35750.  (a) The Department of Transportation may, in the manner
provided in Section 35751, determine the maximum weight of vehicle
and load, lower than the maximum weight otherwise permitted under
this code which a bridge or other structure with safety to itself
will sustain.
   (b) The city council or the board of supervisors of a city or
county with a population of 1,100,000 or more, as determined by the
1970 federal decennial census, may, in the manner provided in Section
35751, determine the maximum weight of vehicle and load, lower than
the maximum weight otherwise permitted under this code which a bridge
or other structure under its jurisdiction with safety to itself will
sustain.


35751.  (a) The Department of Transportation or the city council or
board of supervisors of a city or county with a population of
1,100,000 or more, as determined by the 1970 federal decennial
census, as the case may be, shall make an engineering investigation
and hold a public hearing whenever such a determination appears
necessary.
   (b) Notice of the time and place of the hearing shall be posted
upon the bridge or other structure at least five days before the date
fixed for the hearing.  Upon the basis of the investigation and all
evidence presented at the hearing, the department or the city council
or board of supervisors, as the case may be, shall determine by
order in writing the maximum weight of vehicle and load which the
bridge or other structure with safety to itself will sustain.
   (c) With respect to any bridge or other structure not under its
jurisdiction, the department shall not proceed under subdivisions (a)
and (b) unless it first receives a request to do so from the city
council or the board of supervisors having jurisdiction over the
bridge or other structure.


35752.  Thereupon, the authority having jurisdiction over the bridge
or other structure shall erect and maintain suitable signs
specifying the maximum weight so determined, at a distance of not
more than 500 feet from each end of the bridge or other structure or
any approach thereto.
   The standards and specifications for such signs shall be
established in accordance with Section 21400 of this code.




35753.  (a) No person shall drive a vehicle over any bridge,
causeway, viaduct, trestle, or dam constituting a part of a highway
when the weight of the vehicle and load thereon is greater than the
maximum weight which the bridge or other structure with safety to
itself will sustain.  Violations of this subdivision shall be
punished in accordance with the schedule of fines set forth in
Section 42030.
   (b) Upon the trial of any person charged with a violation with
respect to a weight restriction sign erected pursuant to Section
35752, proof of the determination of the maximum weight by the
Department of Transportation and the existence of the weight
restriction signs constitute prima facie evidence of the maximum
weight which the bridge or other structure with safety to itself will
sustain.



35754.  Whenever, in the opinion of a local authority, a bridge
under its jurisdiction is in a dangerous or weak condition, it may
temporarily erect suitable signs at all entrances to such bridge
specifying the maximum weight which it believes the bridge with
safety to itself will sustain.  The maximum weight limit so fixed and
posted shall remain in effect for not more than 90 days.



35755.  Whenever a state highway bridge is in a dangerous or weak
condition, the Department of Transportation may temporarily erect
suitable signs at all entrances to such bridge specifying the maximum
weight which the bridge may safely sustain.  Under no circumstances
shall the maximum weight limit so fixed and posted pursuant to this
section remain in effect for more than 90 days.