(1)(a) No vehicle shall exceed a length of forty feet, extreme overall dimensions, inclusive of front and rear bumpers including load, except that:

(i) A bus or a motor home, as defined in section 71-4603, may exceed the forty-foot limitation but shall not exceed a length of forty-five feet;

(iii) A semitrailer operating in a truck-tractor single semitrailer combination, which semitrailer was actually and lawfully operating in the State of Nebraska on December 1, 1982, may exceed the forty-foot limitation;

(iv) A semitrailer operating in a truck-tractor single semitrailer combination, which semitrailer was not actually and lawfully operating in the State of Nebraska on December 1, 1982, may exceed the forty-foot limitation but shall not exceed a length of fifty-three feet including load;

(v) A semitrailer operating in a truck-tractor single semitrailer combination, while transporting baled livestock forage, may exceed the forty-foot limitation but shall not exceed a length of fifty-nine feet six inches including load;

(vi) An articulated bus vehicle operated by a transit authority established under the Transit Authority Law or regional metropolitan transit authority established pursuant to section 18-804 may exceed the forty-foot limitation. For purposes of this subdivision (vi), an articulated bus vehicle shall not exceed sixty-five feet in length; and

(vii) A truck may exceed the forty-foot limitation but shall not exceed a length of forty-five feet.

(b) No combination of vehicles shall exceed a length of sixty-five feet, extreme overall dimensions, inclusive of front and rear bumpers and including load, except:

(i) One truck and one trailer, loaded or unloaded, used in transporting implements of husbandry to be engaged in harvesting, while being transported into or through the state during daylight hours if the total length does not exceed seventy-five feet including load;

(iii) A truck-tractor semitrailer trailer combination, but the semitrailer trailer portion of such combination shall not exceed sixty-five feet inclusive of connective devices;

(iv) A driveaway saddlemount vehicle transporter combination and driveaway saddlemount with fullmount vehicle transporter combination, but the total overall length shall not exceed ninety-seven feet;

(v) A stinger-steered automobile transporter, but the total overall length shall not exceed eighty feet, inclusive of a front overhang of less than four feet and a rear overhang of less than six feet. For purposes of this subdivision, automobile transporter means any vehicle combination designed and used for the transport of assembled highway vehicles, including truck camper units. An automobile transporter shall not be prohibited from the transport of cargo or general freight on a backhaul, so long as it is in compliance with weight limitations for a truck-tractor and semitrailer combination; and

(vi) A towaway trailer transporter combination, but the total overall length shall not exceed eighty-two feet. For purposes of this subdivision, towaway trailer transporter combination means a combination of vehicles consisting of a trailer transporter towing unit and two trailers or semitrailers with a total weight that does not exceed twenty-six thousand pounds, and in which the trailers or semitrailers carry no property and constitute inventory property of a manufacturer, distributor, or dealer of such trailers or semitrailers.

(d) A trailer shall be construed to be one vehicle for the purpose of determining length.

(a) Extra-long vehicles which have been issued a permit pursuant to section 60-6,292;

(e) The movement of public utility or other construction and maintenance material and equipment at any time;

(f) Farm equipment dealers or their representatives as authorized under section 60-6,382 driving, delivering, or picking up farm equipment or implements of husbandry within the county in which the dealer maintains his or her place of business, or in any adjoining county or counties, and return;

(g) The overhang of any motor vehicle being hauled upon any lawful combination of vehicles, but such overhang shall not exceed the distance from the rear axle of the hauled motor vehicle to the closest bumper thereof;

(h) The overhang of a combine to be engaged in harvesting, while being transported into or through the state driven during daylight hours by a truck-tractor semitrailer combination, but the length of the semitrailer, including overhang, shall not exceed sixty-three feet and the maximum semitrailer length shall not exceed fifty-three feet;

(i) Any self-propelled specialized mobile equipment with a fixed load when the requirements of subdivision (2)(i) of section 60-6,288 are met; or

(j) One truck-tractor two trailer combination or one truck-tractor semitrailer trailer combination used in transporting equipment utilized by custom harvesters under contract to agricultural producers to harvest wheat, soybeans, or milo during the months of April through November but the length of the property-carrying units, excluding load, shall not exceed eighty-one feet six inches.

(3) The length limitations of this section shall be exclusive of safety and energy conservation devices such as rearview mirrors, turnsignal lights, marker lights, steps and handholds for entry and egress, flexible fender extensions, mudflaps and splash and spray suppressant devices, load-induced tire bulge, refrigeration units or air compressors, and other devices necessary for safe and efficient operation of commercial motor vehicles, except that no device excluded from the limitations of this section shall have by its design or use the capability to carry cargo.

Source:Laws 1933, c. 102, § 1, p. 414; Laws 1933, c. 105, § 3, p. 425; Laws 1935, c. 86, § 1, p. 277; Laws 1939, c. 50, § 1, p. 217; C.S.Supp.,1941, § 39-1034; R.S.1943, § 39-721; Laws 1947, c. 146, § 1, p. 402; Laws 1951, c. 117, § 2, p. 527; Laws 1953, c. 133, § 1, p. 413; Laws 1957, c. 156, § 3, p. 564; Laws 1959, c. 164, § 1, p. 599; Laws 1959, c. 165, § 1, p. 603; Laws 1961, c. 309, § 1, p. 980; Laws 1963, c. 220, § 2, p. 694; Laws 1963, c. 222, § 1, p. 699; Laws 1963, c. 223, § 1, p. 701; Laws 1965, c. 213, § 1, p. 625; Laws 1971, LB 530, § 1; R.S.Supp.,1972, § 39-721; Laws 1974, LB 920, § 2; Laws 1979, LB 112, § 1; Laws 1980, LB 284, § 3; Laws 1980, LB 785, § 2; Laws 1982, LB 383, § 1; Laws 1983, LB 411, § 1; Laws 1984, LB 983, § 3; Laws 1985, LB 553, § 5; Laws 1987, LB 224, § 13; R.S.1943, (1988), § 39-6,179; Laws 1993, LB 370, § 386; Laws 1993, LB 575, § 36; Laws 1996, LB 1104, § 3; Laws 1997, LB 720, § 18; Laws 2000, LB 1361, § 7; Laws 2001, LB 376, § 4; Laws 2006, LB 853, § 21; Laws 2008, LB756, § 25; Laws 2012, LB740, § 1; Laws 2014, LB1039, § 5; Laws 2016, LB735, § 1; Laws 2019, LB492, § 40; Laws 2020, LB944, § 69; Laws 2024, LB1200, § 54.
Operative Date: July 19, 2024

Annotations

Reception in evidence of special trip permit was not error. Frasier v. Gilchrist, 165 Neb. 450, 86 N.W.2d 65 (1957).

Legislative definition of vehicle or trailer, made for purposes of classification for licensing or taxing, does not change the common meaning of words used in matters disconnected therewith. Moffitt v. State Automobile Ins. Assn., 140 Neb. 578, 300 N.W. 837 (1941), vacating on rehearing, 139 Neb. 512, 297 N.W. 918 (1941).

If a driver does not display lights on a projecting load when it is dark, it is evidence of negligence. Moore v. Nisley, 133 Neb. 474, 275 N.W. 827 (1937).