Vermont § 1432 - Length of vehicles

§ 1432. Length of vehicles

• (a) Operation of vehicles with or without a trailer or semitrailer. No motor vehicle without a trailer or semitrailer attached, which is longer than 46
  feet overall, shall be operated upon any highway except under special permission from
  the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles. A motor vehicle with a trailer or semitrailer
  shall be operated, with regard to the length of the vehicle, pursuant to this section.
  If there is a trailer or semitrailer, the distance between the kingpin of the semitrailer
  to the center of the rearmost axle group shall not exceed 41 feet. An “axle group”
  is defined as two or more axles where the centers of all the axles are spaced at an
  equal distance apart. (1) Vehicles with a trailer or semitrailer not exceeding 75 feet. If the overall length of a vehicle with a trailer or semitrailer does not exceed
  75 feet, it may be operated without a permit. (2) Use of vehicles with a trailer or semitrailer longer than 75 feet by a Vermont shipper
  or receiver of goods. A receiver or shipper of goods located in Vermont may request from the Agency of
  Transportation access to a State highway for a commercial motor vehicle where the
  overall length exceeds 75 feet. If the total vehicle length is in excess of 75 feet
  or the distance from the steering axle to the rearmost tractor axle is longer than
  25 feet, a permit may be requested from the Commissioner. In that event, the Agency
  of Transportation shall review the route or routes requested, making its determination
  for approval based on safety and engineering considerations, after considering input
  from local government and regional planning commissions or the metropolitan planning
  organization. The Agency shall maintain consistency in its application of acceptable
  highway geometry when approving other routes. The Agency may authorize safety precautions
  on these highways, if warranted, that shall include precautionary signage, intelligent
  transportation system signage, special speed limits, and use of flashing lights. (3) Vehicles with a trailer or semitrailer longer than 75 feet. If the overall length of a vehicle with a trailer or semitrailer is longer than 75
  feet, a permit may be issued pursuant to subdivision 1402(b)(1) of this title. (b) Rear-end protective devices on trailers. A trailer or semitrailer not in excess of 53 feet may be operated, provided the semitrailer
  is equipped with a rear-end protective device of substantial construction consisting
  of a continuous lateral beam extending to within four inches of the lateral extremities
  of the semitrailer and located not more than 22 inches from the surface as measured
  with the vehicle empty and on a level surface. (c) [Repealed.] (d) Operation of pole semitrailers. The provisions of this section shall not be construed to prevent the operation of
  so-called pole dinkeys or pole semitrailers when being used to support the ends of
  poles, timbers, pipes, or structural members capable, generally, of sustaining themselves
  as beams between the supporting connections, the overall length of which may exceed
  75 feet under special permission from the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles. (e) Operation on interstate highways. Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this section, on the Dwight D. Eisenhower National
  System of Interstate and Defense Highways and those classes of qualifying Federal-aid
  Primary System highways as designated by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation,
  and on highways leading to or from the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate
  and Defense Highways for a distance of one mile, unless the Agency of Transportation
  finds the use of a specific highway to be unsafe, no overall length limits for tractor-semitrailer
  or tractor semitrailer-trailer combination shall apply. On these highways, no semitrailer
  in a tractor-semitrailer combination longer than 53 feet and no trailer or semitrailer
  in a tractor-semitrailer-trailer combination longer than 28 feet shall be operated.
  However, the limits established by this section shall not be construed in such a manner
  as to prohibit the use of semitrailers in a tractor-semitrailer combination of such
  dimensions as were in actual and lawful use in this State on December 1, 1982. (f) [Repealed.] (Amended 1959, No. 99; 1963, No. 62, § 3, eff. April 30, 1963; 1971, No. 55, § 2; 1973, No. 15; 1977, No. 41, § 3, eff. April 19, 1977; 1983, No. 74, § 2, eff. April 28, 1983; 1985, No. 124 (Adj. Sess.), § 8, eff. April 18, 1986; 1987, No. 95, § 5, eff. June 23, 1987; 1987, No. 157 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. April 27, 1988; 1991, No. 65, eff. June 18, 1991; 1995, No. 183 (Adj. Sess.), § 18g, eff. May 22, 1996; 1997, No. 120 (Adj. Sess.), § 9c; 1999, No. 154 (Adj. Sess.), § 17, eff. Aug. 1, 2000; 2007, No. 164 (Adj. Sess.), § 43; 2009, No. 50, § 102; 2011, No. 164 (Adj. Sess.), § 4; 2017, No. 71, § 16, eff. June 8, 2017; 2021, No. 20, § 247; 2021, No. 55, § 10, eff. July 1, 2022; 2023, No. 6, § 254, eff. July 1, 2023.)