39-12 Size, Width, and Height Restrictions

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CHAPTER 39-12SIZE, WIDTH, AND HEIGHT RESTRICTIONS39-12-01. State and local authorities may classify highways as to weight and loadcapacities.The director, the board of county commissioners, and other appropriate bodieshaving control of roads, may classify public highways and roads under their respective jurisdictions and limitations as to the weight and load of vehicles thereon for such respective classifications must be enforced as provided in section 39-12-07.39-12-02.Special permits for vehicles of excessive size and weight issued -Contents - Fees.1.The highway patrol and local authorities in their respective jurisdictions, upon application and payment of the appropriate charges and for good cause shown, may issue a special written permit authorizing the applicant to operate or move a vehicle, mobile home, or modular unit of a size or weight exceeding the maximum specified by this chapter, upon a highway under the jurisdiction of the body granting the permit. Every permit may designate the route to be traversed and may contain any other restrictions or conditions deemed necessary by the body granting the permit. Every permit must be carried in the vehicle to which it refers and must be opened to inspection by any peace officer or agent of the superintendent of the highway patrol unless prior approval is obtained from the highway patrol. It is a violation of this chapter for any person to violate any of the terms or conditions of the permit. The highway patrol and local authorities may adopt rules governing the movement of oversize and overweight vehicles.2.Upon any application for a permit to move a new manufactured building or modular unit from outside this state to be located anywhere within this state, the manufacturer is deemed to have certified that the new manufactured building or modular unit meets all applicable building codes and all applicable electrical wiring and equipment, plumbing, and fire standards. The state is not liable to any person for issuing a permit in violation of this subsection.3.An appropriate charge must be made for each permit and all funds collected hereunder by the highway patrol must be deposited in the state highway fund for use in the construction and maintenance of highways and operating expenses of the department of transportation.Except for publicly owned vehicles that provideservice beyond the agency's jurisdiction, official, publicly owned, emergency, or military vehicles are not subject to charges for permits.The minimum fee forselected charges is as follows:a.The fee for the ten percent weight exemption, harvest and wintertime, is fifty dollars per month for fees paid on a monthly basis or two hundred fifty dollars per year for fees paid on a yearly basis. Unused fees paid on a monthly basis are refundable. Unused fees paid on a yearly basis are not refundable.b.The fee for a non-self-issuing interstate permit is ten dollars per trip or three hundred dollars per calendar year for unlimited trips.c.The fee for special mobile equipment is twenty-five dollars per trip.d.The fee for engineering is twenty-five dollars per trip.e.The fee for faxing a permit is five dollars.f.The fee for a single trip permit is twenty dollars per trip.Page No. 1g.The fee for a bridge length permit is thirty dollars per trip or one hundred fifty dollars per calendar year.h.The fee for a longer combination vehicle permit is one hundred dollars per month for fees paid on a monthly basis.i.The fee for an overwidth vehicle or load that is fourteen feet six inches [4.42 meters] or less is twenty dollars per trip or one hundred dollars per calendar year unless the vehicle is a noncommercial fish house trailer being moved by the owner, then the fee is twenty dollars per calendar year.4.The director of tax equalization of the county of destination must be furnished a copy of the permit for the movement of an overdimensional mobile home.39-12-03.Director or local authorities may limit use of vehicles on highways.Whenever any highway will be seriously damaged or destroyed by reason of deterioration, rain, snow, or other climatic conditions unless the use of vehicles is prohibited or the weight of the vehicle thereon is limited, the director or employees authorized by the director by an order, and local authorities by ordinance or resolution, may prohibit the operation of vehicles upon such highway or may impose restrictions as to the weight of vehicles. The director or employees making such order and local authorities enacting any such ordinance or resolution shall erect or cause to be erected and maintained signs designating the provisions of the order, ordinance, or resolution.Such signs must be erected and maintained at each end of that portion of anyhighway affected thereby, and such order, ordinance, or resolution is not effective until such signs are erected and maintained.The operation of trucks or other commercial vehicles orlimitations as to the weight thereof on designated highways may be prohibited or limited in the same manner.39-12-04. Width, height, and length limitations on vehicles - Exceptions.1.Vehicles operated on a highway in this state may not exceed a total outside width, including load thereon, of eight feet six inches [2.59 meters]. This limitation does not apply to:a.Construction and building contractors' equipment and vehicles used to move such equipment which does not exceed ten feet [3.05 meters] in width when being moved by contractors or resident carriers.b.Implements of husbandry being moved by resident farmers, ranchers, governmental entities, dealers, or manufacturers between sunrise and sunset. Furthermore, the limitation does not apply to implements of husbandry being movedbetweensunsetandsunrisebyresidentfarmers,ranchers,governmental entities, dealers, or manufacturers on public state, county, or township highway systems other than interstate highway systems.c.Hay in the stack or bale being moved along the extreme right edge of a roadway between sunrise and sunset by someone other than a commercial mover.d.Commercial movement of haystacks or hay bales with vehicles designed specifically for hauling hay, commercial movement of self-propelled fertilizer spreaders and self-propelled agricultural chemicalapplicators, whetheroperating under their own power or being transported by another vehicle, commercial movement of portable grain cleaners, commercial movement of forage harvesters, and the commercial movement of hay grinders, which may be moved on the highway after obtaining a seasonal permit issued by the highway patrol. The highway patrol shall issue seasonal permits that are valid during daylight hours on any day of the week, or that are valid at all times for the movement of self-propelledfertilizerspreadersandself-propelledPage No. 2agricultural chemical applicators, to any commercial entity otherwise qualified under this subdivision.Self-propelled fertilizer spreaders and self-propelledagricultural chemical applicators operating under their own power between sunset and sunrise must display vehicle hazard warning signal lamps as described in subsection 3 of section 39-21-19.1. The seasonal permit is in lieu of registration requirements for the permit period. No seasonal permit may be issued, unless proof of financial responsibility in a minimum of three hundred thousand dollars is filed and the appropriate permit fee is paid. The seasonal permit may also be issued for hauling hay bales with vehicles or vehicle combinations other than those designed specifically for hauling haystacks. This seasonal permit, however, will not be in lieu of registration requirements. All permit fees must be deposited in the state highway distribution fund.e.Safety devices that the highway patrol determines are necessary for the safe and efficient operation of motor vehicles may not be included in the calculation of width.f.Any nonload carrying safety appurtenance as determined by the highway patrol which extends no more than three inches [7.62 centimeters] from each side of a trailer is excluded from the measurement of trailer width. The width of a trailer is measured across the sidemost load-carrying structures, support members, and structural fasteners.g.The highway patrol may adopt reasonable rules for those vehicles exempted from the width limitations as provided for in this subsection.2.Vehicles operated on a highway in this state may not exceed a height of fourteen feet [4.27 meters], whether loaded or unloaded.This height limitation does notaffect any present structure such as bridges and underpasses that are not fourteen feet [4.27 meters] in height. This limitation does not apply to vehicles that are at most fifteen feet six inches [4.72 meters] high when all of the following apply:a.The vehicle is an implement of husbandry and is being moved by a resident farmer, rancher, dealer, or manufacturer.b.The trip is at most sixty miles [96.56 kilometers].c.The trip is between sunrise and sunset.d.None of the trip is on an interstate highway.3.A vehicle operated on a highway in this state may not exceed the following length limitations:a.A single unit vehicle with two or more axles including the load thereon may not exceed a length of fifty feet [15.24 meters].b.A combination of two units including the load thereon may not exceed a length of seventy-five feet [22.86 meters].c.A combination of three or four units including the load thereon may not exceed a length of seventy-five feet [22.86 meters], subject to any rules adopted by the director that are consistent with public highway safety. The rules do not apply to a three-unit combination consisting of a truck tractor and semitrailer drawing a trailer or semitrailer.d.A combination of two, three, or four units including the load thereon may be operated on all four-lane divided highways and those highways in the state designated by the director and local authorities as to the highways under theirPage No. 3respective jurisdictions and may not exceed a length of one hundred ten feet [33.53 meters], subject to any rules adopted by the director that are consistent with public highway safety.e.The length of a trailer or semitrailer, including the load thereon, may not exceed fifty-three feet [16.5 meters] except that trailers and semitrailers titled and registered in North Dakota before July 1, 1987, and towed vehicles may not exceed a length of sixty feet [18.29 meters].4.Length limitations do not apply to:a.Building moving equipment.b.Emergency tow trucks towing disabled lawful combinations of vehicles to a nearby repair facility.c.Vehicles and equipment owned and operated by the armed forces of the United States or the national guard of this state.d.Structural material of telephone, power, and telegraph companies.e.Truck-mounted haystack moving equipment, provided the equipment does not exceed a length of fifty-six feet [17.07 meters].f.A truck tractor and semitrailer or truck tractor, semitrailer, and the trailer when operated on the interstate highway system or parts of the federal aid primary system as designated by the director, only when federal law requires the exemption.g.Safety and energy conservation devices and any additional length exclusive devices as determined by the highway patrol for the safe and efficient operation of commercial motor vehicles. Length exclusive devices are appurtenances at the front or rear of a commercial motor vehicle semitrailer or trailer, whose function is related to the safe and efficient operation of the semitrailer or trailer.5.Motor homes, house cars, travel trailers, fifth-wheel travel trailers, camping trailers, and truck campers may exceed eight feet six inches [2.59 meters] in width if the excess is attributable to an appurtenance that extends beyond the body of the vehicle no more than six inches [15.24 centimeters] on either side of the vehicle. For purposes of this subsection, the term appurtenance includes a shade awning and its support hardware, and any appendage that is intended to be an integral part of a motor home, house car, travel trailer, fifth-wheel travel trailer, camping trailer, or truck camper.39-12-05. Weight limitations for vehicles on interstate system. A person may notoperate on a highway which is part of the interstate system any vehicle:1.With a single axle that carries a gross weight in excess of twenty thousand pounds [9071.85 kilograms] or a wheel load over ten thousand pounds [4535.92 kilograms]. A wheel may not carry a gross weight over five hundred fifty pounds [249.48 kilograms] for each inch [2.54 centimeters] of tire width. Axles spaced forty inches [101.60 centimeters] apart or less are considered as one axle and, on axles spaced over forty inches [101.60 centimeters] and under eight feet [2.44 meters] apart, the axle load may not exceed seventeen thousand pounds [7711.07 kilograms] per axle. The wheel load, in any instance, may not exceed one-half the allowable axle load. Spacing between axles is measured from axle center to axle center.2.Subject to the limitations imposed by subsection 1 on tires, wheel, and axle loads, the gross weight of which exceeds that determined by the formula of:Page No. 4W = 500 (LN + 12N + 36)N-1where W equals maximum weight in pounds carried on any group of more than one axle; L equals distance in feet between the extremes of any group of consecutive axles; and N equals number of axles in the group under consideration, except that two consecutive sets of tandem axles may carry a gross load of thirty-four thousand pounds [15422.14 kilograms] each, providing the overall distance between the first and last axles of the consecutive sets of tandem axles is at least thirty-six feet [10.97 meters].The gross weight may not exceed eighty thousand pounds [36287.39kilograms].39-12-05.1. Weight limitations for vehicles on designated highways. 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39-12 Size, Width, and Height Restrictions