347.01 Oversize or overweight vehicles.
347.02 Projecting loads on passenger vehicles.
347.03 Maximum width, height and length.
347.04 Loads dropping or leaking.
347.05 Towing requirements.
347.99 Penalty.
CROSS REFERENCES
See sectional histories for similar State law
Authority to designate weight limits on local streets - see W. Va. Code 17C-2-8(a)(7)
Authority to permit oversized buses - see W. Va. Code 17C-17-2(b)
Red light or flag on extended load - see TRAF. 345.07
Transporting explosives - see TRAF. 345.27
(a) Use of State Route. No person shall operate or move a vehicle or combination of vehicles of a size or weight of vehicle or load exceeding the maximum specified in West Virginia Code Article 17C-17 upon any State route within the Municipality, except pursuant to special written permit issued by the Commissioner of Highways, or upon any local truck route. Every such permit shall be carried in the vehicle or combination of vehicles to which it refers and shall be open to inspection by any police officer.
No holder of a permit issued by the Commissioner of Highways shall be required to obtain any local permit or license or pay any local fee or charge for movement on any State route within the Municipality; however, it shall be unlawful to operate any such vehicle or combination of vehicles upon any roadway within the Municipality which is not a State route, except as provided in subsection (c) hereof.
(b) Use of Local Streets. No person shall operate a vehicle exceeding a size as specified in Section 347.03
or exceeding a gross weight of five tons, upon any street in the Municipality other than a State route, except those local streets designated as a truck route and marked as such by appropriate traffic signs, and except when such operation is necessary to load or unload property, to go to or from the usual place of storage of such vehicle or to perform any other legitimate business or act other than passage through the Municipality. Operators of vehicles so deviating from either a State route or a designated truck route within the Municipality shall confine such deviation to that required in order to accomplish the purpose of the departure.
(c) Local Permit and Conditions. Upon application and for good cause, the Police Chief may issue a local permit authorizing an applicant to move an oversize or overweight vehicle or combination of vehicles upon local streets.
No permittee shall be required to obtain a special permit from the Commissioner of Highways for the movement of the vehicle or combination of vehicles on streets or highways under local jurisdiction; however, the approval of the Commissioner of Highways shall be required for movement upon State routes as provided in subsection (a) hereof.
The Police Chief may grant a permit for a single or round trip, or for such period of time, not to exceed one year, as the Police Chief in his discretion deems advisable, or for the duration of any construction project. The Police Chief may limit or prescribe terms or conditions of operation for such vehicle or combination of vehicles by designating the route, hours, speed or such other restrictions as may be necessary for the preservation of the public peace, property, health and safety. The Police Chief may require the posting of bond or other security necessary to compensate for any damage to a roadway or road structure.
For each such permit, the Police Chief shall charge five dollars ($5.00), and for each hour of time or any part thereof spent by each police officer in supervising the movement of such vehicle, the applicant shall pay the sum of ten dollars ($10.00).
Signs shall be posted indicating "no thru trucks - gross weight 5 tons" or words of similar import to apprise drivers of the limitations imposed by this section. No driver shall disobey the instructions indicated on any such sign.
Violation of any of the limitations, terms or conditions of the permit granted by the Police Chief shall be cause for immediate revocation or suspension of such permit, and denial of request for any future permit. Such violation shall also subject the violator to the penalty prescribed by Section 303.99.
(a) No passenger-type vehicle shall be operated on any street or highway with any load carried thereon extending beyond the line of the fenders of the left side of such vehicle nor extending more than six inches beyond the line of the fenders on the right side thereof.
(b) A motor home, travel trailer or truck camper may exceed the maximum width prescribed in Section 347.03, if the excess width is attributable to an appurtenance that does not exceed more than six inches beyond the body of the vehicle.
(WVaC 17C-17-3)
(a) A vehicle, including any load thereon, may not exceed a height of thirteen feet six inches, but the owner or owners of such vehicles shall be responsible for damage to any bridge or highway structure and to municipalities for any damage to traffic control devices or other highway structures where such bridges, devices or structures have a vehicle clearance of less than thirteen feet six inches.
(b) A motor vehicle, including any load thereon, may not exceed a length of forty feet extreme overall dimension, inclusive of front and rear bumpers, except that a motor home and school bus may not exceed a length of forty-five feet, exclusive of front and rear bumpers.
(c) Except as hereinafter provided in this subsection or in subsection (d) of this section, a combination of vehicles coupled together may not consist of more than two units and no combination of vehicles including any load thereon shall have an overall length, inclusive of front and rear bumpers, in excess of fifty-five feet except as provided in West Virginia Code 17C- 17-11b, and except as otherwise provided in respect to the use of a pole trailer as authorized in West Virginia Code 17C-17-5. The limitation that a combination of vehicles coupled together may not consist of more than two units may not apply to:
(1) A combination of vehicles coupled together by a saddle-mount device used to transport motor vehicles in a drive-away service when no more than three saddle mounts are used, if equipment used in the combination meets the requirements of the safety regulations of the United States Department of Transportation and may not exceed an overall length of more than seventy-five feet; or
(2) A combination of vehicles coupled together, one of which is a travel trailer or folding camping trailer having an overall length, exclusive of front and rear bumpers, not exceeding sixty-five feet.
(d) A combination of two vehicles coupled together, one of which is a motor home, or a combination of vehicles coupled together, one of which is a travel trailer or folding camping trailer, may not exceed an overall length, exclusive of front and rear bumpers of sixty-five feet.
(e) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (a), (b), (c) and (d) of this section, the Commissioner of Highways may designate, upon his or her own motion or upon the petition of an interested party, a combination vehicle length not to exceed seventy feet.
(f) The length limitations for truck tractor-semitrailer combinations and truck tractor- semitrailer-trailer combinations operating on the national system of interstate and defense highways and those classes of qualifying federal-aid primary system highways so designated by the United States Secretary of Transportation and those highways providing reasonable access to and from terminals, facilities for food, fuel, repairs and rest and points of loading and unloading for household goods carriers from such highways and further, as to other highways so designated by the West Virginia Commissioner of Highways, shall be as follows: the maximum length of a semitrailer unit operating in a truck tractor-semitrailer combination shall not exceed forty-eight feet in length except where semitrailers have an axle spacing of not more than thirty-seven feet between the rear axle of the truck tractor and the front axle of the semitrailer, such semitrailer shall be allowed to be not more than fifty-three feet in length and the maximum length of any semitrailer or trailer operating in a truck tractor-semitrailer-trailer combination may not exceed twenty-eight feet in length and in no event shall any combinations exceed three units, including the truck tractor: provided, that nothing herein contained shall impose an overall length limitation as to commercial motor vehicles operating in truck tractor-semitrailer or truck tractor-semitrailer- trailer combinations. (WVaC 17C-17-4)
(g) The total outside width, exclusive of safety equipment authorized by the United States Department of Transportation, of any vehicle or the load thereon may not exceed ninety-six inches, except as otherwise provided in West Virginia Code Article 17C-17: provided, that any vehicle with a total outside width of 102 inches, exclusive of safety equipment authorized by the United States Department of Transportation, may be operated on any street or highway designated by the United States Department of Transportation or the Commissioner of the Department of Highways or on any street or highway having a minimum lane width of ten feet.
(h) Motor homes, travel trailers, truck campers, and motor buses with a total outside width of 102 inches, excluding safety equipment authorized by the United States Department of Transportation may operate on any street or highway.
(WVaC 17C-17-2)
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