§ 25-124. Maximum length of vehicles—Generally.

(a)

No motor vehicle longer than forty (40) feet shall be operated on any street in the City of Norfolk. The actual length of any combination of vehicles coupled together including any load thereon shall not exceed a total of sixty (60) feet. No tolerance shall be allowed that exceeds twelve (12) inches.

The director of public works, however, when good cause is shown, may issue a special permit for combinations either in excess of sixty (60) feet, including any load thereon, or where the object or objects to be carried cannot be moved otherwise. Such permits may also be issued by the director when the total number of otherwise overdimensional loads of modular housing of no more than two (2) units may be reduced by permitting the use of an overlength trailer not exceeding fifty-four (54) feet.

No overall length restrictions, however, shall be imposed on any tractor truck semitrailer combinations drawing one trailer or any tractor truck semitrailer combinations when operated on any interstate or on any federal-aid primary highway as designated by the Commonwealth Transportation Board. No individual semitrailer or trailer being drawn in a tractor truck semitrailer or trailer combination, however, shall exceed twenty-eight and one-half (28.5) feet in length, and no semitrailer being operated in a tractor truck semitrailer combination shall exceed forty-eight (48) feet in length, except when semitrailers have an axle spacing of not more than thirty-seven (37) feet between the rear axle of the tractor truck and the front axle of the semitrailer, such semitrailer shall be allowed not more than fifty-three (53) feet in length.

The length limitations on semitrailers and trailers in the foregoing provisions of this section shall be exclusive of safety and energy conservation devices, steps and handholds for entry and egress, rubber dock guards, flexible fender extensions, mud flaps, refrigeration units and air compressors. Such combinations shall not be denied reasonable access to terminals, facilities for food, fuel, repairs and rest, except as designated, based on safety considerations, by the director of public works. Household goods carriers and any tractor truck semitrailer combination in which the semitrailer has a length of no more than twenty-eight and one-half (28.5) feet which operates generally as part of a tractor truck semitrailer combination shall not be denied reasonable access to points of loading and unloading, except as designated, based on safety considerations, by the director of public works.

(b)

Passenger buses longer than thirty-five (35) feet, but not longer than forty (40) feet, may be operated on the streets of the City of Norfolk when authorized pursuant to Section 46.2-1300 of the Code of Virginia, 1950, as amended. Passenger buses may exceed the forty (40) feet limitation when such excess length is caused by the projection of a front or rear safety bumper or both. Such safety bumper shall not cause the length of the bus to exceed the maximum legal limit by more than one foot in the front and one foot in the rear. "Safety bumper" means any device which may be fitted on an existing bumper or which replaces the bumper and is so constructed, treated, or manufactured to absorb energy upon impact.

(c)

In an emergency as provided in Section 46.21149 of the Code of Virginia, 1950, as amended, the towing of disabled vehicles which cannot be separated for safety, physical, or mechanical reasons and which exceed length limitations established in Article 16 (Section 46.2-1112 et seq.) of Chapter 46 of the Code of Virginia, 1950, as amended, shall be permissible for the purpose of towing any such vehicle to the nearest facility which can make the necessary repairs but not more than fifty (50) miles from the point such vehicle was disabled.

(Ord. No. 30,729, § 1, 7-29-80; Ord. No. 35,792, § 1, 11-14-89)

State Law reference— Similar provisions, Code of Virginia, §§ 46.2.1112, 46.2.1113, 46.2.1153.

(Ord. No. 30,729, § 1, 7-29-80; Ord. No. 35,792, § 1, 11-14-89)

State law reference

Similar provisions, Code of Virginia, §§ 46.2.1112, 46.2.1113, 46.2.1153.