(a) 
Requirements.
Except as otherwise provided in this article, no person shall operate upon any public street within the corporate limits of the city any commercial motor vehicle, truck tractor, road tractor, trailer, semitrailer, pole trailer or any combination thereof, except on such streets designated as either truck routes or commercial delivery routes. Such vehicles shall be operated on a truck route whenever reasonably practicable to use a truck route to fulfill the purpose for which such vehicle is then being operated.
(b) 
Affirmative defense.
It is an affirmative defense to subsection (a) of this section that a vehicle was traveling to or from a truck terminal, garage, place of repair, place of performing a service or a place of loading or unloading over the shortest practicable route to a point on a truck route or commercial delivery route. Any such vehicle shall be permitted to proceed from one such point not on a truck route or a commercial delivery route if to so return would unreasonably increase the distance to be traveled between such points. The operator of any such vehicle shall carry evidence of the location of its last stop and of its immediate destination in order for such exception to apply.
(c) 
Exceptions.
The provisions of this section shall not apply to:
(1) 
Emergency vehicles operating in response to any emergency call;
(2) 
Vehicles operated by a public utility while cruising in an assigned area for the purpose of inspecting the facilities of such public utility and/or providing maintenance service to such facilities;
(3) 
Municipal vehicles performing city business.
(Code 1975, § 16-76)
(a) 
Compliance required.
Except as otherwise provided in this article, it shall be unlawful and a violation of this article for any person to drive, operate or move, and/or to cause or permit to be driven, operated or moved, on a public street, other than a state or federal highway, within the corporate limits of the city, any motor vehicle, with or without a load, contrary to any of the regulations contained in this section.
(b) 
Width, height and length.
(1) 
Width.
No vehicle shall exceed a total outside width, including any load thereon, of 96 inches, except that the width of a farm tractor shall not exceed nine feet. Such vehicle size limitations shall not apply to implements of husbandry, machinery used solely for the purpose of drilling water wells, regardless of whether it is a unit in itself or a unit mounted on a conventional vehicle or chassis, and highway building and maintenance machinery temporarily propelled or moved upon the public highways. Such vehicle size limitations shall not apply to vehicles on which implements of husbandry are being carried or moved, provided, such vehicles are being moved by the owners thereof or their agent or employee for the purpose of carrying on agricultural operations, and provided further that such implements are being moved or carried a distance of not more than 50 miles.
(2) 
Height.
No vehicle unladen or with a load shall exceed a height of 13 feet, six inches, including the load.
(3) 
Length.
a. 
No motor vehicle shall exceed a length of 45 feet. It shall be unlawful for any combination of vehicles to be coupled together, including, but not limited to, a truck and semitrailer, truck and trailer, truck tractor and semitrailer and trailer, truck tractor and two trailers, to exceed a length of 65 feet, if such combination of vehicles is operated exclusively within the limits of the city. Motor buses, as defined in V.T.C.A., Transportation Code § 541.201, exceeding 35 feet in length, but not exceeding 40 feet in length, may be lawfully operated if such motor buses are equipped with air brakes and have a minimum of four tires on the rear axle, and provided further that such limitations shall not apply to any mobile home or any combination of a mobile home and a motor vehicle, but no mobile home and motor vehicle combination shall exceed a total length of 55 feet. For the purposes of this subsection, the term "mobile home" 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. No mobile home shall be entitled to the exception contained in this subsection unless the owner of such mobile home shall have paid all taxes, including ad valorem taxes, and fees due and payable under the laws of the state, levied on such mobile home.
b. 
Except as provided in subsection (b)(3)c. of this section, no passenger car, regardless of weight, nor any other motor vehicle with an unloaded weight of less than 2,500 pounds may be coupled with more than one other vehicle or towing device at one time.
c. 
If a passenger car or other motor vehicle has an unloaded weight of 2,500 pounds or more, it may be coupled with a towing device and one other vehicle. Subsection (b)(3)b. of this section does not apply to the towing of a disabled vehicle to the nearest intake place for repairs.
d. 
No combination of vehicles or a vehicle operated alone shall carry any load extending more than three feet beyond the front thereof, nor, except as otherwise provided in this subsection (b)(3), more than four feet beyond the rear thereof.
e. 
No passenger vehicle shall carry any load extending more than three inches beyond the line of the fenders on the left side of such vehicle, nor extending more than six inches beyond the line of the fenders on the right side thereof, provided that the total overall width of such passenger vehicle shall in no event exceed 96 inches, including any and all such loads.
(c) 
Maximum weight.
No motor vehicle or combination of vehicles shall be operated, or caused or permitted to be operated, upon any public street within the corporate limits of the city having a weight in excess of any one or more of the following limitations:
(1) 
In no event shall the total gross weight, with the load, of any vehicle or combination of vehicles exceed 8,000 pounds.
(2) 
No axle shall carry a load in excess of 20,000 pounds. For the purposes of this subsection, the term "axle load" means the total load transmitted to the road by all wheels, the centers of which may be included between two parallel transverse vertical planes 40 inches 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 34,000 pounds for each such tandem axle group. For the purposes of this subsection, the term "tandem axle" means two or more axles spaced 40 inches or more apart from center-to-center, having at least one common point of weight suspension.
(4) 
Ready-mix concrete trucks with tandem axle loads exceeding 36,000 pounds, with single axle loads exceeding 12,000 pounds, or with a gross load exceeding 48,000 pounds are prohibited from all public streets in the corporate limits of the city, except:
a. 
Airport Freeway;
b. 
Loop 820;
c. 
Texas 121 (Grapevine Highway);
d. 
Davis Boulevard (FM Road 1938); and
e. 
Any other public highway maintained by the state.
(5) 
Vehicles used exclusively to transport milk may be operated upon the public streets of the city if the distance between the front wheel of the forward tandem axle and the rear wheel of the rear tandem axle, measured longitudinally, is at least 28 feet and the maximum load carried on any group of axles does not exceed 68,000 pounds.
(d) 
Exceptions.
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 highway department under the provisions of V.T.C.A., Transportation Code § 623.071 et seq.;
(2) 
Emergency vehicles operating in response to any emergency call;
(3) 
Vehicles operated for the purpose of constructing or maintaining any public utility in the city;
(4) 
Municipal vehicles performing city business.
(e) 
Overweight/oversize vehicle permits.
(1) 
Upon written application timely made by any person who desires to operate, or cause to be operated, on public property, public sidewalks or public streets, other than solely on a state highway, within the corporate limits of the city, overweight or oversize equipment for the transportation of such commodities as cannot be reasonably dismantled, where the total gross weight or size of the vehicle and its load exceed the limits allowed by this section, the department of building inspection, after consulting with the police department, department of traffic and transportation, and department of public works, shall issue a permit for the operation of such equipment or fleets of equipment for a specified period of time, over routes to be designated by the department of traffic and transportation, if such routes can be determined at the time application for the permit is made.
(2) 
Moved buildings are subject to the provisions of chapter 98, article III and article X, divisions 1 and 2.
(f) 
Public safety requirements.
(1) 
Lights.
a. 
Every building which occupies any portion of public property after sundown shall have sufficient lights burning continuously between sunset and sunrise for the protection of the public.
b. 
There shall be a minimum of five red lights placed on each street side of the building. Such lights shall be attached to the building in such a manner as to indicate extreme width, height and size.
(2) 
Flares.
In addition to the lights required in subsection (f)(1) of this section, flares shall be placed in the street at regular intervals for a distance of 200 feet measured from each side of the building.
(3) 
Flagmen.
When, in the opinion of the building official, flagmen are necessary to divert or caution traffic, the mover of a building shall employ, at his expense, such number of flagmen as the building official shall deem necessary for the purpose of diverting or cautioning traffic. Red lights shall be employed in flagging traffic at night.
(Code 1975, § 16-78)
It shall be unlawful for any person to operate, or cause to be operated, any commercial motor vehicle on a public street of the city in such a 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.
(Code 1975, § 16-79)