Article 5. Bridges And Other Structures of California Vehicle Code >> Division 15. >> Chapter 5. >> Article 5.

(a) The Department of Transportation may, in the manner provided in Section 35751, determine the maximum weight of vehicle and load, lower than the maximum weight otherwise permitted under this code which a bridge or other structure with safety to itself will sustain.
  (b) The city council or the board of supervisors of a city or county with a population of 1,100,000 or more, as determined by the 1970 federal decennial census, may, in the manner provided in Section 35751, determine the maximum weight of vehicle and load, lower than the maximum weight otherwise permitted under this code which a bridge or other structure under its jurisdiction with safety to itself will sustain.

(a) The Department of Transportation or the city council or board of supervisors of a city or county with a population of 1,100,000 or more, as determined by the 1970 federal decennial census, as the case may be, shall make an engineering investigation and hold a public hearing whenever such a determination appears necessary.
  (b) Notice of the time and place of the hearing shall be posted upon the bridge or other structure at least five days before the date fixed for the hearing. Upon the basis of the investigation and all evidence presented at the hearing, the department or the city council or board of supervisors, as the case may be, shall determine by order in writing the maximum weight of vehicle and load which the bridge or other structure with safety to itself will sustain.
  (c) With respect to any bridge or other structure not under its jurisdiction, the department shall not proceed under subdivisions (a) and (b) unless it first receives a request to do so from the city council or the board of supervisors having jurisdiction over the bridge or other structure.

Thereupon, the authority having jurisdiction over the bridge or other structure shall erect and maintain suitable signs specifying the maximum weight so determined, at a distance of not more than 500 feet from each end of the bridge or other structure or any approach thereto. The standards and specifications for such signs shall be established in accordance with Section 21400 of this code.

(a) No person shall drive a vehicle over any bridge, causeway, viaduct, trestle, or dam constituting a part of a highway when the weight of the vehicle and load thereon is greater than the maximum weight which the bridge or other structure with safety to itself will sustain. Violations of this subdivision shall be punished in accordance with the schedule of fines set forth in Section 42030.
  (b) Upon the trial of any person charged with a violation with respect to a weight restriction sign erected pursuant to Section 35752, proof of the determination of the maximum weight by the Department of Transportation and the existence of the weight restriction signs constitute prima facie evidence of the maximum weight which the bridge or other structure with safety to itself will sustain.

Whenever, in the opinion of a local authority, a bridge under its jurisdiction is in a dangerous or weak condition, it may temporarily erect suitable signs at all entrances to such bridge specifying the maximum weight which it believes the bridge with safety to itself will sustain. The maximum weight limit so fixed and posted shall remain in effect for not more than 90 days.

Whenever a state highway bridge is in a dangerous or weak condition, the Department of Transportation may temporarily erect suitable signs at all entrances to such bridge specifying the maximum weight which the bridge may safely sustain. Under no circumstances shall the maximum weight limit so fixed and posted pursuant to this section remain in effect for more than 90 days.