Minnesota Session Laws - 1989, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1989 

                        CHAPTER 250-H.F.No. 472 
           An act relating to transportation; motor carriers; 
          increasing maximum length of certain semitrailers; 
          defining mobile cranes and providing for their maximum 
          length; deregulating persons who provide passenger 
          transportation service under contract to and with 
          assistance from the department of transportation; 
          requiring a highway cost allocation study; amending 
          Minnesota Statutes 1988, sections 169.01, by adding a 
          subdivision; 169.81, subdivision 2; 169.86, 
          subdivision 5; 221.022; and 221.025. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
     Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1988, section 169.01, is 
amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
    Subd. 74.  [MOBILE CRANE.] "Mobile crane" means a vehicle 
(1) not designed or used to transport persons or property, (2) 
operated only incidentally on the highway and not subject to 
vehicle registration under chapter 168, and (3) comprising a 
boom and hoisting mechanism used in the construction industry.  
Mobile crane does not include a motor vehicle, designed to 
transport persons or property, to which a boom, hoist, crane, or 
other machinery has been attached. 
    Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1988, section 169.81, 
subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 2.  [LENGTH OF VEHICLES.] (a) No single unit motor 
vehicle, except mobile cranes which may not exceed 45 48 feet, 
unladen or with load may exceed a length of 40 feet extreme 
overall dimensions inclusive of front and rear bumpers, except 
that the governing body of a city is authorized by permit to 
provide for the maximum length of a motor vehicle, or 
combination of motor vehicles, or the number of vehicles that 
may be fastened together, and which may be operated upon the 
streets or highways of a city; provided, that the permit may not 
prescribe a length less than that permitted by state law.  A 
motor vehicle operated in compliance with the permit on the 
streets or highways of the city is not in violation of this 
chapter.  
     (b) No single semitrailer may have an overall length, 
exclusive of non-cargo-carrying accessory equipment, including 
refrigeration units or air compressors, necessary for safe and 
efficient operation mounted or located on the end of the 
semitrailer adjacent to the truck or truck-tractor, in excess of 
48 feet, except that a single semitrailer may have an overall 
length in excess of 48 feet but not greater than 53 feet if (1) 
the distance from the kingpin to the centerline of the rear axle 
group of the semitrailer does not exceed 41 feet, and (2) if the 
semitrailer is operated only in a combination of vehicles which 
does not exceed an overall length of 65 feet.  No single trailer 
may have an overall length inclusive of tow bar assembly and 
exclusive of rear protective bumpers which do not increase the 
overall length by more than six inches, in excess of 45 feet.  
For determining compliance with the provisions of this 
subdivision, the length of the semitrailer or trailer must be 
determined separately from the overall length of the combination 
of vehicles.  
    (c) No semitrailer or trailer used in a three-vehicle 
combination may have an overall length, exclusive of 
non-cargo-carrying accessory equipment, including refrigeration 
units or air compressors, necessary for safe and efficient 
operation mounted or located on the end of the semitrailer or 
trailer adjacent to the truck or truck-tractor, and further 
exclusive of the tow bar assembly, in excess of 28-1/2 feet.  
The commissioner may not grant a permit authorizing the 
movement, in a three-vehicle combination, of a semitrailer or 
trailer that exceeds 28-1/2 feet, except that the commissioner 
may renew a permit that was granted before April 16, 1984, for 
the movement of a semitrailer or trailer that exceeds the length 
limitation in this paragraph. 
     Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1988, section 169.86, 
subdivision 5, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 5.  [FEES.] The commissioner, with respect to 
highways under the commissioner's jurisdiction, may charge a fee 
for each permit issued.  All such fees for permits issued by the 
commissioner of transportation shall be deposited in the state 
treasury and credited to the trunk highway fund.  Except for 
those annual permits for which the permit fees are specified 
elsewhere in this chapter, the fees shall be: 
     (a) $15 for each single trip permit. 
     (b) $36 for each job permit.  A job permit may be issued 
for like loads carried on a specific route for a period not to 
exceed two months.  "Like loads" means loads of the same 
product, weight and dimension. 
     (c) $60 for an annual permit to be issued for a period not 
to exceed 12 consecutive months.  Annual permits may be issued 
for: 
     (1) refuse compactor vehicles that carry a gross weight up 
to but not in excess of 22,000 pounds on a single rear axle and 
not in excess of 38,000 pounds on a tandem rear axle; 
     (2) motor vehicles used to alleviate a temporary crisis 
adversely affecting the safety or well-being of the public; 
     (3) motor vehicles which travel on interstate highways and 
carry loads authorized under subdivision 1a; 
     (4) motor vehicles operating with gross weights authorized 
under section 169.825, subdivision 11, paragraph (a), clause (3).
     (d) $120 for an oversize annual permit to be issued for a 
period not to exceed 12 consecutive months.  Annual permits may 
be issued for:  
    (1) truck mobile cranes; 
    (2) construction equipment, machinery, and supplies; 
    (3) manufactured homes; 
    (4) farm equipment when the movement is not made according 
to the provisions of section 169.80, subdivision 1, paragraphs 
(a) to (f); 
    (5) double-deck buses; 
    (6) commercial boat hauling.  
    (e) for vehicles which have axle weights exceeding the 
weight limitations of section 169.825, an additional cost added 
to the fees listed above.  The additional cost is equal to the 
product of the distance traveled times the sum of the overweight 
axle group cost factors shown in the following chart:  

                   Overweight Axle Group Cost Factors 
Weight (pounds)          Cost Per Mile For Each Group Of:
 exceeding         Two consec-    Three consec-   Four consec-
 weight limi-      utive axles    utive axles     utive axles
 tations on        spaced within  spaced within   spaced with- 
 axles             8 feet or      9 feet or       in 14 feet 
                   less           less            or less
      0-2,000      .100           .040            .036
  2,001-4,000      .124           .050            .044
  4,001-6,000      .150           .062            .050
  6,001-8,000      Not permitted  .078            .056
  8,001-10,000     Not permitted  .094            .070
 10,001-12,000     Not permitted  .116            .078
 12,001-14,000     Not permitted  .140            .094
 14,001-16,000     Not permitted  .168            .106
 16,001-18,000     Not permitted  .200            .128
 18,001-20,000     Not permitted  Not permitted   .140
 20,001-22,000     Not permitted  Not permitted   .168
     The amounts added are rounded to the nearest cent for each 
axle or axle group.  The additional cost does not apply to 
paragraph (c), clauses (1) and (3).  
     (f) As an alternative to paragraph (e), an annual permit 
may be issued for overweight, or oversize and overweight, 
construction equipment, machinery, and supplies.  The fees for 
the permit are as follows:  
Gross Weight (pounds) of vehicle          Annual Permit Fee
     90,000 or less                             $200
     90,001 - 100,000                           $300
    100,001 - 110,000                           $400
    110,001 - 120,000                           $500
    120,001 - 130,000                           $600
    130,001 - 140,000                           $700
    140,001 - 145,000                           $800
     If the gross weight of the vehicle is more than 145,000 
pounds the permit fee is determined under paragraph (e). 
    (g) for vehicles which exceed the width limitations set 
forth in section 169.80 by more than 72 inches, an additional 
cost equal to $120 added to the amount in paragraph (a) when the 
permit is issued while seasonal load restrictions pursuant to 
section 169.87 are in effect. 
    Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 1988, section 221.022, is 
amended to read: 
    221.022 [METROPOLITAN TRANSIT COMMISSION; EXCEPTION.] 
    The powers granted to the board under sections 221.011 to 
221.296 do not include the power to regulate any service or 
vehicles operated by the metropolitan transit commission or to 
regulate passenger transportation service provided under 
contract to the department.  A provider of passenger 
transportation service under contract to the department may not 
provide charter service without first having obtained a permit 
to operate as a charter carrier. 
    Sec. 5.  Minnesota Statutes 1988, section 221.025, is 
amended to read: 
    221.025 [EXEMPTIONS.] 
    Except as provided in sections 221.031 and 221.033, the 
provisions of this chapter do not apply to the intrastate 
transportation described below:  
    (a) the transportation of students to or from school or 
school activities in a school bus inspected and certified under 
section 169.451; 
    (b) the transportation of rubbish as defined in section 
443.27; 
    (c) a commuter van as defined in section 221.011, 
subdivision 27; 
     (d) authorized emergency vehicles as defined in section 
169.01, subdivision 5, including ambulances, and tow trucks when 
picking up and transporting disabled or wrecked motor vehicles 
and when carrying proper and legal warning devices; 
     (e) the transportation of grain samples under conditions 
prescribed by the board; 
     (f) the delivery of agricultural lime; 
     (g) the transportation of dirt and sod within an area 
having a 50-mile radius from the home post office of the person 
performing the transportation; 
     (h) a person while exclusively engaged in the 
transportation of sand, gravel, bituminous asphalt mix, concrete 
ready mix, concrete blocks or tile, or crushed rock to or from 
the point of loading or a place of gathering within an area 
having a 50-mile radius from that person's home post office or a 
50-mile radius from the site of construction or maintenance of 
public roads and streets; 
     (i) the transportation of pulpwood, cordwood, mining 
timber, poles, posts, decorator evergreens, wood chips, sawdust, 
shavings, and bark from the place where the products are 
produced to the point where they are to be used or shipped; 
     (j) a person while engaged exclusively in transporting 
fresh vegetables from farms to canneries or viner stations, from 
viner stations to canneries, or from canneries to canneries 
during the harvesting, canning, or packing season, or 
transporting potatoes, sugar beets, wild rice, or rutabagas from 
the field of production to the first place of delivery or 
unloading, including a processing plant, warehouse, or railroad 
siding; 
    (k) a person engaged in transporting property or freight, 
other than household goods and petroleum products in bulk, 
entirely within the corporate limits of a city or between 
contiguous cities except as provided in section 221.296; 
    (l) the transportation of unprocessed dairy products in 
bulk within an area having a 100-mile radius from the home post 
office of the person providing the transportation; 
    (m) a person engaged in transporting agricultural, 
horticultural, dairy, livestock, or other farm products within 
an area having a 25-mile radius from the person's home post 
office and the carrier may transport other commodities within 
the 25-mile radius if the destination of each haul is a farm; 
    (n) a person providing limousine service that is not 
regular route service in a passenger automobile that is not a 
van, and that has a seating capacity, excluding the driver, of 
not more than 12 persons.; 
    (o) passenger transportation service that is not charter 
service and that is under contract to and with operating 
assistance from the department. 
    Sec. 6.  [COST ALLOCATION STUDY.] 
    Subdivision 1.  [STUDY REQUIRED.] The commissioner of 
transportation shall contract with a qualified and impartial 
consultant to conduct a study of how the costs of state and 
local highways in Minnesota, including costs and revenues 
attributable to federal aid programs, are allocated among 
users.  This study shall: 
    (1) determine the costs of designing, constructing, 
administering, and maintaining state and local highways in 
Minnesota; 
    (2) determine the extent to which those costs are 
attributable to various classes of vehicles using those 
highways; 
    (3) determine the extent to which various classes of 
vehicles contribute revenue, including federal highway user 
taxes, for the design, construction, administration, and 
maintenance of those highways; and 
    (4) recommend changes in highway financing which would make 
the payments of various classes of vehicles for the design, 
construction, administration, and maintenance of state and local 
highways more nearly equal the costs those classes impose on 
those highways. 
    The commissioner shall regularly consult with the 
commissioner's motor carrier advisory board on the design of the 
request for proposals for the study, the selection of the 
consultant to perform the study, and the periodic review and 
evaluation of the study. 
    Subd. 2.  [REPORT.] The commissioner shall report the 
results of the study to the chairs of the senate and house 
committees on transportation not later than October 1, 1990. 
    Presented to the governor May 22, 1989 
    Signed by the governor May 25, 1989, 5:40 p.m.