(a) The maximum axle load shall not exceed the number of pounds designated in the following provisions which prescribe the distance between axles:
(1) When the axle spacing is nine feet or more between axles, the maximum axle load shall be 18,000 pounds for vehicles equipped with high-pressure pneumatic or balloon tires.
(2) When the axle spacing is less than nine feet between two axles but more than three and one-half feet, the maximum axle load shall be 13,000 pounds for high-pressure pneumatic or balloon tires.
(3) When two axles are spaced less than three and one-half feet apart, the maximum axle load shall be 9,000 pounds per axle.
(4) Paragraphs (a)(1), (2) and (3) hereof shall be known as the normal loading maximum.
(b) When normal loading is in effect, the State Highway Commission and the City Engineer may designate certain highways, or sections of those highways, where bridges and road surfaces are adequate for heavier loading, which designation may be revised as needed, on which the maximum tandem axle assembly loading shall not exceed 16,000 pounds for any axle of the assembly.
(c) Except as provided in subsection (h) hereof, on a legal combination of vehicles, only one tandem axle assembly shall be permitted on the designated highways at the gross permissible weight of 16,000 pounds for a tandem axle, and no other tandem axle assembly in the combination of vehicles shall exceed a gross weight of 13,000 pounds for a tandem axle. When the maximum gross weight of a combination of vehicles with load does not exceed 73,280 pounds, two tandem axle assemblies shall be permitted on the designated highways at a gross permissible weight of 16,000 pounds for a tandem axle.
(d) The normal size of tires shall be the rated size, as published by the manufacturers, and the maximum wheel load permissible for any wheel shall be 700 pounds per inch of width of tire.
(e) During the months of March, April and May in each year, the maximum axle load allowable on concrete pavements, or pavements with a concrete base, shall be reduced by twenty-five percent from the maximum axle loads, as specified in this chapter, and the maximum axle loads allowable on all other types of roads during these months shall be reduced by thirty-five percent from the maximum axle loads, as specified. The maximum wheel load shall not exceed 525 pounds per inch of tire width on concrete and concrete base or 450 pounds per inch of tire width on all other roads during the period the seasonal road restrictions are in effect.
(f) The State Highway Commission or the County Road Commission, with respect to highways under its jurisdiction, or the City Engineer, may suspend the restrictions imposed by this section when and where, in its or his or her discretion, conditions of the highways or the public health, safety and welfare so warrant, and may impose the restricted loading requirements of this section on designated highways at any other time that the conditions of the highway may require.
(g) For the purpose of enforcement of this section, the gross vehicle weight of a single vehicle and load, or a combination of vehicles and loads, shall be determined by weighing individual axles or groups of axles, and the total weight on all the axles shall be the gross vehicle weight.
(h) The State Highway Commission or the City Engineer may designate a highway, or a section of a highway, for the operation of vehicles which do not exceed any of the following:
(1) 20,000 pounds on any one axle.
(2) A tandem axle weight of 34,000 pounds, including all enforcement tolerances.
(3) An overall gross weight on a group of two or more consecutive axles equaling:
(LN )
W = 500 ( + 12N + 36 )
(N - 1 )
where W equals overall gross weight on a group of two or more consecutive axles to the nearest 500 pounds, L equals distance in feet between the extreme of a group of two or more consecutive axles, and N equals the number of axles in the group under consideration, except that two consecutive sets of tandem axles may carry a gross load of 34,000 pounds each if the first and last axles of the consecutive sets of tandem axles are not less than thirty-six feet apart. The gross vehicle weight shall not exceed 80,000 pounds, including all enforcement tolerances. Except for five-axle truck tractor, semitrailer combinations having two consecutive sets of tandem axles, vehicles having a gross weight in excess of 80,000 pounds or in excess of the vehicle gross weight determined by application of the formula in this paragraph shall be subject to the maximum axle loads of paragraphs (h)(1), (2) and (3) hereof. As used in this subsection, "tandem axle weight" means the total weight transmitted to the road by two or more consecutive axles, the centers of which may be included between parallel transverse vertical planes spaced more than forty inches, but not more than ninety-six inches, apart, extending across the full width of the vehicle.
(i) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a truck tractor pulling a semitrailer and trailer combination shall not transport, except between the hours of 12:00 midnight to 6:00 a.m., on routes and at times designated by the Department of State Police, a flammable liquid, in bulk, which has a flashpoint at or below seventy degrees Fahrenheit, within a county having a population of 600,000 or more. In addition, a truck, a truck pulling a trailer or a truck tractor pulling a semitrailer shall not transport, except between the hours of 12:00 midnight to 6:00 a.m., on routes and at times designated by the Department of State Police, a flammable liquid, in bulk, which has a flashpoint at or below seventy degrees Fahrenheit, in a quantity of more than 9,000 gallons, within a county having a population of 600,000 or more. The exceptions provided by this subsection for transport on routes designated by the Department of State Police shall be construed to permit that transport only for the purpose of picking up or delivering a flammable liquid at a supply depot.
(j) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a truck, a truck pulling a trailer, a truck tractor pulling a semitrailer, or a truck tractor pulling a semitrailer and trailer combination, shall not transport a flammable liquid, in bulk, which has a flashpoint at or below seventy degrees Fahrenheit within the City, unless the truck, truck and trailer combination, truck tractor and semitrailer combination, or truck tractor, semitrailer and trailer combination, meet safety standards, as determined by the State Fire Safety Board.
(k) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a truck tractor pulling a semitrailer and trailer combination shall not transport a flammable liquid, in bulk, which has a flashpoint at or below seventy degrees Fahrenheit within the City.
(l) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section other than subsections (c) and (e) hereof, a truck with a water capacity of more than 9,500 gallons, a truck tractor pulling a semitrailer with a water capacity of more than 9,500 gallons, a truck pulling a trailer, a truck tractor pulling a semitrailer and trailer combination, or a truck tractor pulling two semitrailers, shall not transport in the City a flammable liquid, in bulk, which has a flashpoint at or below seventy degrees Fahrenheit, unless the existing manhole or inspection ports of each truck, semitrailer or trailer in the vehicle combination have been equipped with devices which are capable of withstanding the forces caused by an internal pressure of fifty pounds per square inch, applied and held at least fifty milliseconds, and then released to two pounds per square inch, without having any residual venting of flammable liquid during the subsequent two pounds per square inch condition.
(m) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a truck or a truck tractor pulling a semitrailer, a semitrailer and trailer combination, or two semitrailers, shall not transport in the City a flammable liquid, in bulk, which has a flashpoint at or below seventy degrees Fahrenheit, if the truck or semitrailer, a semitrailer and trailer combination, or two semitrailers, were manufactured after July 1, 1982, or were manufactured before July 1, 1982, but were not vehicles registered in this State by the Secretary of State at any time between January 1, 1985, and October 1, 1985, unless the truck or the semitrailer, a semitrailer and trailer combination or two semitrailers, have a water capacity of less than 13,800 gallons.
(n) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a truck or truck tractor pulling a semitrailer shall not transport a flammable liquid, in bulk, which has a flashpoint at or below seventy degrees Fahrenheit, in a quantity of more than 13,400 gallons.
(o) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a truck or truck tractor pulling a trailer or semitrailer, a semitrailer or trailer combination, or two semitrailers, shall not transport a flammable liquid, in bulk, which has a flashpoint at or below seventy degrees Fahrenheit, in a quantity of more than 13,400 gallons, unless the owner of the truck or truck tractor pulling the trailer or semitrailer, combination semitrailer or trailer, or two semitrailers, files with the Department of State Police, within sixty days after the effective date of the Act, a notarized statement that the truck or truck tractor pulling the trailer or semitrailer, semitrailer or trailer combination, or two semitrailers, did transport a flammable liquid, in bulk, having a flashpoint at or below seventy degrees Fahrenheit, at any time between March 1, 1985, and October 1, 1985. Attached to the notarized statement shall be one of the following:
(1) A copy of the bill of lading containing the date the flammable liquid was transported and the permanent identification number of the trailer or semitrailer in which the flammable liquid was transported.
(2) A copy of the daily log prepared by the driver of the vehicle transporting the flammable liquid, which contains the date the flammable liquid was transported and the permanent identification number of the trailer or semitrailer in which the flammable liquid was transported.
(p) Whoever violates subsection (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f) or (g) hereof shall be subject to the penalty provided in Section 486.99(c).
(q) Except a provided in subsection (p) hereof, a person who violates this section is responsible for a civil infraction.
(r) This section shall be enforced only by a police officer.
(Res. 93-512. Passed 7-26-93.)