(a) No person shall drive any vehicle equipped with solid rubber or cushion tires at a speed greater than a maximum of ten miles per hour (10 mph).

(b) No person shall 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 such structure is signposted as provided in this section.

(c) The department of transportation, upon request from any local authority, shall, or upon its own initiative may, conduct an investigation of any bridge, or other elevated structure constituting a part of the highway, and if it shall thereupon find that such structure cannot with safety to itself withstand vehicles traveling at the speed otherwise permissible under this chapter, the department shall determine and declare the maximum speed of vehicles which such structure can safely withstand, and shall cause or permit suitable signs stating such maximum speed to be erected and maintained at a distance of one hundred feet (100') before each end of such structure.

(d) Upon the trial of any person charged with a violation of this section, proof of the determination of the maximum speed by the department and the existence of the signs shall constitute conclusive evidence of the maximum speed which can be maintained with safety to such bridge or structure.

(e) A violation of this section is a Class C misdemeanor.

[Acts 1955, ch. 329, § 55; impl. am. Acts 1959, ch. 9, § 3; impl. am. Acts 1972, ch. 829, § 7; T.C.A., § 59-856; Acts 1981, ch. 261, § 12; Acts 1989, ch. 591, § 113.]