The National Modular Housing Council (NMHC), in collaboration with other modular associations, submitted its petition on May 31, 2005 to the U.S. Dept. of Transportation’s (DOT’s) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) requesting a rulemaking procedure to amend the divisible load regulations under 23 CFR § 658.5. Resolving the divisible load issue is a top priority for the NMHC.

During the past month, the NMHC has taken the lead in seeking the assistance of Members of Congress who can encourage DOT to take up the industry’s petition request. The NMHC also coordinated a grassroots letter-writing campaign of modular manufacturers and state associations in order to stress the importance of this issue to the Federal Highway Administration so that they will initiate a rulemaking proceeding.

The divisible load regulation is a tremendous regulatory burden for the shipment and transport of modular homes. The law requires that oversized or overweight loads hauled over the national highway network be broken down into smaller components when possible. If an oversized load can be separated in less than eight man hours, and doing so would not destroy the load, then the components must be shipped separately to the destination.

This means that transporting a single home’s components takes three or more trips, when it only should require two. For example, if a modular transporter was loaded with a modular box and a dormer, and stays within load dimensions set forth by states, according to federal law the modular box and the dormer must be shipped separately in order to meet legal shipping requirements. Because it is a federal law, state transportation agencies are not allowed to preempt this provision.

The National Modular Housing Council also recently met with with the Chief of the Office of Freight Management, and the Federal Highway Administration’s general counsel’s office to discuss and address any questions they had on the modular coalition’s petition for rulemaking.

DOT can respond to the petition by either granting the rulemaking request, denying the request on the grounds they do not have jurisdiction, or denying the request and issuing guidance and clarification of the current regulation through a non-rulemaking procedure. NMHC and its coalition partners hope for a response by the end of the summer.

For more information, contact Thayer Long at 703-558-0678 or tlong@modularcouncil.org.