October 30, 2009
This year’s wet weather is making it difficult for farmers to get crops from the field to storage, and while he is mindful of the problems this presents, the County Engineer wants to remind farmers not to overload grain carts and semi trucks. Because of the weather and wet field conditions, many farmers are not able to load semis in the fields but are using grain carts to transfer grain to a semi truck parked on a roadway.
Single-axle grain carts, which are designed to load and transport crops around a field, can quickly exceed legal limits if used on roadways. In 2005, the 28,000 pound axle weight restriction for commercial vehicles was extended to grain carts and manure wagons by the Iowa legislature. This means that a single-axle grain cart should carry no more than 400 bushels of corn while being driven on roadways. Dual axle-carts can generally carry up to 900 bushels.
According to County Engineer David Patterson, overweight vehicles can cause excessive damage on roadways. An Iowa Department of Transportation study shows that an overloaded grain cart can cause a concrete road to begin to fail in as few as 30 trips. A comparably loaded semi truck will take more than 100,000 trips to do the same damage.
While Patterson’s biggest concern is for the paved roads, the weight limits are the same for county gravel roads. Farmers who have questions about these restrictions should call the Iowa DOT’s Office of Motor Vehicle Enforcement at 800-925-6469, Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m., or send an e-mail to omve@dot.iowa.gov.
