Dimension Violation 42'2" from kingpin to center of tandems. Allowed 41'. HELP!!

There is a federal bridge formula.
And each state has its own length regulations.

One foot, two inches = CRIMINAL!

I set it at 41 and then scale it and work from there.
Most of the time when heavy I need to slide the tandems forward of 41 anyway, but every load is slightly different.

 

Hmmmm...

I stand corrected but i dont see the point since each state has the ability to change it as they see fit...

Kinda like those signs we see that read "speed limit 35 unless posted otherwise"

I guess if a state doesnt really care then it would defer to the fed regs...thanks

 

the rest of the 48 maybe

 

48 minus California and Michigan is 46. [emoji14]


I left out Alaska and Hawaii for obvious reasons.

 

Yup, most of us dont need to worry about bridge laws in Alaska and especially Hawaii

 

I do hope the op has all the info he now needs to prevent this from happening again

 

wasn't the real answer have an atlas and use it?

 

I suspect ya'll are just talking past each other when you're both correct to some extent.

There is a Federal Bridge Formula Law that involves the spread between axles and different weights, which is intended to keep the bridges on the interstates from being pounded to death by trucks.

Separate and distinct from the Federal Bridge Formula Law, there are kingpin-to-center-of-rear-suspension laws in each state, which are intended to do whatever, I dunno, maybe keep trucks from running over stuff like signs and poles and people and buildings. The roads are engineered to accept long vehicles of certain lengths so as to allow them to pivot around turns of standard wideness and radius and I suspect that's where the 41-foot law comes in.
A whole bunch of states, 46 of them (?), have the same 41-foot length law.

He had 2,000 lbs to play with in back, which is probably about four to six holes of tandem slide.
My internet guess is that there was most likely room to slide them and get everything DOT friendly, barring a bizarrely distributed load in the trailer.

 

Next time you hit a Tennessee scale, when the truck in front of you has to stop, notice the line painted on the right side of the scale. It is the scalemaster's reference mark for the 41 ft bridge law. Just in case any of you are wondering how they can tell if you're over.