1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to traffic regulations; allowing gross weight 
  1.3             seasonal increase for transporting carrots; amending 
  1.4             Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 169.825, subdivision 
  1.5             11. 
  1.6   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.7      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 169.825, 
  1.8   subdivision 11, is amended to read: 
  1.9      Subd. 11.  [GROSS WEIGHT SEASONAL INCREASES.] (a) The 
  1.10  limitations provided in this section are increased:  
  1.11     (1) by ten percent from January 1 to March 7 each winter, 
  1.12  statewide; 
  1.13     (2) by ten percent from December 1 through December 31 each 
  1.14  winter in the zone bounded as follows:  beginning at Pigeon 
  1.15  River in the northeast corner of Minnesota; thence in a 
  1.16  southwesterly direction along the north shore of Lake Superior 
  1.17  along trunk highway No. 61 to the junction with trunk highway 
  1.18  No. 210; thence westerly along trunk highway No. 210 to the 
  1.19  junction with trunk highway No. 10; thence northwesterly along 
  1.20  trunk highway No. 10 to the Minnesota-North Dakota border; 
  1.21  thence northerly along that border to the Minnesota-Canadian 
  1.22  Border; thence easterly along said Border to Lake Superior; and 
  1.23     (3) by ten percent from the beginning of harvest to 
  1.24  November 30 each year for the movement of sugar beets, carrots, 
  1.25  and potatoes ~~within an area having a 75-mile radius~~ from the 
  2.1   field of harvest to the point of the first unloading.  Transfer 
  2.2   of the product from a farm vehicle or small farm trailer, within 
  2.3   the meaning of chapter 168, to another vehicle is not considered 
  2.4   to be the first unloading.  The commissioner shall not issue 
  2.5   permits under this clause if to do so will result in a loss of 
  2.6   federal highway funding to the state. 
  2.7      (b) The duration of a ten percent increase in load limits 
  2.8   is subject to limitation by order of the commissioner, subject 
  2.9   to implementation of springtime load restrictions, or March 7.  
  2.10     (c) When the ten percent increase is in effect, a permit is 
  2.11  required for a motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer 
  2.12  combination that has a gross weight in excess of 80,000 pounds, 
  2.13  an axle group weight in excess of that prescribed in subdivision 
  2.14  10, or a single axle weight in excess of 20,000 pounds and which 
  2.15  travels on interstate routes.  
  2.16     (d) In cases where gross weights in an amount less than 
  2.17  that set forth in this section are fixed, limited, or restricted 
  2.18  on a highway or bridge by or under another section of this 
  2.19  chapter, the lesser gross weight as fixed, limited, or 
  2.20  restricted may not be exceeded and must control instead of the 
  2.21  gross weights set forth in this section.  
  2.22     (e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this 
  2.23  subdivision, no vehicle may exceed a total gross vehicle weight 
  2.24  of 80,000 pounds on routes which have not been designated by the 
  2.25  commissioner under section 169.832, subdivision 11. 
  2.26     (f) The commissioner may, after determining the ability of 
  2.27  the highway structure and frost condition to support additional 
  2.28  loads, grant a permit extending seasonal increases for vehicles 
  2.29  using portions of routes falling within two miles of the 
  2.30  southern boundary of the zone described under paragraph (a), 
  2.31  clause (2).