Article 4. Local Authorities of California Vehicle Code >> Division 15. >> Chapter 5. >> Article 4.

(a) The legislative body of any county or city may by ordinance permit the operation and moving of vehicles and loads upon highways under their respective jurisdictions of a maximum gross weight in excess of the maximum gross weight of vehicles and loads specified in this code.
  (b) This section does not apply to state highways.

(a) The Department of Transportation, upon adoption of an ordinance or resolution that is in conformance with the provisions of this section by the City of Carson, the City of Long Beach, and the City of Los Angeles, covering designated routes, may issue a special permit to the operator of a vehicle, combination of vehicles, or mobile equipment, permitting the operation and movement of the vehicle, combination, or equipment, and its load, on the 3.66-mile portion of State Route 47 and State Route 103 known as the Terminal Island Freeway, between Willow Street in the City of Long Beach and Terminal Island in the City of Long Beach and the City of Los Angeles, and on the 2.4-mile portion of State Highway Route 1, that is between Sanford Avenue in the City of Los Angeles and Harbor Avenue in the City of Long Beach, if the vehicle, combination, or equipment meets all of the following criteria:
  (1) The vehicle, combination of vehicles, or mobile equipment is used to transport intermodal cargo containers that are moving in international commerce.
  (2) The vehicle, combination of vehicles, or mobile equipment, in combination with its load, has a maximum gross weight in excess of the maximum gross weight limit of vehicles and loads specified in this chapter, but does not exceed 95,000 pounds gross vehicle weight.
  (3) (A) The vehicle, combination of vehicles, or mobile equipment conforms to the axle weight limits specified in Section 35550.
  (B) The vehicle, combination of vehicles, or mobile equipment conforms to the axle weight limits in Section 35551, except as specified in subparagraph (C).
  (C) Vehicles, combinations of vehicles, or mobile equipment that impose more than 80,000 pounds total gross weight on the highway by any group of two or more consecutive axles, exceed 60 feet in length between the extremes of any group of two or more consecutive axles, or have more than six axles shall conform to weight limits that shall be determined by the Department of Transportation.
  (b) The permit issued by the Department of Transportation shall be required to authorize the operation or movement of a vehicle, combination of vehicles, or mobile equipment described in subdivision (a). The permit shall not authorize the movement of hazardous materials or hazardous wastes, as those terms are defined by local, state, and federal law. The following criteria shall be included in the application for the permit:
  (1) A description of the loads and vehicles to be operated under the permit.
  (2) An agreement wherein each applicant agrees to be responsible for all injuries to persons and for all damage to real or personal property of the state and others directly caused by or resulting from the operation of the applicant's vehicles or combination of vehicles under the conditions of the permit. The applicant shall agree to hold harmless and indemnify the state and all its agents for all costs or claims arising out of or caused by the movement of vehicles or combination of vehicles under the conditions of the permit.
  (3) The applicant shall provide proof of financial responsibility that covers the movement of the shipment as described in subdivision (a). The insurance shall meet the minimum requirements established by law.
  (4) An agreement to carry a copy of the permit in the vehicle at all times and furnish the copy upon request of an employee of the Department of the California Highway Patrol or the Department of Transportation.
  (5) An agreement to place an indicia, developed by the Department of Transportation, in consultation with the Department of the California Highway Patrol, upon the vehicle identifying it as a vehicle possibly operating under this section. The indicia shall be displayed in the lower right area of the front windshield of the power unit. The Department of Transportation may charge a fee to cover the cost of producing and issuing this indicia.
  (c) The permit issued pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be valid for one year. The permit may be canceled by the Department of Transportation for any of the following reasons:
  (1) The failure of the applicant to maintain any of the conditions required pursuant to subdivision (b).
  (2) The failure of the applicant to maintain a satisfactory rating, as required by Section 34501.12.
  (3) A determination by the Department of Transportation that there is sufficient cause to cancel the permit because the continued movement of the applicant's vehicles under the permit would jeopardize the safety of the motorists on the roadway or result in undue damage to the highways listed in this section.
  (d) This section does not authorize an applicant or holder of a special permit under subdivision (a) to operate a vehicle or combination of vehicles in excess of the maximum gross weight limit of vehicles and loads specified in this chapter outside of the designated corridors identified in subdivision (a). A violation of this subdivision shall result in the revocation of the permit.
  (e) The Department of Transportation may charge a fee to cover the cost of issuing a permit pursuant to subdivision (a).

(a) Any city, or county for a residence district, may, by ordinance, prohibit the use of a street by any commercial vehicle or by any vehicle exceeding a maximum gross weight limit, except with respect to any vehicle which is subject to Sections 1031 to 1036, inclusive, of the Public Utilities Code, and except with respect to vehicles used for the collection and transportation of garbage, rubbish, or refuse using traditionally used routes in San Diego County when the solid waste management plan prepared under Section 66780.1 of the Government Code is amended to designate each traditionally used route used for the purpose of transporting garbage, rubbish, or refuse which intersects with a local or regional arterial circulation route contained within a city or county's traffic circulation element and which provides access to a solid waste disposal site.
  (b) The ordinance shall not be effective until appropriate signs are erected indicating either the streets affected by the ordinance or the streets not affected, as the local authority determines will best serve to give notice of the ordinance.
  (c) No ordinance adopted pursuant to this section after November 10, 1969, shall apply to any state highway which is included in the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, except an ordinance which has been approved by a two-thirds vote of the California Transportation Commission.
  (d) The solid waste management plan prepared under Section 66780.1 of the Government Code by San Diego County may designate the traditionally used routes.
  (e) "Traditionally used route," for purposes of this section, means any street used for a period of one year or more as access to or from a solid waste disposal site.

No ordinance proposed under Section 35701 is effective with respect to any highway which is not under the exclusive jurisdiction of the local authority enacting the ordinance, or, in the case of any state highway, until the ordinance has been submitted by the governing body of the local authority to, and approved in writing by, the Department of Transportation. In submitting a proposed ordinance to the department for approval, the governing body of the local authority shall designate therein, an alternate route for the use of vehicles, which route shall remain unrestricted by any local regulation as to weight limits or types of vehicles so long as the ordinance proposed shall remain in effect. The approval of the proposed ordinance by the Department of Transportation shall constitute an approval by it of the alternate route so designated.

No ordinance adopted pursuant to Section 35701 shall prohibit any commercial vehicles coming from an unrestricted street having ingress and egress by direct route to and from a restricted street when necessary for the purpose of making pickups or deliveries of goods, wares, and merchandise from or to any building or structure located on the restricted street or for the purpose of delivering materials to be used in the actual and bona fide repair, alteration, remodeling, or construction of any building or structure upon the restricted street for which a building permit has previously been obtained.

No ordinance adopted pursuant to Section 35701 to decrease weight limits shall apply to any vehicle owned by a public utility or a licensed contractor while necessarily in use in the construction, installation, or repair of any public utility.

Section 35701 shall not be applicable to any city street on which money from the State Highway Account in the State Transportation Fund has been or is used for construction or maintenance except in such cases as the legislative body of the city, after notice and hearing, determines to reduce weight limits on such streets. Notice of the hearing shall be published as provided in Section 6064 of the Government Code. The notice shall advise all interested parties that they may submit written and oral objections to the proposed action and shall designate a time and place for presentation of such objections. The time for submission of objections shall not expire, and the hearing may not be held, less than 60 days after the first publication of notice. The hearing shall be held before the legislative body of the city. All objections shall be considered and interested parties shall be afforded an adequate opportunity to be heard in respect to their objections.

Boards of supervisors in their respective counties may by ordinance reduce the permissible weight of vehicles and loads upon unimproved county highways or upon county bridges.

Boards of supervisors in their respective counties may by ordinance reduce the permissible weights upon improved highways only which by reason of deterioration will be destroyed unless the weight limits are reduced, but no such reduction shall extend for a period of more than 90 days unless actual repair of the highway is begun within that time and thereafter continuously carried on to completion. For the purposes of this section, an improved county highway means a highway paved with cement concrete or asphaltic concrete, or a highway with a roadway of hard surface not less than four inches thick made up of a mixture of rock, sand, or gravel bound together by an artificial binder other than natural soil.

In the event any person protests in writing to the clerk of the board of supervisors within 15 days after the adoption of an ordinance reducing the permissible gross weight upon an improved highway, the reduction in weight shall not become final until the Department of Transportation after a hearing approves the action of the board of supervisors in making such reduction.

The hearing shall be held in the county in which the highway is located within 25 days after a request therefor, and shall be conducted by one or more engineers of the Department of Transportation to be designated by the Director of Transportation. The engineers shall hear all evidence presented and report their findings in writing to the director. Such director shall, upon the basis of the findings, declare in writing the approval or disapproval of the reduction.

Whenever any weight limit different from those specified in this code is fixed in accordance with Section 35706 or 35707, the board of supervisors shall cause signs indicating the weight so fixed to be erected at all entrances to the highway upon which the permissible gross weight is altered.

No ordinance adopted pursuant to Section 35706 or 35707 or 35712 shall prohibit any commercial vehicle from using any county highway by direct route to or from a state highway for the purpose of delivering or loading for transportation goods, wares, or merchandise.

(a) Any county may, by ordinance, prohibit the use of any highway located in an unincorporated residential or subdivision area by any commercial vehicle exceeding a gross weight of 14,000 pounds.
  (b) Any county of the third class, as defined by Section 28024 of the Government Code, or of the ninth class, as defined by Section 28030 of the Government Code, may, by ordinance, prohibit the use of any highway located in an unincorporated residential or subdivision area by any commercial vehicle exceeding a gross weight of 5,000 pounds.
  (c) This section does not apply to a vehicle operated by, or on behalf of, a public utility in connection with the installation, operation, maintenance, or repair of its facilities.

No ordinance closing a highway under Section 35712 or 35715 is effective until appropriate signs are erected indicating either the highways affected by the ordinance or the highways not affected as the county may determine will best serve to give notice of the ordinance, nor shall any ordinance be effective with respect to any county highway unless the board of supervisors designates in the ordinance an alternate route for the use of the vehicles which shall remain unrestricted by any local regulation as to commercial vehicles so long as the ordinance proposed shall remain in effect.

No ordinance adopted pursuant to Section 35712 shall be effective with respect to:
  (a) Any vehicle which is subject to the provisions of Article 2 (commencing with Section 1031) of Chapter 5 of Part 1 of Division 1 of the Public Utilities Code.
  (b) Any highway, any portion of which is also under the jurisdiction of a city, unless the consent of the governing body of the city is first obtained.
  (c) Any commercial vehicle coming from an unrestricted highway having ingress and egress by direct route to and from the restricted highway when necessary for the purpose of making pickups or deliveries of goods, wares, and merchandise from or to any building or structure located on the restricted highway or for the purpose of delivering materials to be used in the actual and bona fide repair, alteration, remodeling, or construction of any building or structure upon the restricted highway for which a building permit has previously been obtained.
  (d) The operation of ambulances or hearses.
  (e) Any vehicle owned, operated, controlled, or used by a public utility in connection with the construction, installation, operation, maintenance, or repair of any public utility facilities.
  (f) Any state highway, until the proposed ordinance has been submitted by the board of supervisors of the county to and approved in writing by the Department of Transportation. In submitting a proposed ordinance to the department for approval, the board of supervisors shall designate therein, an alternate route for the use of the vehicles which shall remain unrestricted by any local regulation as to commercial vehicles so long as the ordinance proposed shall remain in effect. The approval of the proposed ordinance by the Department of Transportation shall constitute an approval by the department of the alternate route so designated.
  (g) Vehicles operated as an incident to any industrial, commercial or agricultural enterprise conducted within the boundaries of the unincorporated residential subdivision area.

(a) The County of Nevada may by ordinance prohibit the use of Northwoods Boulevard in such county by any commercial vehicle exceeding a gross weight specified in the ordinance.
  (b) No ordinance adopted pursuant to this section shall be effective with respect to:
  (1) Any commercial vehicle coming from an unrestricted highway having ingress and egress by direct route to and from the restricted highway when necessary for the purpose of making pickups or deliveries of goods, wares, and merchandise from or to any building or structure located on the restricted highway or for the purpose of delivering materials to be used in the actual and bona fide repair, alteration, remodeling, or construction of any building or structure upon the restricted highway for which a building permit has previously been obtained.
  (2) The operation of ambulances or hearses.
  (3) Any vehicle owned, operated, controlled, or used by a public utility in connection with the construction, installation, operation, maintenance, or repair of any public utility facilities.

(a) The County of Tuolumne may by ordinance prohibit the use of Old Priest Grade in that county by a vehicle or combination of vehicles that exceeds a weight limit of 7,500 pounds or more. The weight limit shall be determined by the County Board of Supervisors and specified in the ordinance.
  (b) An ordinance adopted pursuant to this section is not effective with respect to the following:
  (1) A vehicle or combination of vehicles coming from an unrestricted highway having ingress and egress by direct route to and from the restricted highway when necessary for the purpose of making pickups or deliveries of goods, wares, and merchandise from or to any building or structure located on the restricted highway or for the purpose of delivering materials to be used in the actual and bona fide repair, alteration, remodeling, or construction of a building or structure upon the restricted highway for which a building permit has previously been obtained.
  (2) The operation of ambulances, hearses, or vehicles providing emergency roadside services or roadside assistance.
  (3) A vehicle or combination of vehicles owned, operated, controlled, or used by a public utility in connection with the construction, installation, operation, maintenance, or repair of a public utility facility.

No ordinance adopted by a city to decrease weight limits shall apply to any vehicle owned, leased, operated or controlled by any licensed contractor while necessarily in use in the construction, maintenance, or repair of a public works project, or by any highway carrier regulated by the Public Utilities Commission while transporting any materials to or from a public works project, when the bids were opened prior to the adoption of the ordinance unless an alternate direct route is provided substantially within and by the city enacting the ordinance.

Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary, any county may by ordinance prohibit the use of any street, road or highway by any commercial vehicle exceeding a maximum gross weight of 14,000 pounds if, by accepted engineering standards, the street, road or highway cannot support such vehicle.

No ordinance adopted pursuant to Section 35717 shall be effective until appropriate signs are erected indicating either the streets, roads or highways affected by the ordinance or the streets, roads or highways not affected, as the board of supervisors may determine will best serve to give notice of the ordinance.

No ordinance adopted pursuant to Section 35717 shall be effective with respect to any street, road or highway which connects with, or is a continuation of, any street, road or highway of an adjoining county unless the board of supervisors of each county in which the street, road or highway is a through highway, by concurrent action and like limitation, prohibit the use of such street, road or highway pursuant to this section.

No ordinance adopted pursuant to Section 35717 shall be effective with respect to:
  (a) Any vehicle which is subject to the provisions of Article 2 (commencing with Section 1031) of Chapter 5 of Part 1 of Division 1 of the Public Utilities Code or any farm labor vehicle.
  (b) Any street, road or highway which is not under the exclusive jurisdiction of the board of supervisors enacting such ordinance, except as otherwise provided in Section 35719, or, in the case of any state highway, until such proposed ordinance has been submitted by the board of supervisors to and approved in writing by the Department of Transportation. In submitting such a proposed ordinance to the department for approval, the board of supervisors shall designate therein, an alternate route or routes for the use of such vehicles which shall remain unrestricted by any local regulation as to weight limits or types of vehicles so long as the ordinance proposed shall remain in effect. The approval of such proposed ordinances by the Department of Transportation shall constitute an approval by the department of such alternate route or routes so designated.
  (c) Any commercial vehicle coming from an unrestricted street, road or highway having ingress and egress by direct route to and from such restricted streets, roads, and highways when necessary for the purpose of making pickups or deliveries of goods, wares and merchandise from or to any building or structure located on such restricted streets, roads or highways or for the purpose of delivering materials to be used in the actual and bona fide repair, alteration, remodeling or construction of any building or structure upon such restricted street, road or highway for which a building permit, if required, has previously been obtained therefor, or vehicles, machinery, or construction equipment used in connection with, the construction, repair or maintenance of such restricted street or public work projects located thereon.
  (d) Any vehicle operated as an incident to any industrial, commercial, or agricultural enterprise conducted upon any such street, road, or highway.
  (e) Any vehicle owned, operated, controlled, or used by a public utility or licensed contractor in connection with the construction, installation, operation, maintenance, or repair of any public utility facilities or public works projects.
  (f) The operation of ambulances or hearses.

No ordinance shall be adopted pursuant to Section 35717 except upon notice and hearing in the manner prescribed in this section. Notice of hearing shall be published as prescribed in Section 6064 of the Government Code. The notice shall advise all interested parties that they may submit written or oral objections to the proposed action and shall designate a time and place for presentation of such objections. The time for submission of objections shall not expire, and the hearing may not be held, less than 60 days after the first publication of notice. The hearing shall be held before the board of supervisors and interested parties shall be afforded an adequate opportunity to be heard with respect to their objections.

Prior to the execution of freeway agreements for State Highway Route 85 in Santa Clara County, with the concurrence of each city within the highway corridor, the Board of Supervisors of the County of Santa Clara may, after a public hearing, adopt a proposed ordinance imposing a maximum gross truck weight limit of 9,000 pounds on Route 85 from State Highway Route 280 in Cupertino south and east to State Highway Route 101 in San Jose, and submit the proposed ordinance to the Department of Transportation for approval. Upon approval of the proposed ordinance by the department, this weight limit shall be stipulated in the applicable freeway agreements with the local entities in the Route 85 corridor. If the proposed ordinance is approved by the department, the weight limit shall become effective upon opening of any portion of the new Route 85 freeway corridor as defined in this section, and the department shall post appropriate signs, similar to the signs on State Highway Route 580 in Oakland. Except as otherwise provided in this section, this article shall be applicable to an ordinance adopted pursuant to this section.