Houston Code of Ordinances § 45-271 Generally.
Sec. 45-271. - Generally.
(a) Except as otherwise provided by law, no commercial motor vehicle, truck-trailer, trailer or semitrailer, nor combination of such vehicles, shall be operated over, on, or upon the public streets and highways within the corporate limits of the city, having a weight in excess of one or more of the following limitations:
(1) No such vehicle nor combination of vehicles shall have a greater weight than 20,000 pounds carried on any one axle, including all enforcement tolerances; or within a tandem axle weight in excess of 34,000 pounds, including all enforcement tolerances; or with an overall gross weight on a group of two or more consecutive axles produced by application of the following formula:
LN
W = 500 | + 12N ° 36
N-1
Where:
W = | Overall gross weight on any group of 2 or more consecutive axles to the nearest 500 pounds;
L = | Distance in feet between the extreme of any group of 2 or more axles; and
N = | The number of axles in the group under consideration.
Notwithstanding the above, two consecutive sets of tandem axles may carry a gross load of 34,000 pounds each providing the overall distance between the first and last axles of such consecutive sets of tandem axles is 36 feet or more; provided, that such overall gross weight may not exceed 80,000 pounds, including all enforcement tolerances.
(2) No such vehicles nor combination of vehicles shall have a greater weight than 600 pounds per inch width of tire upon any wheel concentrated upon the surface of the highway and using high-pressure tires, and a greater weight than 650 pounds per inch width of tire upon any wheel concentrated upon the surface of the highway and using low-pressure tires, and no wheel shall carry a load in excess of 8,000 pounds on high-pressure tires and 10,000 pounds on low-pressure tires, nor any axle a load in excess of 16,000 pounds on high pressure tires, and 20,000 pounds on low-pressure tires.
(3) Nothing in this section shall be construed as permitting size or weight limits on the national system of interstate and defense highways within the corporate limits of the city in excess of those permitted under 23 U.S.C. section 127. If the federal government prescribes or adopts vehicle size or weight limits greater than those prescribed by 23 U.S.C. section 127 for the national system of interstate and defense highways, the increased limits shall become effective on the national system of interstate and defense highways within the corporate limits of the city.
(4) Nothing in this section shall be construed to deny the operation of any vehicle or combination of vehicles that could be lawfully operated upon the highways and roads within the corporate limits of the city on December 16, 1974.
(5) In this section, an axle load is defined as the total load transmitted to the road by all wheels whose centers may be included between two parallel transverse vertical planes 40 inches apart, extending across the full width of the vehicle. Tandem axle group is defined as two or more axles spaced 40 inches or more apart from center to center having at least one common point of weight suspension.
(b) Any police officer having reason to believe that the gross weight or axle load of a loaded motor vehicle is unlawful, is authorized to weigh the same by means of portable or stationary scales approved by the police department of the city for such use, or the police officer may cause the loaded motor vehicle to be weighed by any public weigher and may require such vehicle to be driven to the nearest available scales for the purpose of weighing.
If the gross weight of a motor vehicle or an axle load exceeds the maximum permitted by law plus a tolerance allowance of five percent of the gross weight authorized by law, such police officer may require the operator to unload or rearrange the load to conform to law without proceeding if the police officer determines that such work may be safely accomplished at the site where the vehicle was weighed or may require the operator to proceed to a location where the cargo can be unloaded or rearranged safely without causing disruption to traffic. Such location shall be the nearest such place on authorized city property, on property under the control of the driver or his principal, or on property where consent has been given for such loading and where it is feasible to unload or rearrange such cargo.
If the load of a motor vehicle consists of livestock, the operator shall be permitted to proceed to destination without unloading providing the destination is within the state.
(c) Any person desiring to operate a vehicle on city streets in excess of the load limit set out herein shall first obtain a special permit from the Director of Houston Public Works and such permit shall not be issued unless reasonably necessary.
(d) The limitation as to weight prescribed by this section shall not apply to road rollers or other road making or road repairing machinery being moved or used on a street by the United States, the state, the city, or any contractor moving or using such road machinery in the performance of or preparatory to the performance of a contract with any one of the United States, the state or the city, but in the event of any such road making or road repairing machinery of a weight in excess of the limit set out herein being moved over the streets or bridges in the city, the person in charge thereof shall first obtain from the city engineer a permit for such movement, which permit shall designate the route or streets and also the bridges over which such movement shall take place, and such machinery may then be moved, but not elsewhere than over such designated routes.
(e) Any person moving or causing to be moved a load which, together with the weight of the vehicle, exceeds the limit as set out herein, shall be liable to the city for any damage done by any such excessively loaded vehicle to the streets, bridges or culverts in the city and the acceptance of either of the permits provided for in this section shall be conclusive evidence that the person to whom such permit is issued agrees to make good and pay all such damages upon demand thereof made by the city.
(f) The driver, owner, operator, or other person operating or driving any commercial motor vehicle, truck, tractor, trailer or semitrailer or combination of such vehicles, over, on, or upon city streets or public highways within the limits of the city, shall comply with the provisions of article 6701d-11, section 5(a), of the Revised Civil Statutes of Texas.
(g) The driver, owner, operator, or other person operating or driving any commercial motor vehicle, truck, tractor, trailer or semitrailer or combination of such vehicles, over, on, or upon city streets or public highways within the limits of the city, who fails to comply with the provisions of this section, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor which shall be punishable, upon conviction, by a fine of not less than $100.00 and not more than $200.00.
(h) All persons have the affirmative duty to comply with all provisions of this article, and it shall not be a defense to prosecution of such persons that they were acting without a culpable mental state.
78; Ord. No. 85-2065, § 1, 11-27-85; Ord. No. 86-3, § 1, 1-7-86; Ord. No. 93-514, § 106, 5-5-93; Ord. No. 02-449, § 2, 5-29-02; Ord. No. 2018-11, § 49, 1-10-2018)
(Code 1968, § 46-251; Ord. No. 73-405, § 1, 2-28-73; Ord. No. 75-1220, § 1, 7-15-75; Ord. No. 76-284, § 1, 2-24-76; Ord. No. 78-1702, § 1, 8-29-