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ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
- Bills & Resolutions: Since 1994
- Summaries: Since 1994
Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.
1994 SESSION
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§ 46.2-1109, 46.2-1112, 46.2-1114, 46.2-1116, 46.2-1117, and 46.2-1126 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 46.2-1109. Widths of commercial vehicles.
No commercial vehicle shall exceed 102 inches in width when operating on any
interstate highway or on any federal-aid primary highway designated by
the Commonwealth Transportation Board. The width limitation in this section
shall not include rear view mirrors, turn signal lights, handholds for cab
entry and egress, splash suppressant devices, and load-induced tire bulge.
Safety devices, with the exception of rear view mirrors, shall not extend
more than three inches on each side of a vehicle. Such vehicles shall not
be denied The Commonwealth Transportation Board shall designate
reasonable access to terminals, facilities for food, fuel, repairs, and
rest, except as designated, based on safety considerations, by the
Commonwealth Transportation Board. Household goods carriers and any
tractor truck semitrailer combination in which the semitrailer has a length
of no more than twenty-eight and one-half feet and which operates as part
of a tractor truck semitrailer trailer combination shall not be denied
reasonable access to points of loading and unloading, except as designated,
based on safety considerations, by the Commonwealth Transportation Board.
For the purposes of this section, a commercial vehicle is defined as a loaded
or empty motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer designed or regularly used
for carrying freight, merchandise, or more than ten passengers, including
buses, but not including vehicles used for vanpools.
§ 46.2-1112. Length of vehicles, generally; special permits; tractor truck semitrailer combinations, etc., operating on certain highways.
Except for buses, no motor vehicle longer than forty feet shall be operated on any highway in the Commonwealth. The actual length of any combination of vehicles coupled together including any load thereon shall not exceed a total of sixty feet. No bus longer than forty-five feet shall be operated on any highway in the Commonwealth. No tolerance shall be allowed that exceeds twelve inches.
The Commonwealth Transportation Board, however, when good cause is shown, may issue a special permit for combinations either in excess of sixty feet, including any load thereon, or where the object or objects to be carried cannot be moved otherwise. Such permits may also be issued by the Board when the total number of otherwise overdimensional loads of modular housing of no more than two units may be reduced by permitting the use of an overlength trailer not exceeding fifty-four feet.
No overall length restrictions, however, shall be imposed on any tractor
truck semitrailer combinations drawing one trailer or any tractor truck
semitrailer combinations when operated on any interstate highway or on any
federal-aid primary highway as designated by the Commonwealth
Transportation Board. No individual semitrailer or trailer being drawn in a
tractor truck semitrailer or trailer combination, however, shall
exceed twenty-eight and one-half feet in length, and no semitrailer being
operated in a tractor truck semitrailer combination shall exceed forty-eight
feet in length, except when semitrailers have an axle spacing of not more
than thirty-seven feet between the rear axle of the tractor truck and the
front axle of the semitrailer a distance of not more than forty-one
feet between the kingpin of the semitrailer and the rearmost axle or a point
midway between the rear tandem axles, such semitrailer shall be allowed
not more than fifty-three feet in length.
The length limitations on semitrailers and trailers in the foregoing
provisions of this section shall be exclusive of safety and energy
conservation devices, steps and handholds for entry and egress, rubber dock
guards, flexible fender extensions, mudflaps, refrigeration units, and air
compressors. Such combinations shall not be denied The
Commonwealth Transportation Board shall designate reasonable access to
terminals, facilities for food, fuel, repairs and rest, except as
designated, based on safety considerations, by the Commonwealth
Transportation Board. Household goods carriers and any tractor truck
semitrailer combination in which the semitrailer has a length of no more than
twenty-eight and one-half feet which operates generally as part of a
tractor truck semitrailer combination shall not be denied reasonable
access to points of loading and unloading, except as designated, based on
safety considerations, by the Commonwealth Transportation Board.
§ 46.2-1114. Length of automobile or watercraft transporters; operation on certain highways.
Automobile or watercraft transporters shall not exceed a length of sixty-five
feet when operated on any interstate highway or on any federal-aid
primary highway as designated by the Commonwealth Transportation Board.
Stinger-steered automobile or watercraft transporters shall not exceed a
length of seventy-five feet when operated on any interstate highway or on any
qualifying federal-aid primary highway designated by the Commonwealth
Transportation Board. In addition, watercraft may be transported on a
truck/trailer combination no more than sixty-five feet long when operated on
any interstate highway or on any qualifying federal-aid primary
highway designated by the Commonwealth Transportation Board. Any such vehicle
shall display a sign of a size and type approved by the Commonwealth
Transportation Board warning that the vehicle is an over-length vehicle.
However, an additional three-foot overhang shall be allowed beyond the front
and a four-foot overhang shall be allowed beyond the rear of the vehicle.
Such combinations shall have reasonable access to terminals, facilities for
food, fuel, repairs, and rest as designated by the Commonwealth
Transportation Board.
§ 46.2-1116. Vehicles having more than one trailer, etc., attached thereto; exceptions.
Except as provided in this section and § 46.2-1117, no motor vehicle shall be
driven on a highway while drawing or having attached thereto more than one
motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer unless such vehicle is being operated
under a special permit from the Commonwealth Transportation Board. This
limitation, however, shall not apply between sunrise and sunset to farm
trailers or semitrailers being moved from one farm to another farm owned or
operated by the same person within a radius of ten miles. This limitation
also shall not apply to a combination of vehicles coupled together by a
saddle mount device used to transport motor vehicles in a drive-away service
when not more than two saddle mounts are used. Vehicles coupled together by
not more than three saddle mounts shall not exceed sixty-five
seventy-five feet when operated on any interstate highway or any
federal-aid primary highway as designated by the Commonwealth
Transportation Board.
Such combinations shall have The Commonwealth Transportation Board
shall designate reasonable access to terminals and facilities for food,
fuel, repairs, and rest as designated by the Commonwealth Transportation
Board. Such use shall be in conformity with safety regulations adopted by
the Superintendent of State Police.
The governing body of any city may by ordinance permit motor vehicles to be driven on the highways of their respective cities while drawing or having attached thereto more than one other vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer.
§ 46.2-1117. Tractor truck semitrailer combinations operating on certain highways; access to certain facilities.
A tractor truck semitrailer combination may draw one trailer when operating
on any interstate highway and any federal-aid primary highway as
designated by the Commonwealth Transportation Board. Such combination
shall have The Commonwealth Transportation Board shall designate
reasonable access to terminals, facilities for food, fuel, repairs, and
rest, and points of loading and unloading for carriers of household goods.
§ 46.2-1126. Maximum gross weight, generally.
Except as provided in § 46.2-1128, the gross weight imposed on the highway by
a vehicle or combination shall not exceed the maximum weight given for the
respective distance between the first and last axle of the vehicle or
combination, nor shall any two or more consecutive axles exceed the maximum
weight given, when measured longitudinally to the nearest foot with
any fraction of a foot rounded to the next highest as set forth in the
following table:
Distance in feet
between the
extremes of
any group of or Maximum weight in
two or more pounds
consecutive on any group
axles of axles
2 axles 3 axles 4 axles 5 axles 6 axles 7 axles
4 34,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5 34,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6 34,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7 34,000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8 34,000 34,000 . . . . . . . . . . . .
9 39,000 42,500 . . . . . . . . . . . .
10 40,000 43,500 . . . . . . . . . . . .
11 . . . 44,000 . . . . . . . . . . . .
12 . . . 45,000 50,000 . . . . . . . . .
13 . . . 45,000 50,500 . . . . . . . . .
14 . . . 46,500 51,500 . . . . . . . . .
15 . . . 47,000 52,000 . . . . . . . . .
16 . . . 48,000 52,500 58,000 . . . . . .
17 . . . 48,500 53,500 58,500 . . . . . .
18 . . . 49,500 54,000 59,000 . . . . . .
19 . . . 50,000 54,500 60,000 . . . . . .
20 . . . 51,000 55,500 60,500 66,000 . . .
21 . . . 51,500 56,000 61,000 66,500 . . .
22 . . . 52,500 56,500 61,500 67,000 . . .
23 . . . 53,000 57,500 62,500 68,000 . . .
24 . . . 54,000 58,000 63,000 68,500 74,000
25 . . . 54,500 58,500 63,500 69,000 74,500
26 . . . 55,500 59,500 64,000 69,500 75,000
27 . . . 56,000 60,000 65,000 70,000 75,500
28 . . . 57,000 60,500 65,500 71,000 76,500
29 . . . 57,500 61,500 66,000 71,500 77,000
30 . . . 58,500 62,000 66,500 72,000 77,500
31 . . . 59,000 62,500 67,500 72,500 78,000
32 . . . 60,000 63,500 68,000 73,000 78,500
33 . . . . . . 64,000 68,500 74,000 79,000
34 . . . . . . 64,500 69,000 74,500 80,000
35 . . . . . . 65,500 70,000 75,000 . . .
36 . . . . . . 66,000 70,500 75,500 . . .
37 . . . . . . 66,500 71,000 76,000 . . .
38 . . . . . . 67,500 72,000 77,000 . . .
39 . . . . . . 68,000 72,500 77,500 . . .
40 . . . . . . 68,500 73,000 78,000 . . .
41 . . . . . . 69,500 73,500 78,500 . . .
42 . . . . . . 70,000 74,000 79,000 . . .
43 . . . . . . 70,500 75,000 80,000 . . .
44 . . . . . . 71,500 75,500 . . . . . .
45 . . . . . . 72,000 76,000 . . . . . .
46 . . . . . . 72,500 76,500 . . . . . .
47 . . . . . . 73,500 77,500 . . . . . .
48 . . . . . . 74,000 78,000 . . . . . .
49 . . . . . . 74,500 78,500 . . . . . .
50 . . . . . . 75,500 79,000 . . . . . .
51 . . . . . . 76,000 80,000 . . . . . .