New Brunswick Oversize Load Permits, Regulations & Axle Rules

A New Brunswick special permit is daytime-only, Monday through Friday, sunrise to sunset (NRC tables for the load's location) by default. How far you can stretch from there depends on dimensions. A load no wider than 3.05 m, no longer than 30 m, and no taller than 4.27 m earns night travel and unrestricted weekend and holiday movement on all highways. Stretch to 3.65 m wide and night travel survives only on multi-lane divided highways. Past 4.88 m wide or 4.88 m high you're down to restricted weekend and holiday travel; at 5.49 m wide that restricted window holds only on divided highways. Beyond those bands: no nights, no weekends, no holidays.

"Restricted" means no movement after 3:00 p.m. Friday or after noon Saturday and Sunday, with the same noon cutoff on holidays. New Brunswick publishes no fixed holiday calendar, so check ahead. Any vehicle over 62,500 kg gross is barred from nighttime travel, as is any load that requires traffic control. Movement stops when visibility drops below 300 m or conditions turn dangerous.

New Brunswick writes carve-outs for a handful of load types. Indivisible poles, pipe, and structural members are exempt from the standard 2.0 m rear-overhang cap when carried on a pole trailer up to 24.0 m long; beyond 24.0 m they move under a special permit. Stinger-steered automobile and boat carriers run to 23 m without a load and 25 m with one, with a height ceiling of 4.30 m instead of the usual 4.15 m.

Pre-manufactured, mobile, mini, and modular homes move on a trip permit up to 5.50 m in extreme width (eaves included), 32.0 m long, and 4.88 m high on the chassis. Forest products get mass relief: logs, wood chips, and forest by-products on a quadrem axle reach 28,000 kg versus 26,000 kg for general freight, and the province runs a Forestry Winter Weight Program on top of that. Fire apparatus, road machinery, and implements of husbandry incidentally moved on a highway fall outside the size and mass rules entirely.

New Brunswick has no named "superload" class and no single threshold that defines one. The largest moves are handled case by case at the district engineer's discretion. Three notification triggers carry real lead-time consequences that amount to the closest thing the province has to a superload gate.

A load over 4.88 m wide or over 30 m long requires notifying the nearest RCMP detachment (or municipal police where applicable) at least one week before the move. A load over 4.88 m high requires contacting utilities at least three days out to clear overhead wires. A building wider than 5.5 m becomes a large-building move that originates at the district office, is capped at 30 km of travel, and gets maximum dimensions set by the district engineer after weighing underpass heights, utility lines, pull-off availability, and RCMP input.

Single-piece loads that exceed prescribed axle-group or gross masses move on an Over-Mass permit. Configurations not described in the regulation move under a one-year Nonconforming Configuration permit. Beyond those notification rules there is no fixed application window.

New Brunswick does not require a standalone driver route-survey form. Its equivalent is a discretionary review by the district engineer, and it surfaces most clearly on large-building moves: the engineer sets maximum dimensions after weighing underpass heights, power, telephone, and cable constraints, pull-off availability, lane interference near turns, and swing-out at intersections.

Structural capacity is managed through a designated weight-route system rather than a per-move bridge analysis. Highways carry gross-mass ceilings of 43,500, 50,000, 56,500, or 62,500 kg, and a heavy load must stay on routes rated for its weight. The one hard-number survey-style obligation is the overhead-clearance call: any load over 4.88 m high must reach the utilities three days before moving. That is a coordination call, not a physical survey, and it has to happen before the truck rolls.

New Brunswick has no police escort tier. Escorting is civilian only, with escort vehicles capped at two axles and 8,000 kg gross. On two-lane highways, width over 3.65 m needs a front escort, over 4.88 m front and rear, and a length over 27.5 m needs a rear escort. On multi-lane divided highways the placement shifts: over 3.05 m wide calls for a rear escort at night only, over 3.65 m for a rear escort, and over 30 m long for a rear escort. On any highway, a front overhang past 3.05 m takes a front escort and a rear overhang past 3.05 m takes a rear escort.

Escorts hold 250 to 300 m off the load above 50 km/h and 150 m below. The RCMP (or municipal police) enters only as a notification recipient and traffic-control authority. For loads over 4.88 m wide or over 30 m long the permit holder must notify the nearest detachment one week ahead and follow police direction for traffic control. That is notification, not a booked escort.