Wisconsin Legislature: Trans 254.05(3)

(c) “Restricted-travel holidays” means days on which the department restricts the travel of oversize vehicles in anticipation of significantly increased traffic volume. The department shall issue and make available a list of restricted-travel holidays for each year by no later than November 30 of the prior year. In the event no list is published, “restricted-travel holidays” means January 1; the Saturday and Sunday of Easter weekend; the last Monday in May and the immediately preceding Saturday and Sunday; July 4; the Monday after July 4, if July 4 falls on a Sunday; the first Monday in September and the immediately preceding Saturday and Sunday; the Saturday and Sunday initiating the Wisconsin gun deer hunting season; the fourth Thursday in November; the Saturday and Sunday following the fourth Thursday in November if that Sunday is the final day of the Wisconsin gun deer hunting season; December 24; December 25; and December 31.

Note: Oversize travel will typically be restricted on the peak travel days associated with the holidays listed in par. (c), as well as peak travel times associated with the department of natural resources traditional statewide gun deer hunting season. The list of restricted-travel holidays is available at http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov or by request to the DMV Motor Carrier Services Permit Unit, 4802 Sheboygan Avenue, Room 151, P.O. Box 7980, Madison, WI 53707-7980.

History: Cr. Register, December, 1990, No. 420, eff. 1-1-91; CR 13-093: cr. (2) (c) Register July 2014 No. 703, eff. 8-1-14.

Trans 254.03 Permit application.

(1) An application for a permit shall be submitted to an issuing authority on a form approved by the department, and in accordance with s. 348.26, Stats.

(1m) The application shall include all requested information, including the applicant’s electronic mail address.

(2) An application for a permit for the use of a state trunk highway shall be made to the department in any of the following ways:

(a) In person, at the department’s central office.

(b) By mail, addressed to the department’s central office.

(d) By authorized permit service.

(3) An application for a permit for the use of a highway maintained by a local authority shall be submitted to the applicable local authority in the manner prescribed by the local authority. An application for a permit for the use of a state trunk highway within the geographical boundaries of a local authority shall be submitted to the applicable local authority in the manner prescribed by the local authority.

Note: Forms used by the department in administering this rule are MV2600 oversize/overweight single trip permit information; MV2604 single trip application; MV2605 single trip permit general conditions; MV2926 military permit application; MV2955 building(s) transport application. These forms may be obtained in person at or by written request to the DMV Motor Carrier Services Section, Permit Unit, 4802 Sheboygan Avenue, Room 151, P.O. Box 7980, Madison, Wisconsin 53707-7980. These forms are also available online at http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov. Forms used by issuing authorities other than the department may be obtained from those authorities.

The department’s oversize/overweight automated issuance system is available online at http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/business/carriers/osow-autosys.htm.

Permit application procedures are established in s. Trans 250.025.

History: Cr. Register, December, 1990, No. 420, eff. 1-1-91; correction in (2) (a) made under s. 13.92 (4) (b) 6., Stats., Register 2013 No. 686; CR 13-093: cr. (1m), am. (2) (a), r. and recr. (2) (c) Register July 2014 No. 703, eff. 8-1-14.

Trans 254.04 Permit amendments.

(1) An application for an amendment to a permit shall be made to the issuing authority which issued the original permit.

(2) An application for an amendment may be made in the same manner as an application for an original permit.

(3) The request shall specify the permit number of the permit to be amended.

(4) A request for an extension of a permit may be made any time until the third day after the expiration date of the permit.

(5) An issuing authority may grant only one extension to a permit.

(6) Except as provided in sub. (7), a permit issued for less than 2 weeks may be extended not more than 2 weeks.

(7) An issuing authority may extend a permit not more than 2 additional weeks where highway or other conditions remain unchanged, or as the issuing authority deems necessary.

Note: Limitations on the amendment of permits are in s. Trans 250.10.

History: Cr. Register, December, 1990, No. 420, eff. 1-1-91.

Trans 254.05 Eligibility.

(1) Any vehicle or vehicle and load to be considered as operating under a permit shall satisfy requirements for a permit under s. 348.25, Stats.

(2) An issuing authority may not issue a permit for mobile homes or camping trailers under this chapter.

(3) An issuing authority may not issue a permit for transporting loads or articles which could reasonably be divided in a manner as to allow transporting of loads or articles in 2 or more loads that are not oversize or overweight, or both.

(4) An issuing authority may not issue a permit to transport more than one article if the vehicle, load, or vehicle and load is overweight.

Note: This section prohibits, among other things, the addition of an extra boom section to a load that is transported under a permit for an overweight vehicle, load, or vehicle and load. Transporting necessary blocking for a load, or transporting the necessary blocking on an otherwise empty vehicle to and from the origin or destination of the load is not prohibited.

(5) An issuing authority may not issue a permit for a vehicle and load exceeding 100 feet in overall length when the rear supporting axle is at or near the rear of the load unless the rear support is separately steered.

(6) An issuing authority may issue a permit only for a vehicle equipped with pneumatic tires.

(7) The issuance of a permit is not a guarantee of the sufficiency of any highway or structure for the transporting of the vehicle, load, or vehicle and load.

(8) A permit may not authorize the operation of more than 2 vehicles in combination.

Note: This does not prohibit the use of dollies to support or assist in supporting one or both ends of a trailer.

(9) A permit may authorize the operation of vehicle combinations consisting of a truck-tractor and semi-trailer with an earth-mover being transported with its power unit resting on the bed of a semi-trailer and its single rear axle trailing on the roadway behind the semi-trailer, in which case the gross weight of the rear axle of the earth mover may not exceed 35,000 pounds.

History: Cr. Register, December, 1990, No. 420, eff. 1-1-91.

Trans 254.06 Validity.

(1) A permit is valid only for the vehicle described in the application and permit.

(2) An issuing authority may suspend a permit, or any of its conditions, because of seasonal highway conditions.

Note: Examples of seasonal highway conditions include spring thaw, flooding and traffic congestion.

(3) No condition of a permit may modify any law or regulation limiting loads because of local conditions, including load limits on bridges and highways, seasonal weight restrictions, or load limits imposed because of construction.

(4) A permit is not valid during periods when adverse weather or road conditions, such as fog, smoke, heavy rain, snow or ice, or wind velocity, impair the safety of a movement under the permit.

(5) A permit may not be used in combination with a multiple trip permit to authorize the movement of an oversize or overweight vehicle, load, or vehicle and load.

(6) A permit is valid only on the route specified in the permit.

(7) A permit is valid only for the movement specified in the permit, which may include the return trip on the reverse route if requested and approved, and which includes the movement of the empty vehicle, whether or not oversize or overweight, to and from the place of pickup or delivery of the permitted load.

History: Cr. Register, December, 1990, No. 420, eff. 1-1-91.

Trans 254.07 Registration requirements.

(1) A vehicle operating under a permit shall be registered as required by Wisconsin Statutes, and shall be registered at not less than the permit weight or at the maximum available registration weight, whichever is less.

(2) All other operational permits required by the department or other agencies having jurisdiction shall be obtained.

History: Cr. Register, December, 1990, No. 420, eff. 1-1-91; correction in (2) made under s. 13.93 (2m) (b) 6., Stats., Register, August, 1996, No. 488.

Trans 254.08 Driver and operating requirements.

(1) The driver of a vehicle operating under a permit shall carry the permit in the vehicle to which it applies and shall have the permit available for inspection by any police officer, representative of the issuing authority, or person in charge of the maintenance of the highway being used.

(2) The driver of a vehicle operating under a permit shall, whenever reasonable and practicable, maintain a distance of not less than 1,000 feet between the permitted vehicle and any vehicle the driver is following, unless actually engaged in overtaking and passing another vehicle.

(3) The driver of a vehicle operating under a permit shall allow traffic approaching or overtaking the permitted vehicle to pass, where it is safe to do so.

(4) The maximum speed of any vehicle with a load 16 feet or wider operating on highways without paved shoulders shall be 35 miles per hour.

(5) Except as provided in sub. (4), or unless a lower speed is specified in the permit, a vehicle operating under a permit may be operated at the posted speed limit.

(6) The right wheels of the towed unit may not leave the roadway, except to allow traffic to pass.

Note: A “roadway” does not include paved or unpaved shoulders. s. 340.01 (54), Stats.

History: Cr. Register, December, 1990, No. 420, eff. 1-1-91.

Trans 254.09 Maximum size, weight and loading limitations.

(1) The maximum size, axle, axle combination, and total weight limitations authorized by a permit may not be exceeded.

(2) Property transported under a permit shall be loaded to minimize its size and weight.

(3) An oversize vehicle used for transporting loads under a permit shall be reduced to legal size whenever possible when being operated without load.

Note: Legal sizes are set forth in ch. 348 and s. 349.16, Stats.

(4) A load transported under a permit may not extend beyond the front of the power unit, beyond the left fender line of the transporting vehicle, or more than 6 inches beyond the right fender of the transporting vehicle, unless the overhang is minimized by suitable positioning of the load upon the vehicle.

(5) Loads consisting of more than one article, none of which are oversize, may not be transported under the permit.

(6) Vehicles and loads which, when reasonably divided, would not be oversize or overweight, may not be transported under the permit.

(7) Loads which, when reasonably repositioned on the transporting vehicle would not be oversize or overweight, may not be transported under the permit.

(8) Loads consisting of more than one article, one or more of which are oversize, may be transported under a permit only if:

(a) The vehicle and load is not overweight, and

(b) The other articles transported do not cause the vehicle and load to be oversize in any manner differently from the largest single article.

Note: For example, if a storage tank which is overwidth and overheight (but not overlength) is the single largest article transported, then a toolbox which is not wider, and is not higher, and does not make the vehicle and load overlength or overweight may also be transported.

However, a beam placed crosswise which makes the overall width wider than the storage tank may not be transported as an additional article. Similarly, a beam placed lengthwise which makes the vehicle and load overlength may not be transported as an additional article.

Finally, if the vehicle and load were overweight, then no additional article may be transported.

(9) The load shall be properly secured and fastened to the transporting vehicle.

(10) Wheels on one side of a transporting vehicle may not carry more than 60% of the total gross load.

History: Cr. Register, December, 1990, No. 420, eff. 1-1-91.

Trans 254.10 Equipment requirements.

(1) Lighting. An oversize vehicle, or a vehicle with an oversize load operating during the hours of darkness, shall be equipped with the following additional lamps:

(a) For a vehicle with a load which extends beyond the width of the vehicle:

1. At the outermost extremity of the foremost edge of the projecting load, an amber lamp visible from the front and side.

2. At the outermost extremity at the rearmost edge of the projecting load, a red lamp visible from the rear and side.

3. Any portion of an overwidth load extending beyond the width of the foremost or rearmost edge of the vehicle or load, shall be marked with an amber lamp visible from the front, both sides, and rear.

4. The overwidth portion of a load measuring 3 feet or less from front to rear, shall be marked with an amber lamp visible from the front, both sides and rear, except that if the overwidth projection is located at or near the rear it shall be marked by a red lamp visible from front, side and rear.

(b) For a vehicle with a load which extends more than 4 feet beyond the rear of the vehicle:

1. On each side of the projecting load, 1 red lamp, visible from the side, located so as to indicate maximum overhang.