Module Truck Regulations/Restrictions For the Southeast Region September 16, 2010

Alabama

Specialty Module Truck Tag

Sec. 40-12-245.1 (a) Notwithstanding any provision of the law to the contrary, the amount of the annual license tax and registration fee for a vehicle designed and especially constructed to transport only raw cotton from harvest to a cotton gin shall be two hundred fifty dollars ($250), which shall be distributed as provided in section 40-12-270. The vehicle may not be made to conform to the axle and gross weight requirements, but shall qualify for the exemption provided in paragraph j. of subdivision (4) of Section 32-9-20

Exempted from gross and axle weights.

Sec. 32-9-20 (4)(j) Two and three axle vehicles being used exclusively for the purpose of transporting commodities or products to and from a farm and for agricultural purposes relating to the operation and maintenance of a farm by a farmer, custom harvester or husbandman may not be made to conform to the axle requirements of paragraph (4)a of this section or the gross weight requirements of paragraph (4)c of this section.

Sec. 32-9-22 (a) Exemptions Generally

There shall be exempt from the provisions of this article trucks, semitrailer trucks or trailers owned by the United States, or any agency thereof, the State of Alabama, or any county or city, or incorporated town; nor shall the provisions of this article apply to implements of husbandry temporarily propelled or moved upon the highways; nor shall the provisions of this article apply to trucks, semitrailer trucks, or trailers used exclusively for carrying 50 bales or less of cotton.

Towed module movers restricted to 10 feet in width and 85 feet in overall length including the truck.

Sec. 32-9-2 …the width of each wagon or module-mover shall not exceed 10 feet and overall length of the wagons or module-mover and truck shall not exceed 85 feet.

Georgia

Permit for operating module trucks in Ga. Cost $25/yr

Page 1 Sec. 32-6-28 Annual Permits

(b)(2.1) SIX-MONTH PERMIT. Six-month permits may be issued for loads of tobacco or unginned cotton the widths of which do not exceed nine feet, provided that such loads shall not be operated on The Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways.

Sec. 32-6-26(g)(1)(B) Weight Specifications

(g)(1) The weight limitations provided for in this Code section, except the limitation in subsections (f) and (h) of this Code section, may be exceeded on any public road within this state which is not a national highway, or when making a pickup or delivery on any public road of a county road system, without a permit only when the load on any single axle does not exceed 23,000 pounds, the load on any tandem axle does not exceed 46,000 pounds, and the maximum total gross weight of the vehicle and load does not exceed 80,000 pounds when: (A) Hauling forest products from the forest where cut to the owner´s place of business, plant, plantation, or residence; (B) Hauling live poultry or cotton from a farm to a processing plant;…..

North Carolina

Length of module trucks restricted to 48 feet

Sec. 20-116 d (2) Trucks transporting unprocessed cotton from farm to gin, or unprocessed sage from farm to market shall not exceed 50 feet in length overall of dimensions inclusive of front and rear bumpers.

Cotton exempted from the spillage laws.

Sec. 20-116 g …Provided this section shall not be applicable to or in any manner restrict the transport of seed cotton, of poultry or livestock or silage or other feed grain used in the feeding of poultry or livestock.

Weight Limitations

Sec. 20-118(k) A vehicle which is equipped with a self-loading bed and which is designed and used exclusively to transport compressed seed cotton from the farm to a cotton gin, or sage to market, may operate on the highways of the State, except interstate highways, with a tandem-axle weight not exceeding 50,000 pounds. Such vehicles shall be exempt from light-traffic road limitations only from point of origin on the light-traffic road to the nearest State-maintained road which is not posted to prohibit the

Page 2 transportation of statutory load limits. This exemption does not apply to restricted, posted bridge structures.

South Carolina

Permit for Operation of Module Trucks

Sec. 57-3-160(A) Notwithstanding Section 56-5-4030 or another provision of Chapter 5 of Title 56, the Department of Transportation shall issue, under terms and conditions in the public interest for safety on the highways, a permit for the use on the public highways of cotton modular vehicles. The permit must be issued annually, and it allows movement on the highways at any time. For the purposes of this section, 'cotton modular vehicle' is defined as a single motor vehicle used only to transport seed cotton modules, cotton, or equipment used in the transporting or processing of cotton. This cotton modular vehicle may not exceed a width of one hundred ten inches and may not exceed a length of fifty feet extreme overall dimensions, inclusive of front and rear bumpers and load. To be valid, the permit must be carried on the vehicle, and it is unlawful for a person to violate a provision, term, or condition of the permit. The fee for the permit is fifty dollars and authorizes the use of only one properly described cotton modular vehicle. Loaded cotton modular vehicles must not be operated on interstate highways.

The permits authorized by this code section also carry the allowance for 65,000lbs gross weight with 50,000lbs on the tandem axles.

Virginia

Sec. 46.2-1149.1 Excess tandem axle weight permits for cotton module haulers.

The Commonwealth Transportation Commissioner, upon application made by the owner or operator of vehicles used exclusively to transport seed cotton modules, shall issue without cost a permit authorizing the operation on the highway of such vehicles, from September 1 through December 31 of each year, at tandem axle weights in excess of that authorized by Sec. 46.2-1125. The Commissioner shall promulgate regulations governing such permits. Such permits shall allow the vehicles to have tandem axle weights of no more than 44,000 pounds. No permit issued under this section shall authorize a single axle weight in excess of that authorized in Sec. 46.2-1124 or a gross weight in excess of 56,000 pounds.

Sec. 46.2-672 Certain vehicles transporting fertilizer, cotton or peanuts.

No person shall be required to obtain the registration certificate, license plates and decals, or pay a registration fee for any motor vehicle or trailer, semitrailer, or fertilizer spreader drawn by a farm tractor used by a farmer, his tenant, agent or employee or a cotton

Page 3 ginner, peanut buyer, or fertilizer distributor to transport unginned cotton, peanuts, or fertilizer owned by the farmer, cotton ginner, peanut buyer, or fertilizer distributor from one farm to another, from farm to gin, from farm to dryer, from farm to market, or from fertilizer distributor to farm and on return to the distributor. The provisions of this section shall not apply to vehicles operated on a for-hire basis.

***The state of Virginia allows the use of a FRSI-CDL for module truck drivers.

All states require CDL for module truck drivers.

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