Relating to permits for vehicles of excessive size and weight, including vehicles transporting raw forest products, and providing for fees

STATEWIDE SYSTEM. This bill requires the department of transportation (DOT) to develop and implement a single statewide system to receive applications for and issue permits that allow for the operation of vehicles of excessive size or weight on highways or streets under the jurisdiction of the state or local authorities. The bill authorizes the DOT to determine, in consultation with the applicable local authorities, the network of highways and streets under the jurisdiction of local authorities, including the appropriate routes, on which vehicles issued permits under the system are authorized to operate. 14. The bill requires the DOT to allocate a portion of the fees collected to local authorities having jurisdiction over highways or streets on which vehicles issued permits under the system are authorized to operate. The bill requires the DOT to submit a report to the general assembly in electronic form on or before December 31, 2021, regarding the status of the development and implementation of the system. RAW FOREST PRODUCTS.457; the container is sealed for international shipment and is either in route for export to a foreign country or in route to the container’s destination from a foreign country; documentation is carried in the vehicle, in written or electronic form, that ties the container being moved to the container listed in the documentation using the unique container number marked on the container; and the container’s contents are exclusively raw forest products. The bill requires the documentation carried in the vehicle to clearly state the foreign country of origin or destination, and to be provided to a peace officer upon request. The bill allows the DOT to issue annual permits authorizing a vehicle or combination of vehicles to transport divisible loads of raw forest products from fields to storage, processing, or other commercial facilities. The annual permit fee is $175.7.7 limits the gross weight on any one axle to 20,000 pounds and the gross weight on any one tandem axle having at least four tires to 46,000 pounds.457. The bill also prohibits a vehicle or combination of vehicles for which a permit is issued under the bill from traveling on any portion of the interstate highway system. The bill provides that such a permit issued by the DOT is valid for operation on nonprimary highways if the local authority having jurisdiction over the nonprimary highway has approved the route within the local authority’s jurisdiction used by the vehicle or combination of vehicles traveling under the permit. The bill defines “raw forest products” to mean logs, pilings, posts, poles, cordwood products, wood chips, sawdust, pulpwood, intermediary lumber, fuel wood, mulch, tree bark, and Christmas trees not altered by a manufacturing process off the land, sawmill, or factory from which the products were taken.