Page 81 TITLE 23—HIGHWAYS § 127

visions of section 120 of this title, and permitted the

Secretary to expend funds from the emergency fund, either independently or in cooperation with any other

branch of the Government, State agency, organization,

or person, for the repair or reconstruction of forest

highways, forest development roads and trails, park

roads and trails, and Indian reservation roads, whether

or not such highways, roads, or trails are on any of the

Federal-aid highway systems.

EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1991 AMENDMENT

Amendment by Pub. L. 102–240 applicable only to natural disasters and catastrophic failures occurring after

Dec. 18, 1991, see section 1022(c) of Pub. L. 102–240, set

out as a note under section 120 of this title.

EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1987 AMENDMENT

Section 118(a)(2) of Pub. L. 100–17 provided that: ‘‘The

amendment made by paragraph (1) [amending this section] shall apply with respect to natural disasters and

catastrophic failures occurring after December 31,

1985.’’

Section 118(b)(3) of Pub. L. 100–17 provided that: ‘‘The

amendments made by paragraphs (1) and (2) [amending

this section] shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act [Apr. 2, 1987].’’

EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1983 AMENDMENT

Section 153(e) of Pub. L. 97–424 provided that: ‘‘The

amendments made by subsection (d) of this section

[amending this section] shall apply to natural disasters

or catastrophic failures which the Secretary finds eligible for emergency relief subsequent to the date of enactment of this section [Jan. 6, 1983].’’

EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1968 AMENDMENT

Section 27(c) of Pub. L. 90–495 provided that: ‘‘The

amendments made by this section [amending this section and section 120 of this title] shall be applicable to

repair or reconstruction with respect to which project

agreements have been entered into on or after January

1, 1968.’’

EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1966 AMENDMENT

Section 9(d) of Pub. L. 89–574 provided that: ‘‘The

amendments made by this section [amending this section] shall take effect July 1, 1966.’’

EXPENDITURES MADE PRIOR TO FISCAL YEAR ENDING

SEPTEMBER 30, 1978; APPROPRIATION FROM HIGHWAY

TRUST FUND

Section 153(b) of Pub. L. 97–424 provided that: ‘‘Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all expenditures made under section 125 of title 23, United States

Code, prior to the fiscal year ending September 30, 1978,

are authorized to have been appropriated from the

Highway Trust Fund.’’

SECTION REFERRED TO IN OTHER SECTIONS

This section is referred to in sections 104, 120, 157 of

this title.

§ 126. Diversion

(a) Since it is unfair and unjust to tax motorvehicle transportation unless the proceeds of

such taxation are applied to the construction,

improvement, or maintenance of highways, after

June 30, 1935, Federal aid for highway construction shall be extended only to those States that

use at least the amounts provided by law on

June 18, 1934, for such purposes in each State

from State motor vehicle registration fees, licenses, gasoline taxes, and other special taxes

on motor-vehicle owners and operators of all

kinds for the construction, improvement, and

maintenance of highways and administrative expenses in connection therewith, including the

retirement of bonds for the payment of which

such revenues have been pledged, and for no

other purposes, under such regulations as the

Secretary of Transportation shall promulgate

from time to time.

(b) In no case shall the provisions of this section operate to deprive any State of more than

one-third of the entire apportionment authorized under this chapter to which that State

would be entitled in any fiscal year. The amount

of any reduction in a State’s apportionment

shall be reapportioned in the same manner as

any other unexpended balance at the end of the

period during which it otherwise would be available in accordance with section 104(b) of this

title.

(Pub. L. 85–767, Aug. 27, 1958, 72 Stat. 901; Pub. L.

93–87, title I, §152(3), Aug. 13, 1973, 87 Stat. 276.)

AMENDMENTS

1973—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 93–87 substituted ‘‘Secretary of Transportation’’ for ‘‘Secretary of Commerce’’.

§ 127. Vehicle weight limitations—Interstate System

(a) IN GENERAL.—No funds shall be apportioned in any fiscal year under section 104(b)(1)

of this title to any State which does not permit

the use of The Dwight D. Eisenhower System of

Interstate and Defense Highways within its

boundaries by vehicles with a weight of twenty

thousand pounds carried on any one axle, including enforcement tolerances, or with a tandem

axle weight of thirty-four thousand pounds, including enforcement tolerances, or a gross

weight of at least eighty thousand pounds for

vehicle combinations of five axles or more. However, the maximum gross weight to be allowed

by any State for vehicles using The Dwight D.

Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense

Highways shall be twenty thousand pounds carried on one axle, including enforcement tolerances, and a tandem axle weight of thirty-four

thousand pounds, including enforcement tolerances and with an overall maximum gross

weight, including enforcement tolerances, on a

group of two or more consecutive axles produced

by application of the following formula:

W=500 +lllll LN +12N+36,

N¥1

where W equals overall gross weight on any

group of two or more consecutive axles to the

nearest five hundred pounds, L equals distance

in feet between the extreme of any group of two

or more consecutive axles, and N equals number

of axles in group under consideration, except

that two consecutive sets of tandem axles may

carry a gross load of thirty-four thousand

pounds each providing the overall distance between the first and last axles of such consecutive sets of tandem axles (1) is thirty-six feet or

more, or (2) in the case of a motor vehicle hauling any tank trailer, dump trailer, or ocean

transport container before September 1, 1989, is

30 feet or more: Provided, That such overall

gross weight may not exceed eighty thousand

pounds, including all enforcement tolerances,