SEARCH SITE
VIRGINIA LAW PORTAL
- Code of Virginia
- Virginia Administrative Code
- Constitution of Virginia
- Charters
- Authorities
- Compacts
- Uncodified Acts
- RIS Users (account required)
SEARCHABLE DATABASES
- Bills & Resolutions
session legislation - Bill Summaries
session summaries - Reports to the General Assembly
House and Senate documents - Legislative Liaisons
State agency contacts
ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
- Bills & Resolutions: Since 1994
- Summaries: Since 1994
Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.
2015 SESSION
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 46.2-1110 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 46.2-1110. Height of vehicles; damage to overhead obstruction; penalty.
No loaded or unloaded vehicle shall exceed a height of 13 feet, six inches.
Nothing contained in this section shall require either the public authorities or railroad companies to provide vertical clearances of overhead bridges or structures in excess of 12 feet, six inches, or to make any changes in the vertical clearances of existing overhead bridges or structures crossing highways. The driver or owner of vehicles on highways shall be held financially responsible for any damage to overhead bridges or structures that results from collisions therewith.
The driver or owner of any vehicle colliding with an overhead bridge or structure shall immediately notify, either in person or by telephone, a law-enforcement officer or the public authority or railroad company, owning or maintaining such overhead bridge or structure of the fact of such collision, and his name, address, driver's license number, and the registration number of his vehicle. Failure to give such notice immediately, either in person or by telephone, shall constitute a Class 1 misdemeanor.
On any highway maintained by the Virginia Department of
Transportation over which there is a bridge or structure having a vertical
clearance of less than 14 feet, the Commissioner of Highways shall have at
least two signs erected setting forth the height of the bridge or structure.
Such signs shall be located at least 1,500 feet ahead of the bridge or
structure.
On any highway maintained by a county, city, or town over which a bridge or structure has a vertical clearance of less than 14 feet, the local governing body shall have at least two signs erected setting forth the height of the bridge or structure. Such signs shall be located at least 1,500 feet ahead of the bridge or structure.
The Virginia Department of Transportation may install
and use overheight vehicle optical detection systems to identify vehicles that
exceed the overhead clearance of the westbound tunnel of the Hampton Roads
Bridge Tunnel on Interstate Route 64. When the optical system sensor
located closest to the westbound tunnel entrance is used in identifying such
vehicles, the system shall be installed at the specified height as determined
by measurement standards that have been certified by the Commissioner of the
Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and are traceable
to national standards of measurement. Such identification by such system shall,
for all purposes of law, be equivalent to having measured the height of the
vehicle with a tape measure or other measuring device. When an employee of
the Department of Transportation or the Department of State Police identifies a
vehicle whose height exceeds 13 feet, six inches and whose driver is driving or
attempting to drive through the westbound tunnel of the Hampton Roads Bridge
Tunnel on Interstate 64, the driver of such vehicle may elect to wait until the
end of peak traffic periods, as determined by the Department of Transportation,
so that the Department of Transportation or Department of State Police may
safely stop traffic and allow such vehicle to proceed in the opposite
direction. If the driver does not elect to wait, he shall be subject to the
penalties under this section.
Any person who drives or attempts to drive any vehicle or combination of vehicles into or through any tunnel when the height of such vehicle, any vehicle in a combination of vehicles, or any load on any such vehicle exceeds that permitted for such tunnel, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, in addition, shall be assessed three driver demerit points. In addition, the driver of any such vehicle shall be fined $1,000, of which $1,000 shall be a mandatory minimum. For subsequent offenses, the owner of any such vehicle shall be fined $2,500, of which $2,500 shall be a mandatory minimum.
A violation of this section shall be deemed for all purposes a moving violation.