ARTICLE 6. OVERWEIGHT VEHICLES

14-601. Definitions.

The words and phrases used in this article shall have meanings identical to those ascribed to those words and phrases by section 1 of the Standard Traffic Ordinance as incorporated by section 14-101 of the City Code, and amendments thereto.

(Ord. 978)

14-602. Violation of size and weight laws.

It shall be unlawful for any person to drive or move for the owner or lessee to cause or knowingly permit to be driven or moved on any highway any vehicle or combination of vehicles of a size or weight exceeding the limitations stated in this article, or to otherwise fail to comply with this article.

(a) Any person violating any of the provisions of this article, except for the provisions of sections 14-607 of this article, and amendments thereto, and 14-608 of this article, amendments thereto, shall be fined in an amount not to exceed $500.

(b) Any person convicted of violating any of the provisions of sections 14-607 of this article, amendments thereto and 14-608 of this article, and amendments thereto, shall be fined pursuant to the following schedule:

Pounds Overweight
Up to 1000	$25
1001 to 2000	$0.03 per pound overweight
2001 to 5000	$0.05 per pound overweight
5001 to 7500	$0.07 per pound overweight
7501 or more	$0.10 per pound overweight

For a second violation of 14-607 or 14-608 of this article, and amendments thereto, within two years after a prior conviction, such person, upon conviction shall be fined 1 ½ times the above schedule amount. A third violation of 14-607 or 14-608 of this article and amendments thereto, within two years, such person shall be fined 2 times the above scheduled amount. A fourth or succeeding violation of section 14-607 or 14-608 of this article and amendments thereto, within two years, such person shall be fined 2 ½ times the scheduled amount.

(c) Except as otherwise specified in this article, the provisions of this article shall not apply to fire apparatus, road machinery, farm tractors or to implements of husbandry temporarily moved upon a highway, or to a vehicle operated under the terms of a currently valid special permit issued in accordance with K.S.A. 8-1911 and amendments thereto.

(d) Except on highways designated as a part of the national system of interstate defense highways, the gross weight limitation prescribed by this article on any axle or tandem, triple or quad axles shall not apply to:

(1) Trucks specifically designed and equipped and used exclusively for garbage, refuse or solid waste disposal operations when loaded with garbage, refuse or waste; or

(2) Trucks mounted with a fertilizer spreader used or manufactured principally to spread animal dung, except that this paragraph (2) shall not apply to truck tractors so equipped. Except that such trucks under this subsection shall not exceed the maximum gross weight limitations contained in the table in section 14-608 of this article, and amendments thereto.

(e) As used in this section “conviction” means a final conviction without regard to whether sentence was suspended or probation granted after such conviction, and a forfeiture of bail, bond or collateral deposited to secure a defendant’s appearance in court, which forfeiture has not been vacated, is equivalent to a conviction.

(Ord. 978)

14-603. Widths and loads of vehicles.

(a) The total outside width of any vehicle or the load thereon shall not exceed 8 ½ feet, except as otherwise provided in this section.

(b) A farm tractor or a fertilizer dispensing machine shall not be permitted to travel on any highway which is a part of the national system of interstate and defense highways. Whenever a farm tractor or implement of husbandry, and any load on any such vehicle, exceeds the width of such vehicle, including any load thereon, exceeds the width of that portion of a roadway on which such vehicle is driven, which is marked as a single lane of traffic, or, if such roadway has not been marked for lanes of traffic, the width of such vehicle exceeds more than ½ the width of such roadway, the driver shall move such vehicle as soon as possible as far to the right side of the highway as is practicable and safe upon the approach of any oncoming or following vehicle and upon approaching the crest of a hill.

(c) Safety and other devices designated by the Kansas Secretary of Transportation may lawfully extend out on either side of the vehicle.

(1) A vehicle may be loaded with bales of hay which shall not exceed 12 feet in width and a height as authorized by section 14-605 of this article, and amendments thereto, but vehicles so loaded shall not be moved on any highway designated as a part of the national network of highways, except as permitted under subsection (j) of K.S.A. 8-1911, amendments thereto, or under paragraph (2) of this subsection.

(2) A farm vehicle may be loaded with bales of hay which shall not exceed 12 feet in width and a height as authorized by section 6-605 of this article, and amendments thereto, but vehicles so loaded shall not be moved on any highway designated as a part of the national system of interstate and defense highways, except as permitted under subsection (j) of section K.S.A. 8-1911 and amendments thereto. As used in this paragraph “farm vehicle” means a truck or truck tractor. Such farm truck or truck tractor may be used in combination with any type of trailer or semitrailer.

(3) Any such vehicles under paragraphs (1) or (2) so loaded shall not be moved during the period beginning 30 minutes after sunset and ending 30 minutes before sunrise. Any vehicle loaded with bales of hay as authorized by the exception in this subsection, with the load extending beyond 8 ½ feet, shall have attached thereto a sign which states “OVERSIZED LOAD” and the dimensions of the sign shall be a minimum of 7 feet long and 18 inches high. Letters shall be a minimum of 10 inches high with a brush stroke of not less 1 2/5 inches. The sign shall be readily visible from a distance of 500 feet and shall be removed when the vehicle or load does not exceed the legal width. Each vehicle shall be equipped with red flags on all four corners of the oversized load.

(d) A motor home or travel trailer may exceed 102 inches, if such excess width is attributable to appurtenance that extends no more than six inches beyond the body of the vehicle, except that in no case shall such motor home or travel trailer exceed a total width of 108 inches.

For the purposes of this subsection the term “appurtenance” shall include:

(1) An awning and its support hardware; and

(2) Any appendage that is intended to be an integral part of a motor home or travel trailer coach and that is installed by the manufacturer or dealer.

The term “appurtenance” shall not include any item that is temporarily affixed or attached to the exterior of a motor home or travel trailer by the owner of such motor home or trailer for the purposes of transporting from one location to another.

(Ord. 978)

14-604. Loads on passenger vehicles extending to either side.

No passenger-type vehicle shall be operated on any highway with any load carried thereon extending beyond the left side of such vehicle nor extending more than six (6) inches beyond the right side thereof.

(Ord. 978)

14-605. Height and length of vehicles and load; exceptions to maximums.

(a) No vehicle including any load thereon shall exceed a height of 14 feet, except that a vehicle transporting cylindrically shaped bales of hay as authorized by subsection (e) of section 14-603 of this article, and amendments thereto, may be loaded with such bales secured to a height not exceeding 14 ½ feet. Should a vehicle so loaded with bales strike any overpass or other obstacle, the operator of the vehicle shall be liable for all resulting damages.

(b) No motor vehicle including the load thereon shall exceed a length of 45 feet extreme overall dimension, excluding the front and rear bumpers, except as provided in subsection (d).

(c) Except as otherwise provided in K.S.A. 8-1914 and 8-1915, and amendments thereto, and subsections (d), (e), (f), (g), and (h), no combination of vehicles coupled together shall exceed a total length of 65 feet.

(d) The length limitations in subsection (b) shall not apply to a truck tractor. No semitrailer that is being operated in combination consisting of a truck tractor, semitrailer and trailer shall exceed 28 ½ feet in length.

(e) The limitations in this section governing maximum length of a semitrailer or trailer shall not apply to vehicles operating in the daytime when transporting pole, pipe, machinery or other objects of a structural nature which cannot be readily be dismembered, except that it shall be unlawful to operate any such vehicle or combination of vehicles which exceeds a total length of 85 feet unless a special permit for such operation has been issued by the Kansas Secretary of Transportation or by an agent or designee of the secretary pursuant to K.S.A. 8-1911, and amendments thereto, but in respect to such night transportation every such vehicle and the load thereon shall be equipped with a sufficient number of clearance lamps on both sides and marker lamps upon the extreme ends of any projecting load to clearly mark the dimensions of such load.

(f) The limitations of this section governing the maximum length of combinations of vehicles shall not apply to a combination of vehicles consisting of a truck tractor towing an overall length of 97 feet.

(g) The length limitations of this section shall not apply to stinger-steered automobile or boat transporters or one truck and one trailer vehicle combination, loaded or unloaded, used in transporting a combine to be engaged in farm custom harvesting operations, as defined in subsection (d) of K.S.A. 8-143j, and amendments thereto. A stinger-steered automobile or boat transporter or one truck and one trailer vehicle combination, loaded or unloaded, used in transporting a combine to be engaged in form custom harvesting operations, as defined in subsection (d) of K.S.A. 8-143j, and amendments thereto, shall not exceed an overall length limit of 75 feet, exclusive of front and rear overhang.

(h) The length limitations of this section shall not apply to drive-away saddlemount or drive-away saddlemount with fullmount vehicle transporter combinations. A drive-away saddlemount or a drive-away saddlemount with fullmount vehicle transporter combination shall not exceed an extreme overall dimension of 97 feet.

(Ord. 978)

14-606. Projecting loads to the front and rear.

(a) The load upon any vehicle operated alone, or the load upon the front vehicle of a combination if vehicles, shall not extend more than three (3) feet beyond the front wheels of such vehicle or the front bumper of such vehicle if it is equipped with a bumper.

(b) Any vehicle or combination of vehicles transporting passenger vehicles or other motor vehicles may carry a load which extends no more than three (3) feet beyond the front and four (4) feet beyond the rear of the transporting vehicle combination of vehicles.

(Ord. 978)

14-607. Gross weight limits on wheels and axles.

(a) The gross weight upon any wheel of a vehicle shall not exceed 10,000 pounds.

(b) The gross weight upon any one axle, including any one axle of a group of axles, of a vehicle shall not exceed 20,000 pounds.

(c) Any axle located within 7 feet of any adjacent axle shall, when the wheels of such axle are in contact with the road surface, carry its proportionate part of the load permitted on such axles. An axle shall not be used to determine the lawful axle weight under this section or the gross weight under section 14-908 of this article when the wheels of such axle are not in contact with the road surface.

(d) As used in this section:

(1) “Gross weight any one axle” means the total load on all wheels whose centers are included within two parallel transverse vertical planes not more than 40 inches apart.

(2) “Tandem Axles” means two or more consecutive axles, arranged in tandem and articulated from a common attachment to the vehicle or individually attached to the vehicle, with such axles spaced not less than 40 inches apart.

(3) “Triple axles” means three or more consecutive axles, arranged in tandem and articulated from a common attachment to the vehicle or individually attached to the vehicle, with such axles spaced more than 96 inches and not more than 120 inches apart.

(4) “Quad axles” means four or more consecutive axles, arranged in tandem and articulated from a common attachment to the vehicle or individually attached to the vehicle, with such axles spaced more than 120 inches and not more than 150 inches apart.

(Ord. 978)

14-608. Gross weight limits for vehicles; exceptions; safety of certain vehicles for operation.

(a) No vehicle or combination of vehicles shall be moved or operated on any highway when the gross weight on two or more consecutive axles exceeds the limitations prescribed in the following table:

	Maximum Load in pounds carried on any group of 2 or more consecutive axles
Distance in feet
Between the
extremes of
any group of 2
or more
consecutive
axles:	2 axles	3 axles	4 axles	5 axles	6 axles	7 axles	8 axles
4	34000
5	34000
6	34000
7	34000
8 and less	34000
8 or more	38000	42000
9	39900	42500
10	40000	43500
11		44000
12		45000	45000
13		45500	50500
14		46500	51500
15		47000	52000
16		48000	52500	58000
17		48500	53500	58000
18		48000	52500	58000
19		50000	54500	59000
20		51000	55500	60500	66000
21		51500	56000	61000	66500
22		52500	56500	61500	67000
23		53000	57500	62500	68000
24		54000	58000	63000	68500	74000
25		54500	58500	63500	69000	74500
26		55500	59500	64000	69500	75000
27		56000	60000	65000	70000	75500
28		57000	60500	65500	71000	76500
29		57500	61500	66000	71500	77000	82500
30		58500	62000	66500	72000	77500	83000
31		59000	62500	67500	72500	78000	83500
32		60000	63500	68000	73000	78500	84500
33			64000	68500	68000	73000	78500
34			64500	69000	74500	80000	85500
35			65500	70000	75000	80500
36			66000	70500	75500	81000
37			66500	71000	76000	81500
38			67500	72000	77000	82000
39			68000	72500	77500	82500
40			68500	73000	78000	83500
41			69500	73500	78500	84000
42			70000	74000	79000	84000
43			70500	75000	80000	85000
	Maximum Load in pounds carried on any group of 2 or more consecutive axles
44			71500	75500	80500	85500
45			72000	76000	81000
46			72500	76500	81500
47			73500	77500	82000
48			74000	78000	83000
49			74500	78500	83500
50			75500	79000	84000
51			76000	80000	84500
52			76500	80500	85000
53			77500	81000	85500
54			78000	81500
55			78500	82500
56			79500	83000
57			80000	83500
58				84000
59				85000
60				85500

Except that two consecutive sets of tandem axles may carry a gross load of 34,000 pounds each if the overall distance between the first and last axles is 36 feet or more.

(1) The gross weight of any one axle of a vehicle shall not exceed the limits prescribed in section 14-607 and amendments thereto, of this article.

(2) For vehicles and combinations of vehicles on the interstate system that table in this section shall not authorize a maximum gross weight of more than 80,000 pounds.

(3) The table in this sections shall not apply to truck tractor and dump semitrailer or truck trailer combination when such are used as a combination unit exclusively for the transportation of sand, salt for highway maintenance operations, gravel, slag stone, limestone, crushed stone, cinders, coal, blacktop, dirt or fill material, when such vehicles are used for transportation to a construction site, highway maintenance or construction project or other storage facility, except that such vehicles or combination of vehicles shall not be exempted from any application of the table as may be required to determine applicable axle weights for triple and quad axles as defined in sections 14-607, and amendments thereto. As used in this subpart (3), the term “dump semitrailer” means any semitrailer designed in such a way as to divest itself of the load carried thereon.

(b) It shall be unlawful for any person to operate any vehicle combination of vehicles with a gross weight in excess of the limitations set forth in this article, except as provided in K.S.A. 8-1911 of this article, and amendments thereto.

(Ord. 978)

14-609. Enforcement of vehicle weight laws; officers may weigh vehicles; portable scales; required drive to stationary scales; off-loading or load distribution required, when.

(a) Any police officer having reason to believe that the gross weight of a vehicle or combination of vehicles or the gross weight on any axle or sets of axles is unlawful, is authorized to require the driver to stop and submit to a weighing of the same by means of either portable or stationary scales and may require that such vehicle be driven to any scales suitable for this purpose within five miles. When portable scales are used for weighing for the purpose of this section, the location of such portable scales shall be not more than 10 miles from any stationary scales whose accuracy is certified in accordance with law.

(b) Whenever a police officer, upon weighing a vehicle or combination of vehicles, determines that the weight is unlawful, such officer may require the driver to stop the vehicle in a suitable place and remain standing until such portion of the load is removed as may be necessary to reduce the gross weight of such vehicle or combination of vehicles or remove or redistribute the gross weight on any axle or sets of axles to such limit as permitted under this article. All material so that unloaded shall be cared for by the owner, lessee or operator of such vehicle at the risk of such owner, lessee or operator.

(c) Any driver of a vehicle or combination of vehicles who fails or refuses to stop and submit such vehicle or combination of vehicles to weighing as provided in this section or who fails or refuses when directed by a police officer to comply with the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

(Ord. 978)

14-610. Vehicle operation on national system of interstate and defense highway.

Nothing in this article shall authorize any gross weight of a vehicle, combination of vehicles, or axle or axles of a vehicle on the national system of interstate and defense highways greater than permitted by laws of the United States Congress, except that this section shall not apply to a truck tractor and dump semi-trailer or truck trailer combination authorized under the provisions of subsection (a) (3) of section 14-908(a) (3), and thereto.

(Ord. 978)

14-611. Unlawful acts related to vehicle registration.

It shall be unlawful for any person to operate on the highways of the City of Eudora:

(a) A vehicle or combination of vehicles whose weight with cargo is in excess of the gross weight for which the truck or truck tractor propelling the same is registered. Except as provided by K.S.A. 8-143, and amendments thereto, and subsections (a) to (f), inclusive, of K.S.A. 8-1911, and amendments thereto.

(b) A farm truck or farm trailer other than to transport: (1) agricultural products produced by such owner; (2) commodities purchased by the owner for use on the farm owned or rented by the owner of such vehicles; (3) commodities for religious or educational institutions being transported by the owner of such vehicles for charity and without compensation of any kind, except as provided in subsection (c) of K.S.A. 66-1,109, and amendments thereto; or (4) sand, slag, gravel, stone limestone, crushed stone, cinders, blacktop, dirt or fill material to a township road maintenance or construction site of the townshipin which the owner of such truck resides.

(c) A farm truck or tractor used in combination with a trailer or semitrailer for a gross weight which does not include the empty weight of the truck or truck tractor or of the combination of any truck or truck tractor and any type of trailer or semitrailer, plus the maximum weight of cargo which will be transported on or with the same; and such farm truck or farm truck tractor used to transport a gross weight of more than 54,000 pounds shall have durably lettered on the side of the motor vehicle the words “farm vehicle—not for hire.”

(d) Any truck or tractor without the current quarter of license fees being paid thereon.

(e) A truck or tractor without carrying in the cab a copy of the registration receipt for such vehicle or without having painted or otherwise durably marked on said vehicle on both sides thereof, the gross weight for which said vehicle is licensed and the name and address of the owner thereof, except as provided in K.S.A. 8-143(e), and amendments thereto.

(f) A farm trailer carrying more than 6,000 pounds without being registered and the registration fees paid thereon.

(g) A truck or truck tractor operated more than 6,000 miles in any calendar year which has been registered and licensed to operate not more than 6.000 miles in such calendar year, as provided in subsection (2) of K.S.A. 8-143 and amendments thereto, unless the additional fee required by said subsection (2) has been paid.

(h) A vehicle or combination of vehicles on the national system of interstate and defense highways with a gross weight greater than permitted by the laws of the United States Congress.

(Ord. 978)

14-612. City policy of compliance.

Vehicles owner or operated by the City of Eudora shall comply with the dictates of this article. Except in the case of emergency and notwithstanding any provision of this article to the contrary, no exception shall be granted from the general requirements of this article to a city vehicle unless such exception would apply to a similarly situated vehicle not owned or operated by the city. In no event, however, does this section repeal the exception for fire apparatus contained in section 14-902(d) of this article.

(Ord. 978)