Iowa Gov. Terry E. Branstad signed a proclamation today, March 20, to allow the transportation of oversize and overweight loads of forage through Iowa.
The proclamation aids truckers delivering hay and other donations to cattle producers in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, where wildfires have caused a shortage of forage.
The Iowa Farm Bureau says Branstad’s action allows vehicles transporting forage through Iowa to be oversize and overweight, without a permit, until May 16. The proclamation applies to loads transported on all highways within the state excluding the interstate system, and those which do not exceed a maximum of 90,000 pounds gross weight, do not exceed the maximum axle weight limit determined under the non-primary highway maximum gross weight table in Iowa’s codes by more than 12.5 percent, do not exceed the legal maximum axle weight limit of 20,000 pounds, and comply with posted limits on roads and bridges.