The purpose of this communication is to provide guidance to members of the industry on how the Iowa Department of Transportation’s Motor Vehicle Enforcement officers (MVE) will be enforcing the new law relating to self-propelled implements of husbandry which are used to apply plant food materials, agricultural limestone and/or agricultural chemicals and which, as newly manufactured, weigh between 20,001 and 25,000 pounds on an axle. This guidance relates specifically to the ability of these vehicles to cross bridges.
If a MVE officer stops one of these vehicles which has crossed a legal-limit bridge (one that is not embargoed), and if the vehicle has a permit as required under the new law, only a warning will be issued as long as the vehicle does not exceed the 25,000 pound limit on an axle. We will continue the issuance of warnings, and not citations, for crossing legal-limit bridges through June 30, 2008, to provide the industry time to adjust to the new law. Operators of these vehicles are not legally permitted to cross any embargoed bridge and doing so will put them at risk of getting a citation.
To be in compliance with the law, we will accept applications for permits that we have received, or are postmarked, by June 30, 2007. To operate these vehicles legally under this new law, the permit must be carried in the vehicle at all times it is being operated. The attached permit application form may be printed, downloaded from the website www.iamvd.com\omcs, or obtained by calling the Permit Center (515-237-3264). The completed application may be faxed to 515-237-3257; mailed to Post Office Box 10382, Des Moines, IA; or delivered to the Permit Center. The Permit Center is located at 100 Euclid Avenue, Des Moines, IA, until June 22. Beginning June 25, the Permit Center will be located at 6310 SE Convenience Boulevard, Ankeny, IA (I-35 Corporate Woods Drive exit 89).