Oversize load dispatch planned around the permit, not the map
On an oversize load, the permit decides when you move, where you go and often where you stop. Our oversize load dispatch desk books heavy haul and lowboy loads, checks the permit windows for every state on the route, coordinates the escorts with the broker, and plans each night at a place a wide load can legally stop. You say yes or no to every load.
Lowboy, RGN, double drop, stretch and step deck oversize. Heavy haul and wide loads. One fee schedule for every truck.
5% of gross for one truck, 4% for 2+, 7% while your MC is under 6 months. No haul, no pay.
Before an oversize load moves, and before it stops
Most trucks are limited by the clock. Oversize loads are limited by the clock and the permit. Federal rules cap width at 102 inches on the National Network, and there is no federal height limit, so anything wider, and anything taller than a state's own limit, needs a permit from every state it crosses. Each permit has its own travel windows and conditions.
Pack this checklist before the first mile. Check items off as you confirm them, copy it into a message to your escorts, or print it for the cab. The checks stay in this browser.
Oversize stop checklist
0/19 packed
The hardest line on the list is usually the stop. An oversize load cannot pull into most truck stop rows, may not be allowed to move after the travel window closes, and often cannot simply park on a ramp. So the day has to end at a place chosen before it starts: a lot with room for the load, reachable inside the window, on or near the permitted route.
Travel windows vary state by state and permit by permit. As one example, Texas DMV bars loads over 14 ft wide, 16 ft high or 110 ft long from moving on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day unless it grants an exception. Other states set other limits. The permit you carry is the rule you follow.
Weather adds its own limits. Many permits stop movement in high wind, heavy rain, snow or poor visibility, and a wide load caught out when the weather turns needs somewhere to wait. We keep an eye on the forecast along the route and plan a fallback stop for each day, so a weather hold means a quiet lot, not a shoulder.
POSTED: eCFR, 23 CFR 658.15(a) · checked Oct 2026
POSTED: FHWA, Federal Size Regulations for Commercial Motor Vehicles (FHWA-HOP-04-022, Oct 2004) · checked Oct 2026
POSTED: Texas DMV, Oversize/Overweight Permits: Holiday Movement Restrictions · checked Oct 2026
Not sure if your load needs a permit? Check its dimensions in the oversize load checker.
Permits and escorts: who arranges and who pays
On most brokered oversize loads, the broker or the shipper's permit service orders the permits and the route surveys, and the cost is either paid by them or added to the rate. On direct freight, it is often the carrier's job. Either way, we confirm it in writing on the load details before you accept: who orders the permits, who pays, and when they will be issued.
Escorts work the same way. Some states require one, some two, some a height pole car for tall loads, and the number changes with the load's size. We find out how many each state on the route requires, who is booking them, who pays, and where everyone meets. Escort costs can be a large part of an oversize load's economics, so they belong in the offer, not in a surprise at the state line.
Permits
Ordered by the broker, a permit service or you. We confirm who, the cost and the issue date before you accept.
Route surveys
Needed for some loads, especially tall or very heavy ones. Ordered before the permit route is final.
Escorts
Number and type per state, booked by the broker or by you, with the meeting point and radio channel set.
Utility and police escorts
For the largest loads. These take time to book, so the schedule starts with them.
Heavy haul dispatch and superloads
A superload is a load so large or heavy that a state handles it outside its standard permits, often with an engineering review of bridges, a route survey and extra escorts. Each state sets its own threshold. Superloads take weeks to permit, not days, and the dispatch work is mostly scheduling: lining up the permits, surveys, escorts and travel windows so the move happens once, on time.
Lowboy dispatch
Lowboy and RGN trailers carry the tallest and heaviest equipment, from excavators and dozers to transformers and industrial vessels. We need your trailer specs, deck height and length, axle setup and the heaviest load you are permitted for, so we pitch only what you can carry. Loading is usually drive-on or crane, and the pickup is often a job site with its own rules.
Not every tall load needs a permit. Freight that fits legal height on a lower deck belongs on a step deck, and our step deck dispatch page explains how we plan those runs.
What a heavy haul dispatcher checks before the offer
Exact dimensions
Width, height, length, overhang and weight per axle group, loaded, from the shipper. Permits are built on these numbers, so a guess costs days.
Every state's permit
Who orders it, when it issues, the route it allows and the travel windows it sets, for each state on the trip.
Escorts and surveys
How many escorts, of which kind, booked by whom and paid by whom, plus any route survey the load needs.
Loading and unloading
Crane, drive-on or jacks, who supplies the equipment, and whether the site has room to work around a lowboy.
The stops
Where the load spends each night, chosen inside the travel window and on or near the permitted route.
Pay for the days
Oversize trips take more days for the miles. We look at the pay per day as well as per mile, and say so in the offer.
Planning an oversize week
An oversize trip runs on short days. If the permits allow daylight travel only, a winter day can give you fewer than ten hours to move, and a weekend or holiday can stop the load entirely. A 600-mile trip that a van covers in a day and a half can take three or four on a wide load. We plan the week from the permit windows outward, so the delivery date the broker promises is one you can actually make.
That also means the reload matters more. A heavy haul truck that delivers on Thursday afternoon with a weekend ban in front of it needs its next load lined up before Friday. We look early and tell you what the market near the delivery looks like.
To start, we need your trailer type and specs, your permitted weight range, your banners, flags and lights, your oversize experience and any states you prefer to avoid. Some brokers ask for proof of past oversize work, so keep a few rate cons handy.
An oversize offer, start to finish
This is how an offer from your heavy haul dispatcher reads. It is an EXAMPLE, not a real load. Accept or decline it to see what happens next.
LOAD OFFER · EXAMPLE
from your dispatcher
Beaumont, TX to Baton Rouge, LA
- Miles
- 140
- Rate
- $2,400
- Per mile
- $17.14
- Pickup
- Tue 08:00
- Delivery
- Wed 10:00
A 12 ft 6 in wide process vessel on a lowboy. Both permits allow daylight travel only, so the trip splits over two days with an overnight at a lot the route permits. One escort each state, arranged with the broker.
Your call. Nothing is booked until you say yes.
The heavy haul dispatch fee
Oversize and heavy haul loads pay the same tiers as every truck we dispatch, on the gross of each load. A new MC starts at 7% and drops automatically at month 6. The details are on the fees and terms page.
YOUR TIER
Standard (1 truck, MC 6+ months)
5%of gross
- Weekly gross (1 truck)
- $6,000
- Dispatch fee
- $300
- You keep (before costs)
- $5,700
Month-by-month table
| MC month | Fee |
|---|---|
| 12 | 5% |
| 13 | 5% |
| 14 | 5% |
| 15 | 5% |
| 16 | 5% |
| 17 | 5% |
| 18 | 5% |
| 19 | 5% |
| 20 | 5% |
| 21 | 5% |
| 22 | 5% |
| 23 | 5% |
Same tiers for every equipment type. No setup fee, no minimums, month-to-month, cancel with 30 days notice. EXAMPLE math, not a promise of revenue.
Oversize load dispatch questions
Where can I park an oversize load at night?
Only where the permit and the state allow, and where the load fits without blocking traffic. That usually means a lot chosen before the trip: a truck stop with oversize space, an industrial yard, a customer's lot or a site the permit names. Shoulders and ramps are for emergencies. We plan each night's stop before you accept the load.
Can oversize loads travel at night or on weekends?
Usually not, but it depends on the state and the permit. Many states allow oversize movement in daylight only, and many restrict weekends, holidays or metro rush hours. Some allow night travel for certain sizes. The permit for each state lists the windows, and that is the rule you follow, so we check every permit on the route.
Do you handle permits?
We coordinate them. On most brokered loads, the broker or a permit service orders the permits, and we confirm who orders them, who pays, the route and the issue date before you accept. When the permits are your job, we help line them up with a permit service. Either way, you see the travel windows before you say yes.
Do oversize loads have travel time limits?
Yes, set by each state's permit. Daylight-only travel is common, along with limits on weekends, holidays, rush hours and bad weather. Texas, for example, bars loads over 14 ft wide, 16 ft high or 110 ft long on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day unless TxDMV grants an exception. Always follow the permit you carry.
What is a superload?
A load so big or heavy that a state handles it outside its standard oversize permits. Each state sets its own threshold, and superloads usually need an engineering review of bridges, a route survey, extra escorts and sometimes police or utility crews. They take weeks to permit, so we start the scheduling as soon as the load is offered.
Dispatch my heavy haul
Permit windows, escorts and the night stop planned before you say yes.