Transportation Update – Fall Harvest Weight Limits

By Jordan Lamb, DeWitt Ross & Stevens

Fall Harvest Weight Limits are in Effect
Wisconsin’s seasonal harvest weight limit increases are in effect as of August 1, 2018 and will continue through December 31, 2018.

In accordance with the fall harvest statute, from August 1 to December 31 of each year, no permit is required for the transportation of corn, soybeans, potatoes, vegetables, or cranberries from:
• the field to storage on the grower’s owned or leased land,
• from the field to initial storage at a location not owned or leased by the grower, or
• from the field to initial processing,
for vehicles or a combination of vehicles that exceeds the standard weight limitations under Wis. Stat. s. 348.15 by not more than 15 percent. See Wis. Stat. s. 348.17(5).

To qualify for this increased weight limit, the vehicle or vehicle combination must:
1. Have a registered gross weight of 50,000 pounds or more; and
2. Be a motor truck, farm truck, road tractor, truck tractor, or farm truck tractor or such a vehicle combined with a semitrailer, trailer, or farm trailer, when the vehicle or combination is a commercial motor vehicle operated on a highway. See Wis. Stat. s. 348.17(5).

Note, however, that this increased weight limit does not apply to the national system of interstate and defense highways, except for the I 39 corridor and the I 41 corridor.