A bill

 

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING SECTION 56-5-4140, RELATING TO GROSS WEIGHT OF VEHICLES, COMBINATIONS OF VEHICLES, AND LOADS, SO AS TO LIMIT THE GROSS WEIGHT OF FARM TRUCKS.

 

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

 

SECTION 1.  Section 56-5-4140 of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

 

    Section 56-5-4140. (A)(1) The gross weight of a vehicle or combination of vehicles, operated or moved upon any section of highway, including the interstate highway system, except where the formula in item (4) allows for a higher weight, shall not exceed:

    (The following weight limits do not include applicable tolerances)

23 24		(a)	Single-unit vehicle with two axles	35,000 lbs.
25		(b)	Single-unit vehicle with three axles	46,000 lbs.
26 27		(c)	Single-unit vehicle with four axles	63,500 lbs.

 

    except, on the interstate, vehicles must meet axle spacing requirements and corresponding maximum overall gross weights, not to exceed 63,500 lbs., in accordance with the table in item (4).

32 33 34

(d)

Single-unit vehicle with five or more axles

65,000 lbs.

 

    except, on the interstate, vehicles must meet axle spacing requirements and corresponding maximum overall gross weights, not to exceed 65,000 lbs., in accordance with the table in item (4).

1 2 3		(e)	Combination of vehicles with three axle	50,000 lbs.
4 5 6		(f)	Combination of vehicles with four axles	65,000 lbs.
7 8 9		(g)	Combination of vehicles with five or more axles	73,280 lbs.

 

    The gross weight imposed upon any highway or section of highway other than the interstate by two or more consecutive axles in tandem articulated from a common attachment to the vehicle and spaced not less than forty inches nor more than ninety-six inches apart shall not exceed thirty-six thousand pounds, and no one axle of any such group of two or more consecutive axles shall exceed the load permitted for a single axle. The load imposed on the highway by two consecutive axles, individually attached to the vehicle and spaced not less than forty inches nor more than ninety-six inches apart, shall not exceed thirty-six thousand pounds and no one axle of any such group of two consecutive axles shall exceed the load permitted for a single axle.

    The ten percent enforcement tolerance specified in Section 56-5-4160 applies to the vehicle weight limits specified in item (1), and subsections (B), and (C), and (D). However, the gross weight on a single axle operated on the interstate may not exceed 20,000 pounds, including all enforcement tolerances;  the gross weight on a tandem axle operated on the interstate may not exceed 35,200 pounds, including all enforcement tolerances;  the overall gross weight for vehicles operated on the interstate may not exceed 75,185 pounds, including all enforcement tolerances except as provided in item (4).

 

    (2) Enforcement tolerance is fifteen percent for a vehicle or trailer transporting unprocessed forest products only on noninterstate routes.

    (3) Enforcement tolerance is fifteen percent for a vehicle or trailer transporting sod only on noninterstate routes.

    (4) Vehicles with an overall maximum gross weight in excess of 75,185 pounds may operate upon any section of highway in the Interstate System up to an overall maximum of 80,000 pounds in accordance with the following:

    The weight imposed upon the highway by any group of two or more consecutive axles may not, unless specially permitted by the Department of Public Safety, exceed an overall gross weight produced by the application of the following formula:

    W = 500 (LN/N-1 + 12N + 36)

    In the formula W equals overall gross weight on any group of two or more consecutive axles to the nearest 500 pounds, L equals distance in feet between the extreme of any group of two or more consecutive axles, and N equals number of axles in the group under consideration.

    As an exception, two consecutive sets of tandem axles may carry a gross load of 68,000 pounds if the overall distance between the first and last axles of the consecutive sets of tandem axles is 36 feet or more. The formula is expressed by the following table:

7 8 9 10	Distance in feet	Maximum load in pounds carried
11	between the	on any group of 2
12 13 14	extremes of any	of 2 or more consecutive axles
15 16	group of 2 or
17 18	more consecutive
19	axles
20		2 axles	3 axles	4 axles	5 axles	6 axles	7 axles
21	4	35,200
22	5	35,200
23	6	35,200
24	7	35,200
25	8 and less	35,200	35,200
26	more than 8	38,000	42,000
27	9	39,000	42,500
28	10	40,000	43,500
29	11		44,000
30	12		45,000	50,000
31	13		45,500	50,500
32	14		46,500	51,500
33	15		47,500	52,000
34	16		48,000	52,500	58,000

1	17		48,500	53,500	58,500
2	18		49,500	54,000	59,000
3	19		50,500	54,500	60,000
4	20		51,000	55,500	60,500	66,000
5	21		51,500	56,000	61,000	66,500
6	22		52,500	56,500	61,500	67,000
7	23		53,000	57,500	62,500	68,000
8	24		54,000	58,000	63,000	68,500	74,000
9	25		54,500	58,500	63,500	69,000	74,500
10	26		55,500	59,500	64,000	69,500	75,000
11	27		56,000	60,000	65,000	70,000	75,500
12	28		57,000	60,500	65,500	71,000	76,500
13	29		57,500	61,500	66,000	71,500	77,000
14	30		58,500	62,000	66,500	72,000	77,500
15	31		59,000	62,500	67,500	72,500	78,000
16	32		60,000	63,500	68,000	73,000	78,500
17	33			64,000	68,500	74,000	79,000
18	34			64,500	69,000	74,500	80,000
19	35			65,500	70,000	75,000
20	36			68,000	70,500	75,500
21	37			68,000	71,000	76,000
22	38			68,000	71,500	77,000
23	39			68,000	72,500	77,500
24	40			68,500	73,000	78,000
25	41			69,500	73,500	78,500
26	42			70,000	74,000	79,000
27	43			70,500	75,000	80,000
28	44			71,500	75,500
29	45			72,000	76,000
30	46			72,500	76,500
31	47			73,500	77,500
32	48			74,000	78,000
33	49			74,500	78,500
34	50			75,500	79,000
35	51			76,000	80,000

1	52			76,500
2	53			77,500
3	54			78,000
4	55			78,500
5	56			79,500
6	57			80,000

 

 

    (B) On the interstate and noninterstate highways of this State, any over-the-road bus as defined in Title 49 of the United States Code, motorhome, or any vehicle which is regularly and exclusively used as an intrastate public agency transit passenger bus as defined in Title 49 of the United States Code, is excluded from the axle spacing requirements in subsection (A). However, these vehicles are limited to a maximum single axle weight limit of twenty-four thousand pounds, including all enforcement tolerances.

    (C) Except on the interstate highway system:

       (1) Dump trucks, dump trailers, trucks carrying agricultural products, concrete mixing trucks, fuel oil trucks, line trucks, and trucks designated and constructed for special type work or use are not required to conform to the axle spacing requirements of this section. However, the vehicle is limited to a weight of twenty thousand pounds for each axle plus scale tolerances and the maximum gross weight of these vehicles may not exceed the maximum weight allowed by subsection (A)(1) for the appropriate number of axles, plus allowable scale tolerances.

       (2) Concrete mixing trucks which operate within a fifteen-mile radius of their home base are not required to conform to the requirements of this section. However, these vehicles are limited to a maximum load of the rated capacity of the concrete mixer, the true gross load not to exceed sixty-six thousand pounds. All of these vehicles shall have at least three axles each with brake-equipped wheels.

       (3) Well-drilling, boring rigs, and tender trucks are not required to conform to the axle spacing requirements of this section. However, the vehicle is limited to seventy thousand pounds gross vehicle weight and twenty-five thousand pounds for each axle plus scale tolerances.

    (D) On the noninterstate highways of this State, a farm truck is limited to a maximum weight limit of ninety thousand pounds, including all enforcement tolerances.

 

SECTION 2.  This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

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