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HOUSE
BILL 2459
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Passed
Legislature - 1996 Regular Session
State of Washington 54th
Legislature 1996 Regular Session
By
Read first time 01/11/96.
Referred to Committee on Transportation.
Adjusting tire
factors for vehicle maximum gross weights.
AN ACT
Relating to tire factors in maximum gross weights; and amending RCW 46.44.042.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE
OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec.
1. RCW
46.44.042 and 1993 c 103 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
Subject
to the maximum gross weights specified in RCW 46.44.041, it is unlawful to
operate any vehicle upon the public highways with a gross weight, including
load, upon any tire concentrated upon the surface of the highway in excess of
six hundred pounds per inch width of such tire. ((Other than the
nonliftable steering axle on the power unit or tiller axle on fire fighting
apparatus,)) An axle manufactured after July 31, 1993, carrying
more than ten thousand pounds gross weight must be equipped with four or more
tires. Effective January 1, 1997, an axle((, excluding the nonliftable
steering axle on the power unit or tiller axle on fire fighting apparatus,))
carrying more than ten thousand pounds gross weight must have four or more
tires, regardless of date of manufacture. Instead of the four or more tires
per axle requirements of this section((: (1))), an axle may be
equipped with two tires limited to five hundred pounds per inch width of tire((;
or (2) in the case of a ready-mix concrete transit truck, the rear booster
trailing axle may be equipped with two tires limited to six hundred pounds per
inch width of tire)). This section does not apply to vehicles operating
under oversize ((and)) or overweight permits, or both,
issued under RCW 46.44.090, while carrying a nonreducible load.
The
following equipment may operate at six hundred pounds per inch width of tire:
(1) A nonliftable steering axle or axles on the power unit; (2) a tiller axle
on fire fighting apparatus; (3) a rear booster trailing axle equipped with two
tires on a ready-mix concrete transit truck; and (4) a straddle trailer
manufactured before January 1, 1996, equipped with single-tire axles or a
single axle using a walking beam supported by two in-line single tires and used
exclusively for the transport of fruit bins between field, storage, and
processing. A straddle trailer manufactured after January 1, 1996, meeting
this use criteria may carry five hundred fifteen pounds per inch width of tire
on sixteen and one-half inch wide tires.
For
the purpose of this section, the width of tire in case of solid rubber or
hollow center cushion tires, so long as the use thereof may be permitted by the
law, shall be measured between the flanges of the rim. For the purpose of this
section, the width of tires in case of pneumatic tires shall be the maximum
overall normal inflated width as stipulated by the manufacturer when inflated
to the pressure specified and without load thereon.
The
department of transportation, under rules adopted by the transportation
commission with respect to state highways, and a local authority, with respect
to a public highway under its jurisdiction, may extend the weight table in RCW
46.44.041 to one hundred fifteen thousand pounds. However, the extension must
be in compliance with federal law, and vehicles operating under the extension
must be in full compliance with the 1997 axle and tire requirements under this
section.
