2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XIV - Public Ways and Works › Chapter 85 - Regulations and By-Laws Relative to Ways and Bridges › Section 30 - Injury to Surface of Way; Traction Engines and Heavy Vehicles; Permits; Regulations; Liability

Section 30. Except as provided in section nineteen A of chapter ninety, no vehicle shall travel or object be moved, on any public way, which has any device attached to or made a part of its wheels or the rollers or other supports on which it rests, which will injure the surface of the way; nor shall any vehicle travel or object be moved, on any public way, which weighs more than fourteen tons, or, in the case of a vehicle equipped with pneumatic tires, more than fifteen tons, without a permit from the board or officer having charge of such way, or, in case of a state highway, or a way determined by the department of highways to be a through route, from the commissioner of highways; provided, that no such permit shall be required for the operation of a vehicle having three axles, whether or not so equipped, which does not weigh more than twenty tons. No vehicle shall travel or object be moved on any public way, outside of the metropolitan parks or sewerage districts, the weight of which resting on the surface of such way exceeds eight hundred pounds upon any inch of the tire, roller or other support, without such a permit. Such a permit may limit the time within which it shall be in force and the ways which may be used and may contain any provisions or conditions necessary for the protection of such ways from injury. If, in the opinion of the board or officer having charge of any public way, the travel or moving thereon at any season of the year of any vehicle or object which weighs more than ten thousand pounds would cause injury to such way more serious than the ordinary wear and tear which the type of construction of such way is designed to withstand, such board or officer may by regulation prohibit such vehicle or object from passing over such way during such season without a permit therefor. All such regulations shall, when affecting ways which are determined by the department of highways to be through routes, be subject to the approval of such department. Such regulations shall be published and shall take effect as provided in case of rules and orders under section twenty-two of chapter forty and shall be posted in a conspicuous place at both ends of the part of said way from which traffic is prohibited thereby. The board or officer having charge of any bridge may make regulations prohibiting any vehicle to which this section applies from passing over such bridge at a speed greater than six miles an hour, which regulations shall be in force if conspicuously posted at each end of such bridge with a statement of the load capacity of such bridge. Any person driving, operating or moving a vehicle or object in violation of this section or of any regulation adopted hereunder, or the owner thereof, shall be liable in tort to the body politic or corporate having charge of the way for any injury to the way thereby caused. All the aforesaid limitations as to weight shall be inclusive of the load.