Advances in State DOT Superload Permit Processes and Practices

The development of trucking technology and the increase in demands on freight transportation have led to longer and heavier vehicles traveling on the highway over the past two decades. Furthermore, to incorporate the special needs from industry, vehicles that are more irregular are used to transport heavy loads (e.g., prestressed concrete girder, automotive presses, transformers, and wind turbine components). Since these heavy and irregular vehicles (also known as superloads) have a significant effect on the infrastructure system when compared to regular-permit vehicles, they should be subject to special consideration in the permitting and operation process. Standard permitting criteria for superloads differ from state to state. Although several regional associations were organized and successful pioneering practices were implemented to improve the efficiency and uniformity among different states (e.g., the New England Transportation Consortium, the Western Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and the Southeastern Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials), significant differences in superload permitting processes still exist. Thus, there is a need to better understand the current state-of-practice in different states and to find a more practical way to improve the uniformity in permitting practices in the U.S. This scan’s aim was to gather current practices from different states, identify best practices, and propose an implementation plan to improve the uniformity in superload permitting processes in the near future. To achieve this goal, this scan consisted of three stages: a desk scan; a comprehensive questionnaire with amplifying questions for various topics; and a workshop with representatives from various states. This scan’s findings provided the scan team with a better understanding of the current state-of-practice for superload permitting, allowed it to identify best practices, and enabled it to make recommendations and propose an implementation plan to improve uniformity and automation in superload permitting in the near future.

• Record URL:
  http://www.domesticscan.org/wp-content/uploads/NCHRP20-68A_12-01.pdf
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  Arora and Associates, P.C.

  3120 Princeton Pike, 3rd Floor
  Lawrenceville, NJ  United States  08648-2372

  American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

  444 North Capitol Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  National Cooperative Highway Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Farrar, Matt
  • Becker, Scot
  • Braden, Randy
  • Gao, Lubin
  • Honefanger, Jeff
  • Keady, Kevin
  • Mallard, Jonathan
  • Wight, Michael
  • Nassif, Hani
• Publication Date: 2014-4

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Domestic Scan Team Report
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Photos; Tables;
• Pagination: 120p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Best practices; Law uniformity; Oversize loads; Overweight loads; Permits; Recommendations; State departments of transportation; State of the practice
• Uncontrolled Terms: Superloads
• Subject Areas: Freight Transportation; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; I73: Traffic Control;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01549331
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: NCHRP Project 20-68A, Scan 12-01
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Dec 31 2014 9:52AM