Current through August, 2024
I Definitions
For the purposes of these regulations:
(A) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of
Motor Vehicles or any officer or employee of the department duly authorized by
him/her to perform the functions herein mentioned or described;
(B) "National Network" means the Interstate
Highways in Vermont and those Federal-aid Primary System highways in Vermont
designated by the Secretary, United States Department of Transportation and the
Vermont Secretary of Transportation and set forth in 23 C.F.R. Part 658,
Appendix A.
(C) "Tractor" means a
motor vehicle designed or used primarily as a traveling power plant or for
drawing other vehicles and not so constructed as to carry a load other than a
part of the weight of the vehicles and load so drawn; except that a
tractor-semitrailer combination engaged in the transportation of automobiles
may transport motor vehicles on part of the power unit;
(D) "Tandem trailers" means two twenty-eight
foot (28') trailers in a tractor-semitrailer-trailer combination;
(E) "Terminal" shall mean any location where:
(1) Freight either originates, terminates, or
is handled in the transportation process; or
(2) Commercial motor carriers maintain
operating facilities.
(F) "Interstate Highways" mean the National
System of Interstate and Defense Highways and includes the ramps
thereto;
(G) "Long Stinger" means a
tractor-semitrailer combination engaged in the transportation of automobiles
and having provision for transporting motor vehicles on part of the power
unit;
(H) "Reasonable access" means
passage between the National Network and terminals, facilities for food, fuel,
repairs and rest and points of loading and unloading by STAA
vehicles;
(I) "Secretary" means the
Secretary of Transportation of the State of Vermont as appointed pursuant to
19 V.S.A. §
7, or any officer or employee of the Agency
duly authorized by him/her to perform the functions herein mentioned or
described.
(J) "STAA Vehicle" means
tandem trailers up to 28 feet long each, "long stingers," and semitrailers 48
feet long and under, including household goods carriers, allowed to travel on
the National Network but not generally on Vermont public highways without
special permission.
Unless otherwise clear in context, other words shall have the
same meaning as in
23 V.S.A. §
4 and
23
C.F.R. §
658.5.
II Route Approval Required
Except as otherwise provided herein or by Vermont Statutes,
reasonable access is allowed only on those public highways in Vermont, or
portions thereof, for which approval has been issued by the Secretary. When a
public highway, or portion thereof, is approved for reasonable access for a
particular STAA vehicle configuration, it shall be available for reasonable
access to all vehicles of that configuration until such time as the approval is
revoked.
III General
Provisions
(A) Applications. All applications
for reasonable access routes on public highways shall be made by owners or
operators of STAA vehicles and shall be submitted to the Commercial Vehicle
Operations Section, Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles, Montpelier, Vermont
05603-0001 on forms prescribed for that purpose. Applications may be made and
accepted by any other means as determined by the Commissioner;
(B) Compliance with laws. By utilizing a
reasonable access route allowed under these regulations, all owners and
operators agree that the STAA vehicle can and will be operated in strict
compliance with the law, that the operator and vehicle are properly licensed
and that all legal requirements concerning operation authority imposed by any
government regulatory agency having jurisdiction have been satisfied;
(C) Responsibility. All owners and operators
utilizing a reasonable access route shall assume all responsibility for injury
to persons or damage to public or private property caused by the operation of
their vehicle. Further, they agree to hold harmless the State of Vermont, the
Agency of Transportation, the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Secretary and
the Commissioner from all suits, claims, damages or proceedings of any kind
resulting from the operation of their STAA vehicle on a reasonable access
route.
(D) Suspension for unsafe
conditions. All STAA vehicle travel on reasonable access routes, or part
thereof, shall be suspended when highway conditions are unsafe or when ordered
by a law enforcement officer for cause based on unsafe conditions.
IV Approval Issued
Approval for a reasonable access route may be issued after
application of any owner or operator of an STAA vehicle wishing to utilize a
specific route for reasonable access.
V Routing Restrictions and Waivers
(A) Each approval shall designate a route
which may be traveled in whole or in part by STAA vehicles. Approvals may
contain special restrictions.
(B)
Upon receipt of a request for a reasonable access route the Agency shall
perform analyses as follows:
(1) The proposed
route will be examined for continuity and for applicability of these
regulations to the proposed route.
(2) The sufficiency rating of all segments of
the proposed route will be identified.
(3) Accident data for all segments of the
proposed route will be assembled.
(4) Traffic volume data for the route will be
tabulated.
(5) Geometric data for
the proposed route will be determined.
(6) An analysis of the proposed access route
by application of vehicle templates to available plans of the proposed
route.
(C)
Determination.
Using the information and data from V (B) above, the proposed
reasonable access route will be examined.
(1) Safety Criteria.
A recommendation for approval or denial of the reasonable
access route request will be made as follows:
(a) Approval will be recommended if there are
no high accident locations and there are no segments on the proposed route with
a sufficiency rating below 40.
(b)
Further, approval will be recommended if analysis of any high accident
locations shows that there has not been a high incidence of tractor-trailer
and/or applicable STAA vehicle involvement in accidents at those
locations.
(2)
Application of Vehicle Templates to Plans.
A recommendation for approval, approval with restrictions, or
denial of a reasonable access route will be made on the basis of application of
vehicle templates to available plans of the proposed route.
(3) Approval or Denial; Test Vehicle
Operation.
(a) Reasonable Access Routes will
either be approved or denied based upon the analyses from (1) and (2) above.
Routes which are not continuous or which are not for reasonable access will be
denied.
(b) When plans of all of
the proposed route are available, application of vehicle templates to the
proposed route shall be determinitive.
(c) When plans of only some of the proposed
route are available and templating alone is insufficient to approve or deny a
proposed route, the applicant will be afforded an opportunity to provide for
test vehicle operation over the portion(s) of the proposed route for which
plans are not available.
(i) Test vehicle
operation, including videotaping the entire test run from at least a trailing
vehicle directly behind the test vehicle, shall be arranged and organized by
the Agency. The Agency shall consult with the applicant, who shall cooperate
with the Agency.
(ii) The cost of
providing the vehicle, driver, and any other applicant personnel will be the
responsibility of the applicant.
(iii) The cost of the videotaping organized
by the Agency--including the cost of one vehicle, its operator, video equipment
and its operator--shall be shared evenly by the Agency and the applicant. If
reasonably possible, the applicant's estimated share shall be billed and paid
prior to the test run.
(iv) The
Agency shall be responsible for analyzing all data resulting from the
videotaping of the test run as set out above.
(v) Any additional videotaping of the test
run or production of other test data, and the analysis thereof, shall be the
responsibility of and at the expense of the applicant.
(d) Opportunity for test vehicle operation
shall be subject to the following timetable:
(i) Upon analysis of the application of
vehicle templating when templating alone is not sufficient to approve or deny a
route, the applicant shall be afforded the opportunity for a test vehicle
operation. The applicant shall make such request in writing to the Secretary
within 30 days of initial denial. Unless the Secretary has 10 business days to
analyze the test vehicle operation videotapes and data before the 90 days under
VI below have expired, for the purpose of Paragraph VI below a request for test
vehicle operation is considered a new and separate application.
(ii) The Agency shall be responsible for
organizing and making all arrangements for the test vehicle operation in
accordance with the requirements set out in Paragraphs V(C) (3) (c) and
(d).
(iii) Except as provided in
Paragraph (i) directly above, completion of the test vehicle operation and
presentation of the unedited videotapes and other information resulting from
the test vehicle operation shall be presented to the Secretary within 60 days
of the request for test vehicle operation. Failure to timely submit the tapes
will be sufficient reason for denial.
(D) In any case, presence of any
roadway or roadside condition(s) which is (are) deemed to make operation of
vehicles of the configuration for which reasonable access is requested either
hazardous or otherwise undesirable, may result in route denial.
(1) Analysis of the test vehicle operation
records indicating safety or engineering criteria problems can be cause for
denial of a reasonable access route.
(2) A recommendation for approving a
reasonable access route based on vehicle templating and/or test vehicle
operation, coupled with a recommendation for denial on the basis of safety,
will be approved if the incidence of tractor-trailer and applicable STAA
vehicle accident involvement is judged to be low and the projected volume of
STAA vehicles is low. In such instances high accident experience of
tractor-trailers, high accident experience for the applicable STAA vehicle, or
high projected STAA vehicle volume shall be sufficient cause for
denial.
(3) Once a route is
analyzed and approved for a particular configuration of STAA vehicle, all
reasonable access by vehicles of the same configuration over the same route is
allowed unless and until safety problems involving tractor-trailer and/or STAA
vehicles develop.
(E)
The Secretary, on his/her own initiative, reserves the right to grant waivers
when in his/her judgment the criteria being waived will not jeopardize the
safety of the public.
VI 90 Day Review Period
If a reasonable access route request, properly completed, is
not acted upon within 90 days of initial receipt by the Commercial Vehicle
Operations Section, the reasonable access route requested is automatically
granted.
VII One (1) Mile
Rule
Reasonable access within one (1) road-mile from the National
Network using the most reasonable and practicable route is hereby granted
except where limited by the Secretary for specific safety reasons on individual
routes.
VIII List, Map, or
Other Description of Reasonable Access Routes
The Secretary shall provide a list, map, and/or other depiction
or description of reasonable access routes of highways, including those within
one (1) road-mile of the National Network, where reasonable access is approved.
Copies can be obtained from the Commercial Vehicle Operations Section.
IX Transitional Provision
Until the Secretary can review the reasonable access routes for
which persons operating or causing the operation of STAA vehicles have received
permits prior to the adoption of these regulations, or December 1, 1992,
whichever is earlier, reasonable access by previously permitted configurations
over previously permitted routes is approved. Reasonable access pursuant to
this section shall not extend beyond the previously permitted persons.
Dated at Montpelier, Vermont, this 27th day of August,
1991.
....
PATRICK J. GARAHAN
SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION
