60-6,288. Vehicles; width limit; exceptions; conditions; Director-State Engineer; powers.

(1) No vehicle which exceeds a total outside width of one hundred two inches, including any load but excluding designated safety devices, shall be permitted on any portion of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. The Director-State Engineer shall adopt and promulgate rules and regulations, consistent with federal requirements, designating safety devices which shall be excluded in determining vehicle width.

(2) No vehicle which exceeds a total outside width of one hundred two inches, including any load but excluding designated safety devices, shall be permitted on any highway which is not a portion of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, except that such prohibition shall not apply to:

(a) Farm equipment in temporary movement, during daylight hours or during hours of darkness when the clearance light requirements of section 60-6,235 are fully complied with, in the normal course of farm operations;

(b) Combines eighteen feet or less in width, while in the normal course of farm operations and while being driven during daylight hours or during hours of darkness when the clearance light requirements of section 60-6,235 are fully complied with;

(c) Combines in excess of eighteen feet in width, while in the normal course of farm operations, while being driven during daylight hours for distances of twenty-five miles or less on highways and while preceded by a well-lighted pilot vehicle or flagperson, except that such combines may be driven on highways while in the normal course of farm operations for distances of twenty-five miles or less and while preceded by a well-lighted pilot vehicle or flagperson during hours of darkness when the clearance light requirements of section 60-6,235 are fully complied with;

(d) Combines and vehicles used in transporting combines or other implements of husbandry, and only when transporting combines or other implements of husbandry, to be engaged in harvesting or other agricultural work, while being transported into or through the state during daylight hours, when the total width including the width of the combine or other implement of husbandry being transported does not exceed fifteen feet, except that vehicles used in transporting combines or other implements of husbandry may, when necessary to the harvesting operation or other agricultural work, travel unloaded for distances not to exceed twenty-five miles, while the combine or other implement of husbandry to be transported is engaged in a harvesting operation or other agricultural work;

(e) Farm equipment dealers or their representatives as authorized under section 60-6,382 driving, delivering, or picking up farm equipment, including portable livestock buildings not exceeding fourteen feet in width, or implements of husbandry during daylight hours;

(f) Livestock forage vehicles loaded or unloaded that comply with subsection (2) of section 60-6,305;

(g) During daylight hours only, vehicles en route to pick up, delivering, or returning unloaded from delivery of baled livestock forage which, including the load if any, may be twelve feet in width;

(h) Mobile homes or prefabricated livestock buildings not exceeding sixteen feet in width and with an outside tire width dimension not exceeding one hundred twenty inches moving during daylight hours;

(i) Self-propelled specialized mobile equipment with a fixed load when:

(i) The self-propelled specialized mobile equipment will be transported on a state highway, excluding any portion of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, on a city street, or on a road within the corporate limits of a city;

(ii) The city in which the self-propelled specialized mobile equipment is intended to be transported has authorized a permit pursuant to section 60-6,298 for the transportation of the self-propelled specialized mobile equipment, specifying the route to be used and the hours during which the self-propelled specialized mobile equipment can be transported, except that no permit shall be issued by a city for travel on a state highway containing a bridge or structure which is structurally inadequate to carry the self-propelled specialized mobile equipment as determined by the Department of Transportation;

(iii) The self-propelled specialized mobile equipment's gross weight does not exceed ninety-four thousand pounds if the self-propelled specialized mobile equipment has four axles or seventy-two thousand pounds if the self-propelled specialized mobile equipment has three axles; and

(iv) If the self-propelled specialized mobile equipment has four axles, the maximum weight on each set of tandem axles does not exceed forty-seven thousand pounds, or if the self-propelled specialized mobile equipment has three axles, the maximum weight on the front axle does not exceed twenty-five thousand pounds and the total maximum weight on the rear tandem axles does not exceed forty-seven thousand pounds;

(j) Vehicles which have been issued a permit pursuant to section 60-6,299; or

(k) A motor home or travel trailer, as those terms are defined in section 71-4603, which may exceed one hundred and two inches if such excess width is attributable to an appurtenance that extends no more than six inches beyond the body of the vehicle. For purposes of this subdivision, the term appurtenance includes (i) an awning and its support hardware and (ii) any appendage that is intended to be an integral part of a motor home or travel trailer and that is installed by the manufacturer or dealer. The term appurtenance does not include any item that is temporarily affixed or attached to the exterior of the motor home or travel trailer for purposes of transporting the vehicular unit from one location to another. Appurtenances shall not be considered in calculating the gross trailer area as defined in section 71-4603.

(3) The Director-State Engineer, with respect to highways under his or her jurisdiction, may designate certain highways upon which vehicles of no more than ninety-six inches in width may be permitted to travel. Highways so designated shall be limited to one or more of the following:

(a) Highways with traffic lanes of ten feet or less;

(b) Highways upon which are located narrow bridges; and

(c) Highways which because of sight distance, surfacing, unusual curves, topographic conditions, or other unusual circumstances would not in the opinion of the Director-State Engineer safely accommodate vehicles of more than ninety-six inches in width.

Source

Cross References

Annotations

Under the exemption to the width limitations prescribed by subdivision (2)(f) of this section, the language "access to points on (dustless-surfaced) highways" means that if there is no other route available, one may move the qualified equipment over a dustless-surfaced highway. State v. Quandt, 234 Neb. 402, 451 N.W.2d 272 (1990).

Violation of a statute is evidence of negligence, but not negligence per se. Clark Bilt, Inc. v. Wells Dairy Co., 200 Neb. 20, 261 N.W.2d 772 (1978).

Exception in this section for unbaled livestock forage applied to load only and not to vehicle. State v. Sabin, 184 Neb. 784, 172 N.W.2d 89 (1969).

Width of vehicle may not exceed eight feet unless special permit is obtained. Frasier v. Gilchrist, 165 Neb. 450, 86 N.W.2d 65 (1957).

Where truck loaded with combine exceeded statutory permissible width and was over centerline of the highway, it was evidence of negligence. Novak v. Laptad, 152 Neb. 87, 40 N.W.2d 331 (1949).