It is the purpose of this article to provide regulations for the control of streets and thoroughfares in the city, to control the flow of truck traffic in the city, and to protect the health, safety and welfare of the general public.
(Ordinance 11-0613-01, sec. 2, adopted 6/13/11)
The following words, terms, and phrases, when used in this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
Authorized emergency vehicle.
Any vehicle of the fire department or police department, or public and private ambulances for which permits have been issued by the state board of health; emergency vehicles of municipal departments or public service corporations as are designated or authorized by the governing body of an incorporated city; private vehicles operated by volunteer firemen or certified emergency medical services employees or volunteers while answering a fire alarm or responding to a medical emergency; and vehicles operated by blood banks or tissue banks, accredited or approved under the laws of this state or the United States, while making emergency deliveries of blood, drugs, medicines, or organs.
Business destination.
Any location within the city limits to which a commercial motor vehicle may travel for purposes of conducting the routine business activities normally associated with said vehicle. Business destinations shall include truck terminals, motor fuel stations, garages, places of repair, places of performing a service, and places of loading and unloading.
Commercial motor vehicle.
Any motor vehicle designed or used for the transportation of property, not including a passenger bus, passenger automobile, motorcycle, panel delivery truck, or pickup truck.
Driver or operator.
Every person who drives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle.
Motor vehicle.
Every vehicle which is self-propelled.
Place of business origin.
Any place within the city limits from which a commercial motor vehicle embarks for the purpose of conducting the routine business activities normally associated with said vehicle. Points of business origin shall include truck terminals, motor fuel stations, garages, places of repair, places of performing a service, and places of loading or unloading.
Roadway.
That portion of a street or highway improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular travel, exclusive of the berm or shoulder. If a street or highway includes two (2) or more separate roadways, the term “roadway” shall refer to any such roadway separately but not to all such roadways collectively.
Semi-trailer.
Every vehicle of the trailer type so designed or used in conjunction with a motor vehicle that some part of its own weight and that of its own load rests upon or is carried by another motor vehicle.
Street or highway.
The entire width between the boundary lines of every right-of-way publicly maintained when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel.
Trailer.
Every vehicle without motive power designed or used to carry property or passengers wholly on its own structure and to be drawn by a motor vehicle.
Truck-tractor.
Every motor vehicle designed or used primarily for drawing other vehicles and not so constructed as to carry a load other than a part of the weight of the vehicle and load so drawn.
Vehicle.
Every mechanical device in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a public highway, including motor vehicles, commercial motor vehicles, truck-tractors, trailers, and semi-trailers, severally, as herein defined, but excepting devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.
(Ordinance 11-0613-01, sec. 3, adopted 6/13/11)
An offense under this article is a misdemeanor punishable:
(1) 
By a fine not to exceed two hundred dollars ($200.00);
(2) 
On conviction before the first anniversary of the date of a previous conviction under this article:
(A) 
By a fine not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500.00); or
(B) 
If the convicted person is a corporation, by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000.00); or
(3) 
On a conviction before the first anniversary of the date of a previous conviction under this article that was punishable under subsection (2) of this section, or this subsection (3):
(A) 
By a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1.000.00); or
(B) 
If the convicted person is a corporation, by a fine not to exceed two thousand dollars ($2.000.00).
(Ordinance 11-0613-01, sec. 9, adopted 6/13/11)
No person shall operate or cause to be operated any truck or other commercial motor vehicle on a public street in the city without a business destination or place of business origin within the corporate limits of the city except upon streets designated as truck routes; provided, however, this section shall not apply to authorized emergency vehicles operating in response to emergency calls nor to vehicles operated by a public utility in the performance of inspection or maintenance functions. Such truck with a business destination or place of business origin within the corporate limits of the city shall be operated only on truck routes or on the shortest street route between such business destination or place of business origin and the nearest truck route. The driver of any such truck or commercial motor vehicle shall, at any time such truck or commercial motor vehicle is operated off a truck route, carry with him a bill of lading or other written evidence showing all places of business origin and business destinations within the city.
(Ordinance 11-0613-01, sec. 4, adopted 6/13/11)
(a) 
The following streets are designated truck routes in the city: Highway 34 and Highway 667.
(b) 
The city administrator shall erect, or cause to be erected, appropriate signs and markings to designate the truck routes and load limits described in this article.
(c) 
Whenever any street designated as a truck route is being repaired or is otherwise temporarily out of use, the city administrator, or his/her designee, is authorized to designate alternate truck routes for such period as might be necessary.
(Ordinance 11-0613-01, sec. 5, adopted 6/13/11)
(a) 
Except as otherwise provided in this article, it shall be unlawful for any person to drive, operate or move, or to cause or permit to be driven, operated or moved, on any public street within the city, any commercial motor vehicle, with or without load, contrary to any of the size, height, and weight regulations contained in this article or in state law, and in the case of a conflict state law controls.
(b) 
No commercial motor vehicle shall exceed a total outside width, including any load thereon, of one hundred two inches (102"), except that the width of a farm tractor shall not exceed nine feet (9') and that the limitations as to size of a vehicle stated in this section shall not apply to implements of husbandry, machinery used solely for the purpose of drilling water wells, or highway or street building or maintenance machinery owned or operated by or on behalf of the state or any of its political subdivisions or the city. No commercial motor vehicle, unladen or with load, shall exceed a height of fourteen feet (14'), including load.
(c) 
No commercial motor vehicle, truck-tractor, trailer, semitrailer nor combination of such vehicles shall be operated or caused or permitted to be operated upon any public street within the city having a weight in excess of any one (1) or more of the following limitations:
(1) 
In no event shall the total gross weight, with load, of any vehicle or combination of vehicles exceed eighty thousand pounds (80,000 lbs.).
(2) 
No single axle shall carry a load in excess of twenty thousand pounds (20,000 lbs.). A single axle load shall be 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 inches (40") apart, extending across the full width of the vehicle.
(3) 
The total gross weight concentrated on the highway surface from any tandem axle group shall not exceed thirty-four thousand pounds (34,000 lbs.) for each such tandem axle group. Tandem axle weight is the total weight transmitted to the road by two or more consecutive axles whose centers may be included between two parallel transverse vertical planes spaced more than forty inches (40") and not more than ninety-six inches (96") apart, across the full width of the vehicle.
(4) 
Vehicles used exclusively to transport ready-mix concrete may be operated upon public streets of the city with a tandem axle weight not to exceed thirty-four thousand pounds (34,000 lbs.) and a gross weight not to exceed eighty thousand pounds (80,000 lbs.).
(d) 
The provisions of this section shall not apply to:
(1) 
Any person operating or causing to be operated a motor vehicle under a valid and subsisting permit for the operation of overweight or oversize equipment for the transportation of such commodities as cannot be reasonably dismantled issued by the state department of transportation under the provisions of chapter 623 of the Texas Transportation Code as such chapter now exists or might from time to time be amended;
(2) 
Authorized emergency vehicles operating in response to any emergency call;
(3) 
Vehicles which have obtained permission and routing from the chief of police.
(Ordinance 11-0613-01, sec. 6, adopted 6/13/11)
It shall be unlawful for any person to operate or cause to be operated any commercial motor vehicle on a public street in such manner as to permit any portion of its cargo, either liquid or solid, to fall out of, spill from, or blow out of such vehicle.
(Ordinance 11-0613-01, sec. 7, adopted 6/13/11)
A person commits an offense if he stops, parks, or stands a truck-tractor, trailer, semi-trailer, or any commercial motor vehicle upon a public street or highway or other public place. This section shall not apply to street construction, maintenance, and repair equipment; trucks, equipment, trailers, and vehicles used by public service utility companies engaged in repairing or extending public service utilities; motor buses when taking on or discharging passengers at customary bus stops; other vehicles when actually parked at a designated loading zone or where it is lawful to park a commercial motor vehicle for the purpose of accepting or delivering transportable goods; or a vehicle with a mechanical defect making it unsafe to proceed further, in which event it shall be lawful to stand or park the vehicle during the time necessary to make emergency repairs.
(Ordinance 11-0613-01, sec. 8, adopted 6/13/11)
(a) 
It shall be unlawful for any person or owner to allow to park, stand or store any truck-tractor, semi-trailer, trailer bus, oversized commercial vehicle or any commercial motor vehicle with a rated capacity in excess of one and one-half (1-1/2) tons, according to the manufacturer’s classification, upon any public right-of-way, street, alley, parkway, vacant or undeveloped lot/land, private premises or public place within the city, within any area not zoned by the zoning ordinance as industrial, or commercial with a specific use permit, for truck and trailer parking.
(b) 
This section shall not prevent the parking or standing of the above-described vehicles in such areas for the purpose of expeditiously loading or unloading passengers, freight, merchandise or property; nor prevent the parking of buses owned and operated by churches or day care centers; nor prevent the parking of any vehicles owned and operated by the Italy Independent School District from parking on property owned and maintained by the Italy Independent School District; nor prevent the parking of any vehicles owned and operated by the county from parking on property owned and maintained by the county; nor prevent the parking of any vehicles owned and operated by the city from parking on property owned and operated by the city.
(c) 
Provided further that this section shall not apply to street construction, maintenance and repair equipment trucks, rollers, and implements or to trucks, equipment, trailers and vehicles used by any public service utility service companies, the city or its contractors engaged in repairing or extending public service utilities or city services or for the purpose of accomplishing solid waste disposal operations.
(d) 
Any person, firm, or corporation violating this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined in accordance with the general penalty in section 1.01.009 of this code.
(Ordinance 02-01-01 adopted 1/8/02)
Parking of trucks larger than one ton is prohibited on public streets and right-of-way in the city except where otherwise allowed by law on F.M. Road 667, IH-35E access roads, U.S. Highway 77, and R.M. Road 1134. Parking of trucks one ton or larger rated capacity is prohibited on any other streets, roads, or public right-of-way, except that if an actual delivery is being made, the vehicle may be temporarily parked on said other streets only while an attendant is with the truck.
(1990 Code, ch. 7, sec. 4.B(6))