What's New
Recent improvements to the OSOW calculator and platform. This page is updated as new features ship.
API: escort counts that match what you're billed for
FeatureEach state in a Quote API response now carries three escort cells: `escRequired` and `escRequiredQty` (what the state itself demands) and the new `escTravelingQty` — the escort count the dollars were actually priced on. When escorts are carried through a state that doesn't require them, that state now shows the count you're paying for instead of a bare "No". Same for the alternate route.
Conservative escort smoothing is the default
FeatureNew accounts, and the Quote API when `esl_mode` isn't specified, now start on Conservative smoothing: if escorts are needed before and after a state, they're carried through it instead of being dropped and re-hired at the line. Raw (each state exactly as written) and Full Carry are still one click away on the Raw | Con | Full pill, and anything you've already saved is untouched.
Fixed phantom detours on 16' loads
Bug FixLoads right around 16' tall (16'0" to about 16'1") were sometimes routed hundreds of miles out of the way — a routing-provider data glitch in a narrow height band that hid the real route. Houston to Kansas City came back at 1,145 miles when the legal route is 767. Routing now steps around the band; permit fees, escorts, and every rule still use the exact height you entered.
Saved bids stay exactly as you saved them
Bug FixSaving a bid now freezes the whole picture — the state-by-state table, miles, and route — not just your pricing setup. Keep exploring route options after saving; the saved bid and its PDFs won't budge. When you want the saved bid to follow your edits, there's a new "Update saved bid" button that re-freezes everything in one click.
A complete API reference on /developers
FeatureThe developer docs grew up: every request field is now documented — required or optional, type, bounds, default, and what it does — including the full rate-card override (escort, survey, and service rates, and the escort smoothing modes). A cleaner sidebar layout, honest billing notes, and the same reference available as one copy-paste page for AI agents at /developers/llms.txt.
The Quote API: price a lane over HTTP
FeatureThe calculator now has an API. POST a lane and dimensions to `/api/v1/quotes` and get back the same state-by-state answer the calculator produces: permit fees, escort requirements, police and superload flags, per-state mileage, and the notes that explain each number. Bearer-key auth, and retries are idempotent (send the same request twice and you get the identical stored answer, never a second charge).
Every paid plan includes a monthly API allowance: Solo 30, Team 100, Enterprise 200 calls per month. On top of that, every extra credit you buy or are granted also adds 2 API calls that never expire, so pack buyers get an API balance automatically. Keys are minted and revoked from the new API access panel on your dashboard, which shows live usage against your allowance. The full developer reference, including a complete request/response example and the OpenAPI spec, lives at [/developers](/developers).
One extra credit balance
FeatureExtra credits are now one number. Purchased packs, reward credits from bug reports, and legacy balances all roll up into a single "Extra credit balance" on your dashboard, spent automatically in the right order after your monthly allotment runs out. Nothing you had went away, and credits still never expire.
One policy change alongside it: credit packs now require an active paid plan. Free accounts subscribe first, then top up. Existing balances on any account remain spendable.
Route Intel (Beta): your route, checked against 484,000 bridge records
FeatureAfter a calculation, the route map can now scan your actual path against a national restriction dataset: 484,000 structural records (clearances and posted weights from the FHWA National Bridge Inventory plus 46 states' own DOT layers), 18,000 active construction restrictions, state OSOW closure layers, and the national truck network. Anything that matters for YOUR load shows up as count chips on the map: low bridges, construction that bites your dimensions, roads closed to oversize travel.
The design principle is honesty about what we can prove. A bridge only lands in the red count when we can verify the restricted road is the road you're driving. When a real measured clearance sits lower than your load but we can't prove which road it belongs to, it shows separately in amber as "unverified" (few per route, worth a look, never mixed into the confirmed count). And bridges you ride over top of get their own layer: the clearance belongs to the road underneath you, so they're kept out of the hazard counts entirely.
First use takes one click: hit Enable Route Intel on the map, read the short terms, agree once. The terms say what the tool is: modeled public data as a planning aid, not a measurement, and never a substitute for your permit's routing conditions or the state permit portal. Scans run automatically on every calculation after that, included with your plan.
Bigger credit packs, better prices
FeatureThe credit pack lineup got a full overhaul — bigger packs, and every price came down. Packs now run from a 10-pack at $20 ($2.00 per calculation) up to a 1,000-pack at $1,000 — a flat dollar per calculation for high-volume shops. In between: 50 for $75, 100 for $120, 250 for $285, and 500 for $550. For comparison, the old lineup topped out at 100 credits for $200; that same hundred now costs $120.
Pack availability follows your plan: every account can grab the 10-pack, Solo unlocks through the 100, Team through the 250, and the two biggest packs — 500 and 1,000, the cheapest per-calculation rates on the site — are exclusive to Enterprise. The Buy Credits panel on your dashboard shows the whole ladder, with the packs above your plan marked with what unlocks them.
Credits work like they always have: they kick in after your monthly allotment runs out, they never expire, and they survive plan changes.
Pinned routes you can actually compare
FeatureYesterday's Pin route button grew into a real comparison tool. Every pinned route now stays visible on the map as a faded colored line — pin the direct route, drag the line south, and the original sits there in purple under your new path so you can see exactly what changed. Each pin gets its own color, matched by a dot on its chip, and the chips got smarter numbers: alongside the mileage you now see the route's permit + service fees and its escort total as two separate figures, pulled straight from your Bid Builder rates.
The map also picked up its own light/dark switch — the small sun/moon button in the corner. Plenty of people run the site dark but read roads better on a light map; your choice sticks, independent of the site theme.
And a fix born from a real support story: a carrier quoted a customer a bid that looked complete but was missing its biggest number, because the truck rate was still zero. The Bid Builder no longer shows a dollar total until a truck rate is entered — in its place sits a "Fill in Truck Rate" button that jumps you to the field. If you really want the partial number, the ✕ reveals it.
Drag the route, and the whole quote re-prices
FeatureThe route map learned the move everyone knows from Google Maps: grab the line, pull it where your load actually needs to travel, and let go. The difference here is what happens next — the calculator re-runs every state on the new path. Drag a Nashville–Dallas route south through Mississippi and Arkansas drops out of the table while Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana appear with their own mileage, permits, and escort rules. Pins are draggable and removable, and "Reset route shape" snaps everything back.
Route shaping is free. Dragging, moving the preference slider, and removing pins never touch your monthly calculation count.
Two more tools shipped with it. You can now add up to **three waypoints** in the form — a pickup, a scale house, a required routing point — each marked A, B, C on the map and visited in order. And **Pin route** bookmarks a shaped variant as a chip showing its miles and permit fees, so you can sculpt a second option and click between them to compare — northern route versus southern route, priced side by side, no credits burned.
The map itself was rebuilt on Google's vector renderer along the way: it now matches the site's dark mode, keeps your zoom and position when the route re-prices instead of jumping back out, scrolls cleanly past under your mouse wheel, and keeps its zoom buttons visible.
OD Premium Logic opens up to carriers
FeatureRule-based OD premiums are no longer broker-only. Carriers now get the same Logic checkbox on the OD premium row: define your own ranges per dimension — a 12-foot-wide load earns one premium, a 14-foot another — and the builder prices each load from your rules instead of a one-size number. The editor opens from the checkbox or the Bid Builder settings gear, exactly like it does for brokers.
Nothing changes until you turn it on. The checkbox starts unchecked and your manual OD premium keeps working as before. This also fixed a quiet inconsistency: Quick Quote already honored OD Premium Logic regardless of your account view, while the full table ignored it for carriers — the two now agree.
The demo is now the real calculator's twin
FeatureThe free demo at /calculator/demo had drifted behind the product it advertises. It caught all the way up. The input form is the same narrow vertical card as the paid calculator — weight and length collapsed behind their checkboxes, the route stacked top to bottom, a waypoint you can reveal. The route slider now lives inside the Route card where it belongs, the Overweight Fees pill sits beside it, and the Bid Builder starts collapsed with the same layout, gear menu, and rate rows as the real thing.
The numbers got honest, too. The demo's pre-computed results are regenerated from the live rule engine, so escort counts, conditional-escort flags, road-tier names, and fees match what a real calculation returns today — including a corrected Dallas → Little Rock mileage that had been overstating the Arkansas leg. The oversize example runs 14'6" wide on purpose: Tennessee's width tier kicks in so you can see fee surcharges stack, and the escort smoothing pill starts on Conservative so you can watch it fill the one-escort gap in Mississippi — flip it to Raw and the gap comes back. Inputs stay locked (it's a demo), but everything you can touch behaves the way the paid product does. *Feature*
Five states publish an official escort and pilot-car route map, and now you can open it without leaving your quote. A 🗺️ sits next to California, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, and Oregon in the results table — click it and you get the state's real map, plus a link straight to the DOT page it came from. California is the one worth knowing about: Caltrans splits the state into twelve districts and publishes a map for each, so that one opens on the district index and pages through all twelve. Click any map to open it full size, which you'll want to do — the postmile callouts are the whole reason these exist.
This is reference material, not a calculation. Nothing about your escort counts, fees, or bid changes. It's there because a route map answers questions a single number can't: which highways carry a restriction, where the CHP takes over, which stretch is the one your driver is going to call you about.
Conditional escorts moved onto the escort count
FeatureThe "Edge" column is gone. Its emojis — the ones flagging escorts you might owe based on how you run the load, not its dimensions — now sit right beside the escort count they modify. Click one and it explains itself, same as before: a clock next to Pennsylvania's count opens "pre-sunrise travel through urbanized areas — two additional escorts, one front, one rear."
That was always the honest home for them. They annotate the count; they were never a separate thing to learn, and "Edge" was one more piece of vocabulary standing between you and an obvious hint. The table also lost a column, which the wide-load crowd running every allowance will feel. Counts now line up cleanly down the column too, whatever's next to them.
A cleaner results page and a tighter Bid Builder
FeatureThe results page lost weight everywhere it could. Below the table, one card now says what matters — **Permits & Svc Fees** with the total right on the title line — instead of three cards of breakdowns you had to read past. The Svc Fee column is tucked away by default (it's the same number per permit state; flip it back on in Table Settings if you want it), and the table tools sit in a tidy 2×2 grid. The header band went dark to match the site header, one color rule now runs everywhere (orange means selected — on every toggle, pill, and the nav), and your Simple/Advanced mode switch moved up beside the Route summary where you actually decide it.
The Bid Builder got the bigger cleanup. The escort smoothing radios are gone — the Raw | Con | Full pill under the table's ESCORT $ header was already the better control, so now it's the only one, and the Escorts TOTAL breakdown folded up into the rate settings where those radios used to be. Every rate lines up in one left-aligned column — Truck Rate, OD premium, Ops premium, Out of Route, Margin — with each premium's Logic checkbox and edit pencil on the same row, and both premium editors are reachable from the settings gear too. Your per-mile pacing didn't disappear: it now reads inline as Truck Total ($/mi) and on the Bid line itself. Clear asks before it wipes your rates now. Nothing about the math, your saved rates, or your PDFs changed — this is the same builder with the clutter gone. *Feature*
Four short, skippable tours now walk you through the product exactly where each piece lives. Your first visit offers a one-minute walkthrough of the inputs — including the part most people miss: weight and length are legal by default, so there's nothing to enable unless your load is actually overweight or overlength. Your first results get the big one: the NI ↔ I route slider (re-routing is free — it never charges a calculation), how every cell is editable, road tiers, what makes the escort total smart, and a spotlight on the Hard Cost allowances with a one-click "Apply recommended." Your first Bid Builder expand covers custom rates, OD and Ops Premiums, and saving your bid for PDF export — and your first overweight load gets a quick orientation to the OW fee calculator (locked GVW, axle-aware pricing, and the per-state extras worth reading the tooltips on). Every tour is escapable at any step, never auto-opens twice, remembers you across devices, and can be replayed any time from "Take a tour" at the bottom of the results table.
Allowances now start at zero — armed by you, not by us
FeatureNew accounts no longer carry silent built-in allowance charges. Superload, police, engineering, and utility allowances all start at $0 — your bids only carry what you've opted into. The one deliberate exception is the route survey trio, which stays live (it's the allowance you almost always want). When you do want values, the Hard Cost panel's green **Apply recommended** button fills the whole panel with our recommended numbers in one click, and Reset clears back to the disarmed defaults just as fast. If you've already customized your rates, nothing changes — your numbers are yours.
Ops Premium: charge per state, or flat per trip
FeatureEvery value row in the Ops Premium editor now has a small toggle next to its dollar field: **/state** (the default — the amount charges once per state that triggers the category) or **flat** (the amount charges once for the whole trip when the category fires at all). Coordination burden that scales with state count — permits, escorts — stays per-state; burden that's really one lump of work no matter how many states, flip it to flat. Your choice saves with the rest of your rates.
Engineering reviews now tell you who does the work
Data · Feature"Bridge analysis required" can mean three very different days: a computerized check that clears in minutes, a DOT bridge office reviewing your route, or you hiring a licensed engineer. The ENGR column now shows which one — 🖥️ automated check, 🏛️ state agency review, or 💼 third-party engineer you hire — sourced from a full re-read of every state's engineering rules (275 review tiers across 39 states). Each mode carries its own editable allowance and its own Ops Premium value, so Texas's TxDOT-approved private engineer no longer prices like Indiana's $10-per-bridge automated run. Click any ENGR cell to cycle the mode, and your saved calcs keep replaying exactly as saved.
Ops Premium: price the planning friction, not just the freight
FeatureAn 8'7" wide load doesn't command any real OD premium over 8'6" — but it absolutely deserves an Ops premium, because now there are permits, routing, and coordination where yesterday there were none. The Bid Builder has a new Ops Prem control for exactly that: enter one flat dollar amount, or check "Use Ops Premium Logic" and set a per-state value for each category — permits, escorts, superloads, police, surveys, utility coordination, engineering. Each category charges once per state that triggers it (two escorts don't cost double the coordination of one), case-by-case items never charge until you click them to a firm value, and the whole thing folds into your Truck Total the way OD Premium does — it's your retained pricing for operational burden, never a customer-facing line. The editor shows a live breakdown with example values one click away, and it works in both carrier and broker views.
The Utility column now carries a price
FeatureUtility requirements used to be an alert you had to remember to price. Now UTIL is a full member of the Hard Cost group alongside Superload, Police, Survey, and ENGR: each state shows its highest utility requirement — 📞 notify, ✋ permission, 👷 utility personnel, or 🏗️ bucket truck — with a dollar figure next to it that flows into your bid, the Bid Builder breakdown, your saved calcs, and both PDF exports. Each mode has its own editable rate (a wire-lift crew costs more than a courtesy call), a state charges once at its highest requirement, and you can click any cell to override the mode or the dollars. Case-by-case never charges until you confirm it.
Rate editing moved up into section tabs, in panels you can drag
FeatureThe little pencils on each column header are gone. In their place, three angled tabs sit on top of the results table — Permits & Fees, Escorts, and Hard Cost Additional Allowances — and each opens every rate for its columns in one panel, laid out in the same order as the table itself. The panels float: drag them by the title bar, resize them from the corner, and leave one open while you work the table underneath — your edits recalculate live. The Bid Builder also picked up two at-a-glance numbers between your rates and the escort section: Truck DPM (your truck total per adjusted mile) and Total DPM (the full bid per adjusted mile).
Escort counts now add front and rear requirements together
FeatureWhen one dimension of your load needs a front escort and another needs a rear, those are two different vehicles — a rear can't cover a front, and a pole car can serve as a front but never a rear. The calculator now counts them that way. A load that's wide enough for a front escort and long enough for a rear used to show 1 in some states; it now correctly shows 2, and the escort dollars and Bid Builder follow. Combined counts render in purple: hover the cell to see the front/rear make-up and which dimensions drove it, and click the number if you'd rather model fewer — we recommend playing it safe, since these are usually additive in practice.
Bucket trucks and utility crews get their own icons in the Utility column
DataSome states require a bucket truck or signal contractor to travel with tall loads (a vehicle you hire), and others send the utility company's own crew to lift wires as you pass. These used to be folded into the escort count; they now live in the Utility column where they belong — 🏗️ for a carrier-hired bucket truck, 👷 for the utility's own personnel, alongside the existing ✋ permission and 📞 notify. Hover any icon for the state's exact requirement. Escort counts are now pilot cars only, and the Utility column opens automatically whenever a state on your route has something to say.
Escort tooltip names the dimension that triggered it
FeatureHover the Escort # cell and each line now leads with the dimension behind it (Width, Length, Height), in the same yellow as the Survey and Police tooltips, with the escort type and front/rear split underneath. A four-escort load reads "Width / escort (2front+2rear)", so you can see at a glance which part of the load is driving the requirement, the same way the other columns already work.
Engineering and superload only flag when a state actually requires it
Bug FixA few states were showing an Engineering review (and Oklahoma a Superload) on loads that were within legal limits, because the rule behind them had no size threshold to fire on. For Kentucky and Pennsylvania that also added an unnecessary engineering fee to the bid. Fixed: a requirement with no defined trigger no longer fires on its own, so your results and bid only show engineering or superload where the state genuinely requires it. The reference detail still appears in the State Notes for the cases it applies to.
Engineering costs now have their own column
FeatureHeavy loads that trip a state engineering or bridge analysis used to get folded into superloads or left for you to remember. Now there's a dedicated **ENGR** column in the results table, right alongside Superload, Police, and Survey.
When a state requires engineering — largely weight-driven, with a few width and length triggers — the column flags it Yes (or "maybe", case by case) and adds a fee that flows straight into your bid, the Bid Builder, both PDF exports, and your saved calcs. The default is $500 (C$700), and you can edit it like any other rate. Think of it as the state's review fee plus your own surcharge for the extra planning and friction.
Route surveys now price by distance
FeatureDataA route survey on a 600-mile run shouldn't cost the same as one on a 60-mile hop. Survey pricing moved from a flat fee to a distance-based model: a per-mile rate (with a minimum floor) plus a consulting/report fee, charged for each state that needs a survey. Defaults are $2/mi, a $500 minimum, and a $250 report — C$1.5/km, C$700, and C$350 on Canadian rates. Set any of them to your own numbers in Table Settings.
New Utility column for pole and railroad coordination
FeatureSome states want you to notify — or get permission from — utility and railroad companies before a move: overhead lines, at-grade crossings, and the like. The results table now surfaces that in a **Utility** column. A 📞 means give advance notice; a ✋ means you need permission before the permit issues. Hover any cell for the specifics. The column only appears when your route actually triggers it, and tucks away behind the ⟷ arrow like Alerts.
Hover tips on every column, and all your rates in one place
FeatureTwo upgrades to make the results table easier to read and tune.
**Every column header explains itself now.** Hover any header — Miles, Permit, OS, OW, Svc Fee, Escort #, Escort $, Super, Police, Survey, ENGR — and a short tip pops up above it telling you what the column means and how it's priced. The Escort # tip even spells out the color legend.
**Edit all your rates from one panel.** The Table Settings gear moved to the bottom-left of the results table, and a new "Edit all rates" section opens every value you'd normally set through the individual pencil icons — markups, service fee, escort, police, survey, superload, and engineering — grouped in a single scrollable list. Same rates, one place.
Corrected Oklahoma and sharpened Idaho overweight permit fees
Data**Oklahoma** now scales with weight ($40 plus $10 for every 1,000 lb over the legal limit) instead of a flat fee that came in low on heavy loads. **Idaho** now reads its published ITD rate table cell-for-cell by gross weight and axle count, replacing an approximation that overcharged heavier multi-axle loads.
When a load needs two escorts, the calculator now counts two
FeatureA high-pole car runs up front; a width escort often runs at the rear. One truck can't be both, so that's two escorts, not one. We checked this with several DOT offices: it's usually additive even where the state doesn't spell it out, so the calculator now handles it for you.
**The count is set to 2 and flagged purple when one vehicle can't cover the job.** When a state needs a pole or utility car (both run up front) plus a separate rear escort, the calculator counts it as two and turns the number purple, so your bid, the escort total, and the customer quote all reflect the real requirement instead of quietly undercounting at one. Hover the number for the breakdown. If you're sure a particular state really only needs one, cycle the number back down.
**Saved calcs are color-coded the same way.** Your dashboard per-state escort counts now match the live table: purple for the pole-plus-rear conflict, amber when a combination of dimensions triggered the escort, green when one was carried through for continuity, and blue when you set it by hand. A "Color legend" link under the table explains each.
**The civilian estimate prices both escorts, and holds steady.** The "OSOW Civilian $ Est." on the Max Escorts card prices the second escort wherever the conflict fires, so the market benchmark reflects what you'd realistically pay. It tracks the calculated requirement, not your manual tweaks, so it stays put as you cycle counts.
**Match the OSOWloads benchmark in one click.** A new "Sync Results to Est." button sets your escort rates to our market model and switches smoothing to Conservative, so your own bid lines up with the estimate. US loads for now.
Escorts now carry a daily minimum, and a cleaner Bid Builder
FeatureTwo Bid Builder upgrades: escort pricing that holds up on short jobs, and a tighter Truck Settings layout.
**Escorts won't quote under a day rate anymore.** A pilot car doesn't roll out for a 90-mile day at the per-mile rate. They charge a daily minimum, and now your bid does too. Set a floor (default $550 a day per escort) and any escort whose mileage plus retainer lands under it gets trued up to that floor. A 90-mile escort day that pencils to $305 on miles and retainer alone now bids at $550, with the $245 gap shown on its own "Day-Min True-Up" line so you can see where it came from. Short legs were the one spot escorts got quietly underpriced; long hauls already clear the floor on mileage, so those don't move. It's on by default, and the per-escort rate, retainer, hotel, and miles-per-day defaults were retuned in the same pass.
**Truck Settings are tighter.** Truck, OD Premium, Out of Route, and Margin sit in two columns now instead of one tall stack, so your rates fit without scrolling. Each one shows a single $/mi badge instead of two. Click into any number and it highlights so you type right over it, and backspace clears it to zero. Up top, the rate row got a small save-as-profile button and a Clear button that wipes just those four inputs, not your whole setup.
Quicker load entry and unit-flexible regulation maps
FeatureA batch of input and map upgrades aimed at making the tool faster to drive, especially your first time in it.
**Enter any dimension in plain inches.** Every size box on the calculator now has a small ft/in switch. Leave it on ft for the usual feet-and-inches entry, or flip it to in and type a single number, so 102 just means 102 inches and you skip the feet math. Width, all three heights, trailer and total length, KPRA, and both overhangs each remember their own setting.
**The +/- buttons accelerate when you hold them.** A single click still nudges one inch (or 0.01 m in metric). Hold the button and it speeds up, so moving a dimension several feet takes about a second instead of dozens of clicks. Trailer and total length step by the foot first, since that's how you think about overall length.
**The value you're editing stands out.** Click into a number and the field highlights and the digits bold up, so it's obvious which value you're changing, and the numbers run a little larger across the whole form.
**Origin and destination start empty.** Both now show example formats instead of a pre-filled route, so it's clear you can paste a full street address or just drop a ZIP.
**The regulation maps flip and convert together.** On the maps at /state-regulations, the US/Canada switch now flips all three maps at once instead of one at a time, and a new Imperial/Metric toggle converts everything on a map together: the hover readouts, the color scale, and the summary cards. Metric rounds to the centimetre, imperial to the quarter inch. A note on each map now spells out that it shows the top tier (US Interstate, or a province's most permissive tier) and that the calculator covers every road tier.
Canadian rates in CAD/km, quotes that keep their units, and axle-aware overweight
FeatureDataSince Canada launched we've gone deeper on the parts that actually change your number: pricing a load in your own currency and units, and getting the overweight math right for the rig you're actually running.
**Your rates, in Canadian dollars per kilometre.** Before, you could view a quote in CAD, but your saved operating rates still lived in US dollars per mile. Now they don't have to. Set your escort rate, truck rate, police rate, and the rest in C$/km, and the Bid Builder runs the cost math in kilometres. Flip the new "My Rates/Units: Canadian" switch once and CAD, $/km, and metric become your default on every load. US operators see nothing different.
**Quotes keep the units you built them in.** Save a Canadian bid and reopen it later, or export it as a PDF for a customer, and it reads in the currency and units you quoted (C$ and kilometres), not silently flipped back to dollars and miles. The exchange rate is stamped in at save time, so an old quote doesn't shift when the rate moves.
**Overweight now counts your axles.** A legal 7- or 8-axle load is allowed far more weight than a 5-axle one, and the calculator prices it that way instead of charging overweight on a properly spread load that doesn't owe it. And when a permit genuinely depends on your exact axle configuration, the permit column shows "Maybe" instead of forcing a yes or no.
Canada is here: all 13 provinces and territories
FeatureThe calculator now covers Canada — run a load from Whistler to Toronto, Montreal to Winnipeg, or across the border, and get per-province permit fees, escort requirements, and travel restrictions right alongside the US states.
**Canadian routes, end to end.** Canadian addresses autocomplete, provincial mileage is attributed correctly (including border cities like Windsor), and ferry crossings are kept off your route. A "No US crossing" checkbox keeps Canadian domestic loads on Canadian highways — Montreal to Winnipeg stays on the Trans-Canada instead of cutting through Michigan.
**CAD and metric, the way you'd expect.** Type a Canadian origin or destination and the calculator offers CAD and metric automatically — enter 2.6 in the width box and it means 2.6 meters, weights read in kilograms, distances show in kilometres, and every dollar on screen converts into one currency at the live exchange rate (shown right on the page, and stamped into saved bids so a quote never shifts under you). Canada-based? Flip the new gear switch once and CAD + metric become your default on every route. US users see nothing different.
**Canadian overweight fees.** The overweight calculator now prices all 13 provinces with their real fee structures — Quebec permit-class duties, Ontario distance tiers, BC overload brackets, and the Alberta/Manitoba per-axle-group schedules (with an advanced section to enter your actual axle weights for an exact figure).
A cleaner load-entry form, equipment presets, and a permit fix
FeatureBug FixWe reworked the top of the calculator to make entering a load quicker and easier to read.
**The input form is cleaner.** Width, Height, Weight, and Length each sit in their own labeled box now, with the Weight and Length toggles right on top where you'd look for them. The whole section is a little tighter, so the Calculate button is easier to reach.
**Standard equipment presets.** Alongside your own saved profiles (now called "Custom Equipment Profiles"), there's a built-in set of Standard Equipment Profiles: 53' Flatbed, Step Deck, Double Drop, RGN and more. Pick one and it fills in your deck height, weight, trailer length, and axle count. Each option shows its specs, and the dropdown opens wide enough to read the full name.
**Less math on length.** Type your trailer length and the total combination length fills itself in (you can always type over it). Weight fields also add commas as you type.
**Permit fix for long loads.** Some states require an escort on a long load even though they don't publish a hard overall-length limit, and the calculator used to read "no permit needed" in that case. Now if a state requires an escort, it correctly shows that a permit is needed and includes the fee. This mainly affects loads past roughly 100 feet.
Clearer escort columns and a faster jump to the full bid
FeatureA few quality-of-life upgrades on the calculator.
**The escort columns say what they mean.** The results table now reads "Escort #" (how many) and "Escort $" (cost) instead of the cramped "Esc" and "Esc $". The same labels flow through to your saved calculations and both PDF exports.
**One click to the real escort number.** That Escort $ total in the table is per-mile only. It doesn't include escort retainers, hotels, or multi-day time, so it carries a small caution mark. Hover it for the reminder, or click it to jump straight into the Bid Builder where the full escort cost gets built.
**The Bid Builder is easier to find, and can stay open.** After a calculation the collapsed Bid Builder gives one subtle nudge so you don't miss it. And a new "Expand by default" setting (in the Bid Builder's settings gear) keeps it open on every calculation once you flip it on.
Bridge formula math got stricter and smarter
Bug FixA user caught a real one: the Federal Bridge Formula calculator's "Solve N" mode said 68,000 lbs at 42 feet needed only 2 axles. The raw formula does technically allow 72,000 lbs on 2 axles at that spacing, but federal law caps any single axle at 20,000 lbs, so two axles can never legally carry more than 40,000 lbs no matter how far apart you spread them. The calculator was running the formula without the caps.
**The federal axle caps now ride on top of the formula in all three modes.** Solve W returns the lower of the formula and the per-axle ceiling (with a note showing both when they differ). Solve N requires the axle count to clear both the formula and the caps, so 68,000 lbs at 42 feet now correctly answers 4 axles. Solve L tells you straight up when no spacing can save you ("2 axles top out at 40,000 lbs, add axles") instead of handing back a meaningless distance.
**The two-consecutive-tandems exception is now in.** Federal law lets two tandems carry 34,000 lbs each (68,000 total) when the outer span is 36 feet or more, even where the formula gives less. This is the rule that makes the standard 80,000 lb five-axle semi legal. The bridge formula calculator shows it as a note when it applies, and the axle weight calculator now applies it to the bridge check itself: a legal 3S2 with tandem centers between 36 and 39 feet used to get failed on the axles 2–5 bridge group, and now passes with the exception tagged right on the check row.
**Rounding now matches the published FHWA table.** The formula rounds to the nearest 500 lbs, and on exact ties FHWA rounds down (74,250 prints as 74,000, not 74,500). Both calculators now follow that convention.
Affects the bridge formula calculator at /federal-bridge-formula-calculator, the quick calc inside /fbf-solver, and the axle weight calculator at /axle-calculator.
State permit guides got a lot better today
Bug FixDataFeatureA big batch of improvements to the per-state permit guides at /states.
**Fee sections are now honest.** Two bugs killed: about 21 state pages were rendering "starting at $" with no number (or "$null" in the FAQ) because the underlying field is null on states that don't publish a separate overweight-only base fee, and every state page said "the fee climbs with gross weight" even on flat-fee states like Massachusetts ($40 flat irreducible single trip), Arizona, Kansas, and Vermont where it just isn't true. Both gone.
**OS fees section now lists dimension-triggered surcharges** for the 16 states that have them: Arizona's Class C review ($15 at width >14′, height >16′, or length >120′; +$10 if width/height >18′), Colorado's 2× base multiplier under SB 09-108 plus the $110 Chapter 6 Special, and similar surcharges for DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, KS, ME, MO, NJ, OH, SC, TN, WI, WY. Pulled directly from the same data the calculator runs against, so the page can't disagree with what calculator quotes. States without surcharges get a terse, honest two-sentence section instead of fabricated prose.
**OW fees section is now hand-authored per state.** Each state gets a public summary describing the fee model in plain English: flat / per-ton-mile / gross-weight-bracket / per-axle / two-tier / etc. Plus the named portals and systems (Oregon's RUAF table, New York's HOOCS via OSCAR, IL's IDOT Table 2), federal/state legal-GVW divergences (NM's 86,400 lb bridge formula, ME's 100k 6-axle grandfather, ND's 105,500 lb state highway), and add-ons when present (Massachusetts's $350 MassPike engineering review, Texas's $500 superheavy engineering analysis at >200,001 lbs, Illinois's tollway permits + ISP escort, Maryland's >130k state police escort). Same model label coverage as before — now backed by per-state prose.
**Size/weight/escort summary table redesigned** on every state page. Now a proper table with three columns (Dimension | Legal limit | First escort trigger) instead of a stacked label/facts list. Pole escort triggers get a "(pole)" suffix where applicable. Overhang clutter removed from the summary view (still computed by the calculator).
**Heavier states now contextualize their headline GVW number.** Maine's "100,000 lb" non-interstate now reads "80,000 lb interstate (up to 100,000 lb with 6+ axles)" — surfacing the 6-axle grandfather rule that was previously hidden. South Dakota non-interstate now reads "80,000 lb non-interstate (up to 95,000 lb with 7+ axles)" — the state's axle-count-dependent legal GVW. Montana's 131,060 lb and Wyoming's 117,000 lb non-interstate caps get a clarifying note that they're conditional on high axle counts and long wheelbases, not flat for typical configurations.
**Axle calculator now respects South Dakota's axle-count-dependent legal weights.** A 5-axle truck at 85,000 lbs in South Dakota on non-interstate now correctly passes the GVW check (previously it failed at the federal 80,000 lb cap, which only applies to the Interstate in SD). Same for 6-axle (90k) and 7+-axle (95k). Per ARSD 70:03:01:02.
**South Dakota interstate legal height corrected** to 14′ on the /state-regulations height map and table (was previously shown as 13'6"). South Dakota's prose guide at /states/south-dakota also got a Nick-voice rewrite covering daylight triggers, Extended Period permits, Black Hills civilian escort routes, and the bridge clearance + posted-structures lists.
How to Quote a Load: a four-part video guide
FeatureNew step-by-step guide at /how-to-quote-oversize-overweight-loads that walks the whole quoting workflow on video, with a timestamped key-moment list under each clip so you can jump to the part you need. Four parts: entering the load and route, reading the per-state permit and escort results, building the bid, and saving and sending a branded customer quote.
The videos are click-to-play, so the page stays fast until you actually start one, and each section lists the key moments with timestamps. Find it in the new Video Guide section on Resources, in the footer, or from the "New here?" link on the calculator.
Length escort map, plus annual and state-regulation upgrades
FeatureDataNew interactive Length Escort map on the State Regulations page (/state-regulations), alongside the height and pilot-car maps. It shows the overall combination length at which each state first requires an escort on the Interstate, from 75′1″ in Georgia to 160′ in New York, with the odd ones flagged: Georgia lets amber lights stand in for the escort between 75′ and 100′, Utah's escort is night-only until 120′1″, Arizona's is a case-by-case police call over 120′, and Idaho, Montana, and Oklahoma set no interstate length limit at all.
Arizona's width map now notes that its 11′1″ pilot-car requirement only applies at night or on weekends, so you are not over-quoting a daytime weekday run.
The annual permit guide (/annuals) now opens with every state expanded, so you can scan or search all 48 without clicking, and it leads with the real spread of annual fees: $8 to $6,000 depending on the state and permit class.
Each map on the State Regulations page now links straight to the full per-state guide for the deeper detail.
Per-state oversize permit guides
FeatureDataNew per-state permit pages at /states — one guide for every contiguous state (/states/texas, /states/california, and 46 more), plus a /states index. Each pulls together that state's legal size and weight limits, axle weight limits by road class, superload thresholds, the point where escorts and pilot cars first kick in, single-trip and annual permit fees, travel and holiday restrictions, special-commodity rules, and the official DOT permit office, all from current DOT data.
Find them under Resources, or jump straight to your state at /states/[your-state].
Customer Quote PDFs: upload your own logo
FeatureOrg owners can now upload a custom logo for customer-facing quote PDFs. Set it once in Customer Quote Settings (gear icon next to the Saved tab on your dashboard) and every customer-quote export your team generates will use it — replacing the OSOWloads mark in the header. A small OSOWloads mark stays in the bottom-right footer for attribution.
PNG, JPEG, and WebP up to 250KB. For crisp rendering on the PDF, upload a source image at least 600×200 px — smaller logos look soft because PDFs embed raster pixels and viewers can't sharpen them after the fact. Your browser resizes the logo before upload so high-res sources won't slow anything down.
The gear icon now shows a thumbnail of your logo when one is set — at-a-glance confirmation that your branding is configured. Remove anytime to revert to the OSOWloads default.
Per-state oversize surcharges and Fee Notes
FeatureDataBug FixThe OS fee column now reflects state-specific surcharges. Hover any row to see the breakdown — for example, "$15 base + $250 movement feasibility = $265" for a Missouri superload. Encoded for 12 states (MO, GA, KS, AZ, WI, SC, TN, IN, DE, FL, OH, CO), including Colorado's 100% single-trip multiplier. For 4 more states with formulas we can't fully encode (ME, TN, NJ, WY, IL), the tooltip surfaces an informational note so the displayed fee isn't silently under-reported.
Each state's `Fee Notes` is now selectable in the State Notes dropdown.
Bug fix: when a route mixed states with definite police escort counts and case-by-case states, the totals card and table footer were erasing the definite count and showing only the CBC warning. Now correctly renders "Police(2) ⚠" for mixed scenarios. Same fix applied to PDF exports and the dashboard saved-calc preview, where CBC states were rendering as "Yes".
Axle Calculator: lookup-table bridge support
FeatureDataSix states use a state-specific lookup table instead of the federal bridge formula: Alabama (non-Interstate), Vermont, Kansas, Nebraska, Montana, and Nevada. Click "per lookup table" in the threshold panel to open a draggable chart, with chips to flip between axle-count columns. The panel stays interactive on top of the truck diagram — no modal backdrop.
Axle Weight Calculator
FeatureDataNew free public tool at /axle-calculator. Run any axle layout against per-state axle weight limits, gross vehicle weight caps, the Federal Bridge Formula, and every permit class encoded for that state. Covers all 48 contiguous states, including state-specific quirks like Idaho color permits, Florida FDOT outer-bridge minimums, Maine 6-axle grandfather, New York Type 24C group balance, Ohio spacing-scaled tandem, and Vermont's lookup table.
Drag any non-steer wheel on the truck diagram to reposition it, or use the Insert axle button to drop a new one anywhere along the wheelbase. The kingpin gap auto-locks at startup so reshaping the truck does not accidentally collapse the trailer reach. The compliance ladder updates automatically as you edit, no Calculate button.
When a load fails legal limits, the permit ladder shows which annual or single-trip permit class clears it. Find it in the Resources menu in the header, in the footer, or on the Resources page.
Route Preference Slider & Road-Type Map
FeatureAfter calculating a route, you can now fine-tune which route gets picked using a slider in the Route summary bar. Drag toward "I" to accept a few extra miles in exchange for more interstate travel, or toward "NI" to minimize interstate mileage. The default leans slightly toward interstates (+5%), matching how most oversize loads prefer to run.
The route map now colors each segment by road type — Interstate (blue), US Highway (green), State Highway (orange), and Local/Other (red). Expand the Route bar to see a full mileage breakdown by road type.
Adjusting the slider re-routes and re-calculates all per-state permits automatically, and it does NOT consume a calculation credit — change preferences freely.
Address autocomplete in the Origin / Stop / Destination fields now covers full street addresses in addition to cities.
Combination Dimension Trigger Logic
FeatureWhen a load triggers escort requirements through a combination of dimensions working together (for example, width and length), the State Results table now highlights the escort count in amber and shows a "Combo triggered" tooltip on hover. Previously the count would update correctly, but there was no visual signal that the requirement came from a combined rule rather than a single dimension.