than
the nearest intersection thereafter.
(c) Parking restrictions.
No person shall park or leave
standing any commercial vehicle exceeding ten thousand (10,000) pounds
overall gross weight, whether attended or unattended, upon any street,
part of street, or public right-of-way or alley within the corporate
limits of the city for longer than one (1) hour. Whenever any peace
officer shall find a vehicle standing upon a street, part of a street
or public right-of-way or alley within the corporate limits of the
city which he has reason to believe is parked in violation of this
section, he is authorized to move such vehicle or require the driver
or person in charge of such vehicle to move such vehicle to the nearest
available scales for the purpose of weighing.
(d) Penalty.
The driver, owner, operator, or other person who shall leave any commercial vehicle parked upon a city street, part of a street, public right-of-way, or alley in violation of this provision shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined in accordance with the general penalty provision found in section
1.01.009 of this code.
(1999 Code, sec. 10.1102)
(a) Applicability.
No motor vehicle, commercial motor vehicle,
truck-tractor, trailer, or semitrailer shall exceed a length of forty
(40) feet, except it shall be lawful for refrigeration equipment installed
in a trailer or semi-trailer for the purpose of refrigerating the
cargo thereof to overhang the front of such vehicle, even though such
overhang would make the total length of such vehicle more than forty
(40) feet. When any such truck-tractor and semi-trailer are operated
in combination, no such combination of a truck-tractor or semi-trailer
coupled together shall exceed a total length of fifty-five (55) feet,
and when operated in any other combination of such vehicles coupled
together, including but not limited to a truck and semi-trailer, truck
and trailer, truck-tractor and semi-trailer and trailer, truck-tractor
and two (2) trailers, then no such other combination of such vehicles
coupled together shall exceed a length of sixty-five (65) feet. The
limit of forty (40) feet on a semi-trailer shall not apply when such
semi-trailer is operated in a tractor semi-trailer combination, if
such combination does not exceed fifty (50) feet in total length,
and unless, in the case of any combination of such vehicles, same
be operated by municipal corporations in adjoining suburbs wherein
such municipal corporation has heretofore been using such or like
equipment in connection with an established service to such suburbs
of the city. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any
disabled vehicle being towed by another vehicle to the nearest intake
place for repairs.
(b) Mobile homes.
The above limitations shall not apply
to any mobile home or to any combination of a mobile home and a motor
vehicle, but no mobile home or motor vehicle combination shall exceed
a total length of fifty-five (55) feet. “Mobile home”
as used herein means living quarters equipped and used for sleeping
and eating and which may be moved from one location to another over
a public highway by being pulled behind a motor vehicle.
(c) Special permit.
Upon application therefor, the city
council may, in its discretion, issue a permit authorizing any such
applicant to operate in the outskirts of the city a string of vehicles
of greater length than herein limited, but in no event longer than
eighty-five (85) feet overall, and such permit shall be limited to
a specific job or definite period of time to be therein indicated.
(1999 Code, sec. 10.1103)
Any ready-mix concrete truck or other vehicle transporting ready-mixed
concrete upon the streets and highways within the limits of the city
shall have a gross weight of not more than 58,000 pounds, being the
total weight of the ready-mixed concrete and transporting vehicle.
(1999 Code, art. 10.800)