(a) A vehicle unloaded or with a load shall not exceed a height of thirteen feet, six inches. The owner of a vehicle that collides with a lawfully established bridge or viaduct is liable for all damage and injury resulting from a collision caused by the height of the vehicle, whether the clearance of the bridge or viaduct is posted or not.
(b) This subsection shall be known as the normal length maximum. Except as provided in subsection (c) hereof, the following vehicles and combinations shall not be operated on a highway or street in the City in excess of the following lengths:
(1) Any single vehicle: forty feet
(2) Articulated buses: sixty-five feet.
(3) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a combination of a truck and semitrailer or trailer, or truck tractor, semitrailer and trailer, or truck tractor and semitrailer or trailer, designed and used exclusively to transport assembled motor vehicles or bodies, recreational vehicles, or boats, which does not exceed a length of sixty-five feet. Stinger-steered combinations shall not exceed a length of seventy-five feet. The load on the combinations of vehicles described in this subsection may extend an additional three feet beyond the front and four feet beyond the rear of the combinations of vehicles. Retractable overhang for the front and rear shall not be included in determining the length of a loaded vehicle or combination of vehicles.
(4) Truck tractor and semitrailer combinations: no overall length, if the semitrailer does not exceed fifty feet.
(5) Truck and semitrailer or trailer: fifty-nine feet.
(6) Truck tractor, semitrailer, and trailer, or truck tractor and two semitrailers: fifty-nine feet.
(7) More than one motor vehicle, wholly or partially assembled, in combination, utilizing one tow bar or three saddle mounts with full mount mechanisms and utilizing the motive power of one of the vehicles in combination: not to exceed fifty-five feet.
(c) Notwithstanding subsection (b) hereof, the following vehicles and combinations of vehicles shall not be operated on a designated highway or street of the City in excess of the following lengths:
(1) Truck tractor and semitrailer combinations. No overall length, if the semitrailer does not exceed fifty-three feet. All semitrailers longer than fifty feet shall have a wheelbase of 40.5 feet plus or minus 0.5 feet, measured from the kingpin coupling to the center of the rear axle or the center of the tandem axle assembly if equipped with two axles. A semitrailer with a length longer than fifty feet shall not operate with more than two axles on the semitrailer. City, State or County authorities may prohibit stops of vehicles with a semitrailer longer than fifty feet within their jurisdictions unless the stop occurs along appropriately designated routes, or is necessary for emergency purposes or to reach shippers, receivers, warehouses, and terminals along designated routes.
(2) Truck and semitrailer or trailer combinations. Sixty-five feet, except that a person may operate a truck and semitrailer or trailer designed and used to transport saw logs, pulpwood, and tree length poles that does not exceed an overall length of seventy feet.
(3) Truck tractor, semitrailer, and trailer, or truck tractor and two semitrailers combinations. No overall length limit, if the length of each semitrailer or trailer does not exceed twenty-eight and one-half feet each, or the overall length of the semitrailer and trailer, or two semitrailers as measured from the front of the first towed unit to the rear of the second towed unit while the units are coupled together does not exceed fifty-eight feet.
(4) More than one motor vehicle, wholly or partially assembled. In combination, utilizing one tow bar or three saddle mounts with full mount mechanisms and utilizing the motive power of one of the vehicles in combination, not to exceed sixty-five feet.
(d) The following combinations and movements are prohibited:
(1) A truck shall not haul more than one trailer or semitrailer, and a truck tractor shall not haul more than two semitrailers or one semitrailer and one trailer in combination at any one time, except that a farm tractor may haul two wagons or trailers, or garbage or refuse haulers may, during daylight hours, haul up to four trailers for garbage and refuse collection purposes, not exceeding in any combination a total length of fifty-five feet and at a speed limit not to exceed fifteen miles per hour.
(2) A combination of vehicles or a vehicle shall not have more than eleven axles, except when operating under a valid permit issued by the State Transportation Department or a local authority with respect to a highway or street under its jurisdiction.
(3) Any combination of vehicles not specifically authorized under this section is prohibited.
(4) A combination of two semitrailers pulled by a tractor truck is prohibited, unless each semitrailer uses a fifth-wheel connecting assembly which conforms to the requirements of the Motor Carrier Safety Act, MCLA 480.1 to 480.21, as amended, and of this chapter.
(5) A vehicle or a combination of vehicles shall not carry a load extending more than three feet beyond the front of the lead vehicle.
(6) A vehicle described in paragraphs (b)(5) and (c)(4) hereof employing triple saddle mounts is prohibited, unless all wheels which are in contact with the roadway have operating brakes.
(e) All combinations of vehicles under this section shall employ connecting assemblies and lighting devices that are in compliance with Act No. 181 of the Public Acts of 1963, MCLA 480.11 et seq., as amended, the Michigan Motor Vehicle Code, MCLA 257.1 et seq., as amended, and this chapter.
(f) The total gross weight of a truck tractor, semitrailer, and trailer combination or a truck tractor and two semitrailers combination which exceeds fifty-nine feet in length shall not exceed a ratio of 400 pounds per engine net horsepower delivered to clutch or its equivalent specified in the handbook published by the Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc. (SAE), 1977 edition.
(g) A person who violates this section is responsible for a civil infraction. The owner of the vehicle may be charged with a violation of this section.
(h) As used in this section
(1) "Articulated buses" means articulated buses operated by a local public transit system funded by Act No. 51 of the Public Acts of 1951, MCLA 247.651 to 247.675, as amended.
(2) "Designated highway or street" means a highway or street approved by the State Transportation Department or a local authority with respect to a highway or street under its jurisdiction.
(3) "Length" means the total length of a vehicle, or combination of vehicles, including any load the vehicle is carrying. Length shall not include safety and energy conservation devices, including, but not limited to, impact absorbing bumpers, rear view mirrors, turn signal lamps, marker lamps, steps and hand holds for entry and egress, flexible fender extensions, mud flaps, or splash and spray suppressant devices; load-induced tire bulge; refrigeration or heating units; or air compressors attached to the vehicle. A safety or energy conservation device shall be excluded from a determination of length only if it is not designed or used for the carrying of cargo, freight, or equipment. Semitrailers and trailers shall be measured from the front vertical plane of the foremost transverse load-supporting structure to the rearmost transverse load-supporting structure.
(4) "Stinger-steered combinations" means a truck tractor and semitrailer combination in which the fifth wheel is located on a drop frame located behind and below the rearmost axle of the power unit.
(Ord. 97-10. Passed 11-5-97.)