1. 1. No motor vehicle, unladen or with load, operating exclusively within the corporate limits of cities containing seventy-five thousand inhabitants or more or within two miles of the corporate limits of the city or within the commercial zone of the city shall exceed fifteen feet in height.
2. 2. No motor vehicle operating exclusively within any said area shall have a greater weight than twenty-two thousand four hundred pounds on one axle.
3. 3. The "commercial zone" of the city is defined to mean that area within the city together with the territory extending one mile beyond the corporate limits of the city and one mile additional for each fifty thousand population or portion thereof provided, however, the commercial zone surrounding a city not within a county shall extend eighteen miles beyond the corporate limits of any such city not located within a county and shall also extend throughout any first class charter county which adjoins that city; further, provided, however, the commercial zone of a city with a population of at least four hundred thousand inhabitants but not more than four hundred fifty thousand inhabitants shall extend twelve miles beyond the corporate limits of any such city. In no case shall the commercial zone of a city be reduced due to a loss of population. The provisions of this section shall not apply to motor vehicles operating on the interstate highways in the area beyond two miles of a corporate limit of the city unless the United States Department of Transportation increases the allowable weight limits on the interstate highway system within commercial zones. In such case, the mileage limits established in this section shall be automatically increased only in the commercial zones to conform with those authorized by the United States Department of Transportation.
4. 4. Nothing in this section shall prevent a city, county, or municipality, by ordinance, from designating the routes over which such vehicles may be operated.

(RSMo 1939 § 8384, 8409, A. 1949 S.B. 1113, A.L. 1951 p. 695, A.L. 1957 p. 624, A.L. 1965 p. 492, A.L. 1967 p. 415, A.L. 1971 S.B. 317, A.L. 1983 H.B. 539, A.L. 1988 S.B. 663)

Prior revision: 1929 §§ 7776, 7791

(1958) This section and § 304.180 are in pari materia and must be construed together. General gross weight limitations of § 304.180 applicable in cities of 75,000 inhabitants or more. State v. Chadeayne (A.), 313 S.W.2d 757. Reversed: (Mo.), 323 S.W.2d 680 where it was held that the 1951 reenactment of §304.190 applicable to the cities and area covered by this section.