1. A person shall not drive a vehicle on any public bridge or elevated structure at a speed which is greater than the maximum speed permitted under this chapter on the street or highway at a point where said street or highway joins said bridge or elevated structure. However, if the maximum speed permitted on said street or highway differs from the maximum speed on any other street or highway joining said bridge or elevated structure, then the lowest of those maximum speeds shall be the maximum speed limit on said bridge or elevated structure unless the department, upon request from any local authority or upon its own initiative, has conducted an investigation of the bridge or other elevated structure constituting a part of the highway, and has found that the structure cannot with safety to itself withstand vehicles traveling at the speed otherwise permissible under this chapter. Under those circumstances, the department shall determine and declare the maximum speed of vehicles which the structure can withstand, and shall cause or permit suitable signs stating such maximum speed to be erected and maintained at a distance of two hundred feet before each end of such structure.

Terms Used In Iowa Code 321.295

  • Department: means the state department of transportation. See Iowa Code 321H.2
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • highway: means the entire width between property lines of every way or place of whatever nature when any part thereof is open to the use of the public, as a matter of right, for purposes of vehicular travel, except in public areas in which the boundary shall be thirty-three feet each side of the center line of the roadway. See Iowa Code 321I.1
  • Person: includes any individual, firm, corporation, partnership, joint adventure, or association, and the plural as well as the singular number. See Iowa Code 321H.2
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
  • Vehicle: means any vehicle as defined in chapter 321. See Iowa Code 321H.2
 2. A person shall not drive a vehicle over any bridge or other elevated structure constituting a part of a highway at a speed which is greater than the maximum speed which can be maintained with safety to such bridge or structure, when the structure is signposted as provided in this section.
 3. Upon the trial of any person charged with driving a vehicle at a speed which is greater than the maximum speed which can be maintained with safety to such bridge or structure, proof of such determination of the maximum speed by said department and the existence of said signs shall constitute conclusive evidence of the maximum speed which can be maintained with safety to such bridge or structure.
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