North Dakota Code 39-12-04 – Width, height, and length limitations on vehicles – Exceptions
1. Vehicles operated on a highway in this state may not exceed a total outside width, including load thereon, of eight feet six inches [2.59 meters]. This limitation does not apply to:
Terms Used In North Dakota Code 39-12-04
- following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute means the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- week: means seven consecutive days and the word "month" a calendar month. See North Dakota Code 1-01-33
a. Construction and building contractors’ equipment and vehicles used to move such equipment which does not exceed ten feet [3.05 meters] in width when being moved by contractors or resident carriers.
b. Implements of husbandry being moved by resident farmers, ranchers, governmental entities, dealers, or manufacturers between sunrise and sunset. Furthermore, the limitation does not apply to implements of husbandry being moved between sunset and sunrise by resident farmers, ranchers, governmental entities, dealers, or manufacturers on public state, county, or township highway systems other than interstate highway systems.
c. Hay in the stack or bale being moved along the extreme right edge of a roadway between sunrise and sunset by someone other than a commercial mover.
d. Commercial movement of haystacks or hay bales with vehicles designed specifically for hauling hay, commercial movement of self-propelled fertilizer spreaders and self-propelled agricultural chemical applicators, whether operating under their own power or being transported by another vehicle, commercial movement of portable grain cleaners, commercial movement of forage harvesters, and the commercial movement of hay grinders, which may be moved on the highway after obtaining a seasonal permit issued by the highway patrol. The highway patrol shall issue seasonal permits that are valid during daylight hours on any day of the week, or that are valid at all times for the movement of self-propelled fertilizer spreaders and self-propelled agricultural chemical applicators, to any commercial entity otherwise qualified under this subdivision. Self-propelled fertilizer spreaders and self-propelled agricultural chemical applicators operating under their own power between sunset and sunrise must display vehicle hazard warning signal lamps as described in subsection 3 of section 39-21-19.1. The seasonal permit is in lieu of registration requirements for the permit period. No seasonal permit may be issued, unless proof of financial responsibility in a minimum of three hundred thousand dollars is filed and the appropriate permit fee is paid. The seasonal permit may also be issued for hauling hay bales with vehicles or vehicle combinations other than those designed specifically for hauling haystacks. This seasonal permit, however, will not be in lieu of registration requirements. All permit fees must be deposited in the state highway distribution fund.
e. Safety devices that the highway patrol determines are necessary for the safe and efficient operation of motor vehicles may not be included in the calculation of width.
f. Any non-load-carrying safety appurtenance as determined by the highway patrol which extends no more than three inches [7.62 centimeters] from each side of a trailer is excluded from the measurement of trailer width. The width of a trailer is measured across the sidemost load-carrying structures, support members, and structural fasteners.
g. The highway patrol may adopt reasonable rules for those vehicles exempted from the width limitations as provided for in this subsection.
2. Vehicles operated on a highway in this state may not exceed a height of fourteen feet [4.27 meters], whether loaded or unloaded. This height limitation does not affect any present structure such as bridges and underpasses that are not fourteen feet [4.27 meters] in height. This limitation does not apply to vehicles that are at most fifteen feet six inches [4.72 meters] high when all of the following apply:
a. The vehicle is an implement of husbandry and is being moved by a resident farmer, rancher, dealer, or manufacturer.
b. The trip is at most sixty miles [96.56 kilometers].
c. The trip is between sunrise and sunset.
d. None of the trip is on an interstate highway.
3. A vehicle operated on a highway in this state may not exceed the following length limitations:
a. A single unit vehicle with two or more axles including the load thereon may not exceed a length of fifty feet [15.24 meters].
b. A combination of two units including the load thereon may not exceed a length of seventy-five feet [22.86 meters].
c. A combination of three or four units including the load thereon may not exceed a length of seventy-five feet [22.86 meters], subject to any rules adopted by the director that are consistent with public highway safety. The rules do not apply to a three-unit combination consisting of a truck tractor and semitrailer drawing a trailer or semitrailer.
d. A combination of two, three, or four units including the load thereon may be operated on all four-lane divided highways and those highways in the state designated by the director and local authorities as to the highways under their respective jurisdictions and may not exceed a length of one hundred ten feet [33.53 meters], subject to any rules adopted by the director that are consistent with public highway safety.
e. The length of a trailer or semitrailer, including the load thereon, may not exceed fifty-three feet [16.5 meters] except that trailers and semitrailers titled and registered in North Dakota before July 1, 1987, and towed vehicles may not exceed a length of sixty feet [18.29 meters].
4. Length limitations do not apply to:
a. Building moving equipment.
b. Emergency tow trucks towing disabled lawful combinations of vehicles to a nearby repair facility.
c. Vehicles and equipment owned and operated by the armed forces of the United States or the national guard of this state.
d. Structural material of telephone, power, and telegraph companies.
e. Truck-mounted haystack moving equipment, provided the equipment does not exceed a length of fifty-six feet [17.07 meters].
f. A truck tractor and semitrailer or truck tractor, semitrailer, and the trailer when operated on the interstate highway system or parts of the federal aid primary system as designated by the director, only when federal law requires the exemption.
g. Safety and energy conservation devices and any additional length exclusive devices as determined by the highway patrol for the safe and efficient operation of commercial motor vehicles. Length exclusive devices are appurtenances at the front or rear of a commercial motor vehicle semitrailer or trailer, whose function is related to the safe and efficient operation of the semitrailer or trailer.
5. Motor homes, house cars, travel trailers, fifth-wheel travel trailers, camping trailers, and truck campers may exceed eight feet six inches [2.59 meters] in width if the excess is attributable to an appurtenance that extends beyond the body of the vehicle no more than six inches [15.24 centimeters] on either side of the vehicle. For purposes of this subsection, the term appurtenance includes a shade awning and its support hardware, and any appendage that is intended to be an integral part of a motor home, house car, travel trailer, fifth-wheel travel trailer, camping trailer, or truck camper.