Oversize and overweight movements

General information

Operators of all non-divisible vehicles and loads that exceed the legal size and weight limits must obtain a permit from the Department of Transportation prior to making any movement in the State of New Hampshire. The permits will be issued for travel on highways and during seasons of the year when the movement would not be detrimental to the preservation of the highways and the traveling public.

Permits will not be issued for loads that can be reasonably reduced to legal size and/or weight, or for movements of loads along or across the state highways when such load is mounted on skids. Divisible load permits are only available for emergency overweight permit movements providing relief supplies following a Presidential declaration of emergency or major disaster.

Fees

Each permit for either overlength, overwidth, or overheight, or any combination thereof, is $6.

Permits for overweight vehicles and loads:

Special Annual Permit — $115 per unit.

Special Annual Permit (100-mile radius) — $60 per unit (only if based and registered in New Hampshire).

All permit fees must be paid prior to issuance. Refunds are not issued for incorrectly processed or unused permits.

Insurance requirements

The applicant will assume all responsibility for injury to persons or damage to public or private property, caused directly or indirectly, by the transportation of the vehicle or loads under the permit. Furthermore, the applicant agrees to hold the State of New Hampshire, Department of Transportation and other state agencies harmless from all suits, claims, damages or proceedings of any kind, that may occur as a direct or indirect result of the transportation of the vehicle or load.

Applicants may be required to file a bond to cover any damage to highways or bridges.

Permitted vehicle limitations

The maximum sizes and weights allowed under permit will depend upon the routes to be traveled, and the conditions of the structures on the route. Overweight load movements may be subject to an engineering review if the weight exceeds the routine criteria limits provided at http://tinyurl.com/NHaxleweight.

A vehicle or combination of vehicles equipped with solid rubber tires shall not have weights more than 80 percent of those prescribed for pneumatic tires; provided, no vehicle equipped with solid rubber tires shall be operated upon a public highway, which has at any point less than one inch of rubber above the top and beyond the flange or rim.

Motor vehicles or vehicles drawn by motor vehicles when equipped with metal or other hard tires shall not have weights more than 40 percent of those permitted for pneumatic tires.

A vehicle or combination of vehicles shall not be moved or operated over any bridge or other structure on any highway if the weight of the vehicle or combination is greater than the posted capacity of the bridge or structure.

Sign requirements

Two warning signs reading OVERSIZE LOAD must be displayed during all overwidth, overlength, and overheight movements and placed on front and rear of haul vehicle and load. Warning signs must be at least seven feet long and 18 inches high with yellow background and black lettering, and made of a durable material unaffected by moisture. Letters should be at least 10 inches high with a 1.4 inch brush stroke.

Vehicles and loads exceeding a 15 feet front-end overhang should display one OVERSIZE LOAD sign on the front of the vehicle.

Vehicle and loads exceeding legal length or rear overhang should display two OVERSIZE LOAD signs. One sign should be on the rear of the overlength or overhanging part of the load; however, if the sign cannot be attached or is not legible here, then the sign should be attached to the rear of the vehicle itself. The other sign should be attached to the front of the vehicle.

Flags and lighting requirements

Escort/flagperson requirements

The applicant must furnish one escort vehicle for an overdimension load or hauling vehicle, except as follows:

• No escort is required for overall widths less than 12 feet;
• No escort vehicle is required for overlength of less than 80 feet; and
• No escort vehicle is required if the front or rear overhang is less than 15 feet with proper flags displayed.

The applicant shall furnish a second escort vehicle for an overdimension load or hauling vehicle presenting a combination of overhang of 15 feet or more to the rear and overwidth of 12 feet or more.

Unless exempted by state police determination that weather conditions, visibility, traffic flow, or other conditions do not compromise safe movement, a state police escort will be required for the following loads and vehicles:

• The load, including hauling vehicle, is greater than 15 feet in width;
• The load, including hauling vehicle, is 100 feet or more in length; or
• The load is a manufactured housing unit.

Escort car/company requirements

An escort vehicle the size of a compact car or larger, properly registered and inspected.

When escorting a permitted vehicle, the drivers of escort vehicles must also:

• Maintain visual and two-way radio contact with the permitted vehicle at all times;
• Operate the escort vehicle with headlights turned on in the low beam position at all times;
• When one escort is required, position the vehicle to precede a load on undivided highways and follow on divided highways;
• Yield the right-of-way for vehicles to pass at the nearest, accessible, safe location, when traffic following a permitted move has accumulated seven or more vehicles; and
• When crossing bridges on two-way highways where bridge width is 24 feet or less, stop all traffic while the load is on the bridge.

When crossing bridges on two-way highways where the bridge width is 24 feet or less, the escort vehicles must stop all traffic while the wide load is on the bridge.

Travel restrictions

Movement of overdimension loads are restricted by the terms of the permit as follows:

• To the specific routes designated on the permit;
• To daylight hours;
• On specific routes, as warranted by high traffic volumes caused by holidays, special scheduled events, or conflict with other moves; and
• On specific routes by unsafe highway conditions caused by insufficiency, construction activities, maintenance activities, or when loads exceed posted capacities imposed due to emergence of frost, winter thaws, or excessive rainy periods.

Daylight hours are considered to be between ¹/₂ hour before sunrise and ¹/₂ hour after sunset. Movements must not be made if vision is obscured by fog or inclement weather, or if the pavement is unsafe for travel (primarily slippery winter conditions).

Permits are not valid on any weekend day.

Although still subject to other permit requirements, vehicles which are overweight only and which are operated at normal traffic speeds are not be restricted to time of movement. Movement of overdimension vehicles is further restricted as warranted by high traffic volumes or unsafe highway conditions which include but are not limited to high traffic volumes in connection with holiday travel, special schedules events, or conflict with other moves.

Movements shall be confined to a single traffic lane, and shall be made in such a manner that the rest of the roadway will be open at all times so that the flow of other traffic will not be obstructed unnecessarily. Also, other traffic will be given the right-of-way over the movement.

When traffic following the oversize or overweight movement has accumulated to seven cars, the permit load must yield the right-of-way for these vehicles to pass at the nearest accessible, safe location.

A 12,000- to 20,000-pound spring road ban may be imposed by District Engineers for any or all affected areas.

All overlength and overheight loads greater than 110 feet in length and/or greater than 13 feet 6 inches in height will require a “Physical Route Survey” and/or a “Physical Height Survey” for all routes traveled.

Manufactured housing permits

Single trip permits may be requested for restricted movement of manufactured housing units or building components such as modular, prefabricated, pre-cut, mobile units, trusses, or panels of overall maximum dimensions including hauling unit not exceeding 14 feet or less, except for modular or mobile homes. In the case of modular or mobile units, an additional six-inch overhang for eave(s) shall be allowed, and the greater overhang shall be on the right-hand shoulder side of the highway in the direction of travel, making the maximum width 14 feet 6 inches, length 95 feet, and height 13 feet 6 inches.

Moves of manufactured housing units/building components shall be restricted to roadways featuring a minimum pavement width of 24 feet, whenever possible, from point of origin to point of delivery.

Moves are prohibited when ground surface wind velocity exceeds 25 miles per hour.

The purpose of this section is to establish additional requirements for issuance of single trip permits for movement of manufactured housing units, such as modular, prefabricated, pre-cut, and mobile units, of overall width, including hauling unit greater than 14 feet and less than or equal to 16 feet. In the case of modular and mobile homes, an additional six-inch overhang for eave(s) shall be allowed. The greater overhang shall be on the right-hand shoulder side of the highway in the direction of travel, making a maximum width in such cases 16 feet and 6 inches.

Annual, extended, and/or other permits

Sealed containerized cargo permits

New Hampshire does not have special requirements concerning containerized cargo permits.