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Tips to manage your over-dimensional freight shipment to avoid fees, fines, and delays. Complex wide load permitting can be managed with planning, know-how, and a smart route.

Over-Dimensional Freight Transport Cost and Schedule Control

Overland transport of wide loads or over dimensional flatbed hauling is a complicated business. Freight transport that exceeds federal, state, or local transportation rules, regulations, and guidelines of standard weight, height, width, or length dimensions can trigger a multitude of shipping requirements.

The range of requirements can leave your head spinning. Follow these tips to help avoid a mistake that can be expensive to your budget and your schedule.

• Know Your Metrics – Falling under any over-dimensional standards can save your bottom-line and your schedule. Keeping your freight shipment within standard dimensions means avoiding permit costs, escort logistics, and the effort required to manage a wide-load route. But if the load falls within Over-Dimensional limits, know it and then plan for it.
• Know Your Route Requirements – Consistency in over-dimensional standards and requirements is the exception, not the rule, when you cross jurisdictions. Standards vary not only by state, but by locality, season, temporary conditions and more. A single load can require an escort on one part of the route and not on another or can be prohibited on weekends or certain parts of a route completely. Knowing this can save your schedule and costs.
• Avoid Unplanned for Costs – Permit fees vary by state and can change;loading delays can result in detention fees. And if your dimensions are not correct expect to pay extra fees, fines as well as time delays. These and more unbudgeted costs can be avoided with a well-planned freight transport.

Planning and know-how can make an over-dimensional shipment cost and time efficient. Take care to know your load, the regulations, and the route and make the most of your over-dimensional freight shipment.

When traveling through multiple states, loads are required to meet state standards of load restrictions, permitting requirements, and other state-by-state standards.

An oversized load is simply anything the exceeds the maximum weight, height, width, or length dimension established by federal and state standards. Easy right?

Traveling over federal interstates and other federally designated highways are subject to federal standards on weight, width, and length (there are no federal height restrictions.) Overlaying these standards are state standards which can vary state-to-state, and within each state, from road-to-road. The easy part of transporting heavy equipment, construction material, farm equipment, or specialized mobile units is the actual loading, securing, and transporting the load. The toughest part may prove to be navigating the restrictions and permitting processes required for a route.Typical permit requirements are triggered when the following dimensions are exceeded for a single load:

• Height - exceeds 13’5”
• Width - exceeds 8’5”
• Length - exceeds 48’
• Weight - exceeds 80,000 lbs

These dimensions are starting points when determining if a load falls under Department of Transportation over-sized permitting requirements. These vary by state, by road, by federal exception, grandfathered standards or other federal, state, or even local requirements and restrictions.

For example, permitting questions to transport a oversized load through Kentucky takes into consideration the following the Kentucky Department of Transportation standards:

• Multi-lane highway versus two-lane
• Travel time restrictions
• Holiday restrictions
• Escort requirements for two versus 4-lane highways
• Power unit flax, signing, and lighting requirements
• Current detours, restrictions, and closures
• Hauling coal or coal-products
• Superloads
• Single trip versus annual permits

When traveling through multiple states, loads are required to meet state standards of load restrictions, permitting requirements, and other state-by-state standards.

This is the tip of the iceberg. There are many more details then the basics presented here to be aware of when making final routing and permitting decisions. Understanding the multiple, overlapping, and changing oversized load transporting requirements is critical to meeting federal and state regulations.