ENROLLED

Senate Bill No. 95

(By Senators Ross, Love and Sharpe)

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[Passed March 8, 2003; in effect ninety days from passage.]

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AN ACT to amend and reenact sections two, three and four, article seventeen, chapter seventeen-c of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, all relating to the size, weight and load of vehicles; increasing the maximum length and width of certain vehicles; increasing the maximum length of the combination of certain vehicles coupled together; allowing commissioner to increase combination vehicle length; and mandating that the commissioner annually publish a map designating state highways and various maximum vehicle lengths pertinent thereto.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections two, three and four, article seventeen, chapter seventeen-c of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 17. SIZE, WEIGHT AND LOAD.
§17C-17-2. Width of vehicles.

(a) The total outside width, exclusive of safety equipment authorized by the United States department of transportation, of any vehicle or the load thereon may not exceed ninety-six inches except as otherwise provided in this article: Provided, That any vehicle with a total outside width of one hundred two inches, exclusive of safety equipment authorized by the United States department of transportation, may be operated on any highway within the state designated by the United States department of transportation or the commissioner of the department of highways or on any highway having a minimum lane width of ten feet.
(b) Motor homes, travel trailers, truck campers, motor buses and trackless trolley coaches with a total outside width of one hundred two inches, excluding safety equipment authorized by the United States department of transportation, may operate on any highway.
 §17C-17-3. Projecting loads on passenger vehicles.
(a) No passenger-type vehicle shall be operated on any highway with any load carried thereon extending beyond the line of the fenders of the left side of such vehicle nor extending more than six inches beyond the line of the fenders on the right side thereof.
(b) A motor home, travel trailer or truck camper may exceed the maximum width prescribed section two of this article, if the excess width is attributable to an appurtenance that does not exceed more than six inches beyond the body of the vehicle.
 §17C-17-4. Height and length of vehicles and loads.
(a) A vehicle, including any load thereon, may not exceed a height of thirteen feet six inches, but the owner or owners of such vehicles shall be responsible for damage to any bridge or highway structure and to municipalities for any damage to traffic control devices or other highway structures where such bridges, devices or structures have a vehicle clearance of less than thirteen feet six inches.
(b) A motor vehicle, including any load thereon, may not exceed a length of forty feet extreme overall dimension, inclusive of front and rear bumpers, except that a motor home may not exceed a length of forty-five feet, exclusive of front and rear bumpers.
(c) Except as hereinafter provided in this subsection or in subsection (d) of this section, a combination of vehicles coupled together may not consist of more than two units and no combination of vehicles including any load thereon shall have an overall length, inclusive of front and rear bumpers, in excess of fifty- five feet except as provided in section eleven-b of this article and except as otherwise provided in respect to the use of a pole trailer as authorized in section five of this article. The limitation that a combination of vehicles coupled together may not consist of more than two units may not apply to: (1) A combination of vehicles coupled together by a saddle-mount device used to transport motor vehicles in a drive-away service when no more than three saddle mounts are used, if equipment used in the combination meets the requirements of the safety regulations of the United States department of transportation and may not exceed an overall length of more than seventy-five feet; or (2) a combination of vehicles coupled together, one of which is a travel trailer or folding camping trailer having an overall length, exclusive of front and rear bumpers, not exceeding sixty-five feet.
(d) A combination of two vehicles coupled together, one of which is a motor home, or a combination of vehicles coupled together, one of which is a travel trailer or folding camping trailer, may not exceed an overall length, exclusive of front and rear bumpers of sixty-five feet.
(e) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (a), (b), (c) and (d) of this section, the commissioner may designate, upon his own motion or upon the petition of an interested party, a combination vehicle length not to exceed seventy feet.
(f) The length limitations for truck tractor-semitrailer combinations and truck tractor-semitrailer-trailer combinations operating on the national system of interstate and defense highways and those classes of qualifying federal-aid primary system highways so designated by the United States secretary of transportation and those highways providing reasonable access to and from terminals, facilities for food, fuel, repairs and rest and points of loading and unloading for household goods carriers from such highways and further, as to other highways so designated by the West Virginia commissioner of highways, shall be as follows: The maximum length of a semitrailer unit operating in a truck tractor-semitrailer combination shall not exceed forty-eight feet in length except where semitrailers have an axle spacing of not more than thirty-seven feet between the rear axle of the truck tractor and the front axle of the semitrailer, such semitrailer shall be allowed to be not more than fifty-three feet in length and the maximum length of any semitrailer or trailer operating in a truck tractor-semitrailer-trailer combination may not exceed twenty-eight feet in length and in no event shall any combinations exceed three units, including the truck tractor: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall impose an overall length limitation as to commercial motor vehicles operating in truck tractor-semitrailer or truck tractor-semitrailer-trailer combinations.
(g) The commissioner shall publish annually an official map designating the highways of the state and the various maximum vehicle lengths relating thereto.