I never could figure out the ‘Bridge law’ in this country. When I drove for St Ann we would go to a paper plant in Walpole MA and if we came in from the south we crossed a bridge with a 15 ton limit, I was told to just ignore it because it was a small bridge (about 15 feet long) and we could get by it because of the bridge law. Today I delivered to one of our regular drops in Peach Glen PA, we reach it from I-81 exit 47A and take 34 south through Mt Holly Springs then the road forks right to stay on 34 south, I went right today and came face to face with a new sign ‘33 ton limit ahead, except for combination vehicles’ … Now I take combination vehicles to mean doubles etc. Anyway having no where to possibly turn round, I had no choice but to carry on, the bridge was about 10 feet long and figuring the bridge law from what I understood my truck would be clear of the bridge when the trailer wheels were on it and so the weight would be halved on the bridge. On arrival at Peach Glen I asked the shunter bloke how long the new sign had been there ? “This week and don’t cross it for anything ?” he said.
“Too late, I crossed it coming here and I will be empty going back”
“Don’t matter, it’s the gross weight capability they will get you for” he then sent me a different and more of a pain in the rear way out that added 20 miles on. On chatting to a local in the Flying J up the road from there I was informed that a combination vehicle includes a regular semi truck and so I had not broken any laws and in any case as I had suspected it was ok under the bridge law anyway.
It seems that most DOT don’t know much more than the basics any way. All states have varying bridge laws in regards to where your trailer axles can be in relation to your king pin, 40’ 41’ etc from the king pin to the centre of the trailer tandems and anything beyond that is in violation of the corresponding state law. However, I’ve lost count of the times that either myself or other drivers I know have being overweight on the rear end and have been told by the DOT in whatever state or province we’re in, to slide the trailer tandems right back to get the weight right, which in itself is a violation of the bridge law as above but very few DOT seem to have any idea about such things.
Except Quebec, they’re very hot on such things and will issue a steep fine for anything beyond 41’ from the kingpin to the centre of the tandems. I know a driver from my Donnelly Farms days who was 2 or 3 holes past the 41’ mark and received a $806 fine…the fine for being overweight on the rear axles would only have been $400ish at the time. Connecticut also have the odd field day with this as well. Apart from California with their totally ■■■■ bridge laws, nowhere else I’ve been really seems to care where the axles are, even though their laws are in very clear black and white print in any Rand Mcnally road map.
Bridge law is a federal law, and has nothing to do with tandem setting on the trailer. That’s state regulated. Also I’ve just read a article in some truck paper about PA getting serious on bridge weights.
I once asked a driver why there’s about 20’ft between his truck & pup trl & he told me it’s, so when he drives over a bridge, it is legally weighed as 2 trucks, not one.
On a similar note, but not quite the same, we use to run from Calgary/High River/Lethbridge to Washington/Oregon, crossing near Creston at the Kingsgate BC/Eastport ID border.
We would be loaded at max weight 41’ between the axles.
Up until about 4 yrs ago,(when they widened & straightened it), the road between Eastport & Bonners Ferry, the first town south of the border, was narrowish & twistyish, really not that bad but the scale/law in Bonners Ferry insisted for that short drive, the axles had to be slid all the way forward, making the back end 3/4000lbs overweight.
So we had to drive down though AB/BC to the Creston scale at 41’ then pull into a layby before the border and slide all the way forward, then drive down to Bonners Ferry, into the scale, weigh, get the “come inside” sign, go in, where he already had the ticket written out.
There was no bollocking, log/truck inspection, licence check, just the ticket, a smile & reminder to re-set the axles.
The fine was cheaper for overweight, than axle over-length.
Often wondered if the haulage companies automatically added this into the job costing.
Purely 100% revenue raising, and after all they have a new road built, probably from this funding.
I have seen a few with a 20 ft drawbar too and was told the same as you.
As for the spacing of tandems from king pin… I know that in VT the centre of the leading axle on the trailer must be no further than 41 feet from the king pin on any trailer, but that again has nothing t do with the bridge law.
my daughter , who lives in california brought me a us trucker’s atlas last time she visited . were the rules and regulations in the front compiled by the inmates at the asylum for the criminally insane ■■ brings a whole new meaning to " you don’t have to be mad to work here , but it helps " cheers , dave
rigsby:
my daughter , who lives in california brought me a us trucker’s atlas last time she visited . were the rules and regulations in the front compiled by the inmates at the asylum for the criminally insane ■■ brings a whole new meaning to " you don’t have to be mad to work here , but it helps " cheers , dave
rigsby:
my daughter , who lives in california brought me a us trucker’s atlas last time she visited . were the rules and regulations in the front compiled by the inmates at the asylum for the criminally insane ■■ brings a whole new meaning to " you don’t have to be mad to work here , but it helps " cheers , dave
The bridge law is not really to do with bridge’s in California it’s more to do with the turning circle,ie, 40 foot pin to the center of the rear axle with the maximum axle weight’s,12000lb’s steer’s 34000lb’s on the other two set’s of tandem’s.
rigsby:
my daughter , who lives in california brought me a us trucker’s atlas last time she visited . were the rules and regulations in the front compiled by the inmates at the asylum for the criminally insane ■■ brings a whole new meaning to " you don’t have to be mad to work here , but it helps " cheers , dave
I gave up trying to read the rules in the front of mine, anyway ! I have found out that ‘combination vehicles’ does refer to tractor trailers so we can cross that bridge.
Shortcut:
Bridge law is a federal law, and has nothing to do with tandem setting on the trailer. That’s state regulated. Also I’ve just read a article in some truck paper about PA getting serious on bridge weights.
The distance from kingpin to trailer axles IS THE BRIDGE LAW and will depend what state you are in. Some states don’t specify so you are able to have tandems slid all the way back if you really want to look daft.
Basic rule of thumb, set the tandems for the state which specifies the shortest distance between kingpin and tandems, scale it and if legal crack on, if overweight…you decide.
Well, no. Yes the Bridge Law regulates distance from king pin to tandem. But you get in trouble if tandem is too close to king pin, and you have too much weight in too short a span. I don’t think you can get in trouble with normal trailer, but I know somebody who got in trouble with 20ft container The restrictions against moving tandems too far back is a state regulated law. I think feds allowed states to regulate it, when they allowed 53ft trailers. And you can get ticketed even if you’re empty.
Many moons back I collected a loaded trailer from Irving tissue in Ft Edward, NY. It was a very old 53ft trailer and some swine had placed the tandems right at the back, try as hard as I could with help from others I could not shift the things so I made the delivery to a small town south of Boston MA and still couldn’t budge the things. On the Mass pike coming back I was pulled by a state trooper and went to a service area at his request, he had stopped me because the tandems were too far back, I explained that several of us had tried to move them and showed him my DVIR from start of duty, he and two drivers then tried with me to shift them, in the end he told me to go but return the trailer to our workshops to be fixed, he wasn’t going to write me a ticket because I showed him the report. Back at the depot it took the supervisor / mechanic over two hours to free them.
I have run to California with the mudflaps touching the under run bar, never got a second look and I ran over the scale at the bottom of Cajon Pass. My tandems were 20lb short of 34,000lbs so obviously I couldn’t have had them any further forward and remained legal on weights.
I am under the impression that axle weights always trump bridge law
The restrictions against moving tandems too far back is a state regulated law. I think feds allowed states to regulate it, when they allowed 53ft trailers. And you can get ticketed even if you’re empty.