NU-FLT-316 — OVERSIZE / OVERWEIGHT PERMITS & ROUTING (GA)

Tier 2/3/4 — Procedure + Field Card + Form · Rev DRAFT · Drafted August 2, 2026 · Owner: Office (permit desk) — [Adam: name the seat — this is the Office/Billing Coordinator's diary item per NU-GOV-005] · The move itself belongs to the Field Supervisor. Parent: NU-FLT-300 Equipment & Fleet Program · Safety authority: NU-SAF-100 · Who may drive: NU-FLT-310 §1.

STEP ZERO — THE DOT NUMBER

Nova holds USDOT 4221697 and the record shows INACTIVE in SAFER (checked 8/1/26) — almost certainly a lapsed MCS-150 biennial update. Reactivation is an open office task, ahead of everything else in this document, because:

1. GAPROS wants a carrier identity when the account is set up. An inactive USDOT is a question Nova doesn't want to answer at the permit counter.
2. A roadside officer running the number during an oversize move sees INACTIVE first. That turns a routine permit check into a full inspection — driver file (49 CFR 391), hours (49 CFR 395), vehicle (49 CFR 396) — on the shoulder, with a rig on the deck.

Everything DOT-flavored below is written as if Nova is an operating motor carrier, because that is what Nova is applying to be again. Reactivate first. NU-FLT-310 §11 and NU-FLT-313 (DQ files) hang off the same phone call.

THE GATE

No combination that is over legal size or weight leaves the yard without a permit number written on the NU-FLT-316-F move record and the printed permit in the cab. The permit gets ordered when the move gets scheduled — never the morning of.

An oversize move without a permit is three hits stacked on top of each other: the fine (Georgia charges overweight on a three-tier per-pound schedule under O.C.G.A. § 32-6-27, keyed to the vehicle's total gross weight: 5¢/lb on the excess at 93,000 lb gross or under; 10¢/lb on the excess between 93,000 lb and 100,000 lb gross; 15¢/lb on the full excess weight at 100,000 lb gross or over. A combo 20,000 lb over the 80,000 lb legal limit sits at 100,000 lb total gross — the top tier — so that's a $3,000 ticket before court costs, not a flat-rate $1,000. [Adam: confirm the exact per-pound tiers/breakpoints in O.C.G.A. § 32-6-27 with GDOT or counsel before this goes to print — direct statute text couldn't be pulled during this review]), the out-of-service (DPS parks the load where it sits until a valid permit is issued — the rig spends the day on a shoulder), and the schedule hit (the crew that was waiting on that rig builds nothing today, and the customer hears about it). All three are bought back with one permit that costs about as much as lunch for the crew.

1. WHAT'S LEGAL WITHOUT A PERMIT (the numbers)

Georgia legal limits — under all of these, drive; over any one of them, §3.

The limit is the load as it sits on the trailer — not the machine's spec sheet. A machine inside 8'6" with a tooling box strapped beside it, or tracks hanging past the deck edge, is measured at its widest point, box and tracks included.

2. WHEN A NOVA MOVE TRIGGERS IT

Width is the trigger to watch. The rigs on a deckover with tooling loaded alongside are the combos that flirt with 8'6". Height only bites if something is stacked or a mast isn't fully down. Gross weight and axle weight are unlikely on today's combos — but "unlikely" is not a number.

The rule until the measuring is done: any combo nobody has taped gets taped before it moves. One measuring session per combo, written on the Fleet Register, and the question is answered forever — same principle as the weight math in NU-FLT-310 §2. Guessing is how the fine happens.

3. THE GDOT PERMIT — GAPROS

GDOT permits oversize/overweight moves through GAPROS (Georgia Permitting and Routing Optimization System): gapros.dot.ga.gov · phone (844) 837-5500. Permits are issued under O.C.G.A. § 32-6-28. The system takes the dimensions, routes the move around restricted bridges on the state system, and prints the escort requirements on the permit itself.

3.1 Permit types and what they cost

[Adam: confirm current fees in GAPROS at account setup — these are 2026 published numbers, and the checkout screen is the truth.]

The math on the annual: if Nova moves a rig more than ~8 times a year — and it likely does [Adam: confirm rough annual move count once the Fleet Register/measuring session is done] — the annual permit pays for itself and kills the "order it the morning of" failure mode for the standard combos. Get the widest-combo measurement first (§2), then buy the annual that covers it.

GAPROS asks for insurance information when the account is set up — policy number and carrier, from the office file. Have it on the desk before starting the application, not during.

3.2 Escort and flag requirements by width band

The permit states the escort requirement for the routed move — what's printed on the permit governs. The bands below are so the office can see the cost cliff coming when quoting and scheduling:

Banners and flags: "OVERSIZE LOAD" sign — black letters at least 8" tall on yellow/orange, sign at least 6' × 1' — on the tow vehicle and on every escort. Red/orange flags on the load's widest corners. Escort drivers must be GA-certified (GDPS pilot/escort certification) — hired escorts carry their own card; check it when booking.

3.3 When the move can run

Schedule the move inside the window. A permit that expires at sunset with the rig still 40 minutes out is a permit violation with the same three hits as no permit at all. Long moves also count against the driver's duty day — hours-of-service rules (49 CFR 395, short-haul provisions per NU-FLT-314 when built) don't pause because the load is permitted.

4. ROUTE PLANNING — THE PERMIT ROUTE AND THE FIELD LAYER

The permit is for one route. The route on the permit is the move. Leave it — a shortcut, a detour around a wreck, "getting it home the back way" — and the permit is void at the moment the tires leave the routed road. If traffic closes the permitted route, the load parks somewhere legal and the office calls GAPROS. That is the whole rule.

Two layers of route check, and both happen:

GAPROS knows the state's bridges. It does not know the service drop sagging across a subdivision entrance or the 10-ton posted bridge on the county road to the pit. The Driver chapter's route check is the field layer of this SOP — on a permitted move it is not optional and it is not from memory: drive or map the last mile before the move day, eyes up, height in mind. A wire pulled down by a mast is an incident (NU-SAF-121) and an outage bill.

Pre-trip inspection and DVIR (49 CFR 396.11/.13) run exactly as on any other move — the DVIR book in the truck, walk-around per NU-FLT-310 §7. A permitted move is the worst possible move to skip the walk-around on, because it is the move with an audience.

5. COUNTY AND CITY ROADS

The GDOT permit covers the state highway system. It does not cover county-maintained roads. Where a county posts its own weight or size limits — posted bridges, posted roads — a move over the posting needs the county's own permission, and metro counties run their own permit desks. The last mile to most job sites is a county or city road.

The working rule:

1. GAPROS route to the closest state-route point.
2. Driver's field check (§4) covers the county/city last mile — look for postings.
3. If the last mile crosses a posted limit, the office calls that county's public works/permit desk before move day. [Adam: build the short list of counties Nova actually crosses — pull it off the last 90 days of moves — and put the permit-desk numbers in the office file.]

A posted county bridge is not a judgment call. Posted means posted.

6. THE DRIVER

Who drives a permitted move is not decided by this document — it is decided by NU-FLT-310 §1 (qualified, licensed for the combination weight, medical card current) and, once the DOT number is active, the driver-qualification file behind it (49 CFR 391, NU-FLT-313 — the open questions are seeded in NU-FLT-310 §11). A driver on a permitted move is in the DOT drug-and-alcohol testing pool only if the combo crosses the CDL threshold (over 26,001 lb GCWR with a trailer over 10,000 lb) per NU-SAF-120 §1 — a width-triggered permit alone does not put a sub-CDL combo in that pool. Confirm against the DOT-track roster once the NU-FLT-313/NU-SAF-120 fact-finding on Fleet Register weights is done. Safe-operation rules of 49 CFR 392 apply to the whole move.

Plainly: the permitted move gets the most experienced tow driver available, not whoever is free. The move is logged on the Daily Truck Log pad like any other, with the permit number in the notes line. The permit rides in the truck book per NU-FLT-301.

7. FIELD CARD — THE OVERSIZE MOVE (Tier 3 — print for the truck book)

1. Wider than 8'6"? Taller than 13'6"? Not sure = TAPE IT. Widest point, tooling loaded.
2. Permit printed, in the cab, route highlighted. No permit = no move. Permit number on the move record.
3. The permit route IS the route. Blocked? Park legal, call the office. Never freelance a detour.
4. Daylight only. No Sunday. No 285 at rush.
5. Banner on, flags on, escorts confirmed the night before — not the morning of.
6. Walk-around per NU-FLT-310 §7, DVIR done.
7. Last mile: wires, limbs, postings — the NU-FLD-200 route check, eyes up.
8. Anything goes wrong: NU-SAF-121. Do not move the rig off the route to "get it home."

8. THE RECORD — NU-FLT-316-F OVERSIZE MOVE RECORD (Tier 4)

The gate in this document produces this record. One row (today: one printed sheet in the truck book; in Softr: one form) per permitted move:

The permit PDF itself gets filed with the row. This is the sheet an insurance adjuster, a DPS officer, or a prequal auditor asks for — and the sheet that proves the gate ran.

9. DONE WHEN

• USDOT 4221697 is ACTIVE in SAFER and the GAPROS account exists under it.
• Every rig-and-trailer combo has a taped width and height written on the Fleet Register — no combo is a mystery.
• Any combo over a legal limit moves only with a permit number on an NU-FLT-316-F row before the wheels turn, and the row count matches the move count.
• Zero morning-of permit orders. The permit is ordered the day the move is scheduled.

10. THE NEVER LIST

1. Never move an oversize or overweight combo without the printed permit in the cab.
2. Never order the permit the morning of the move.
3. Never leave the permit route — park and call instead.
4. Never run a permitted load at night, on Sunday, or through 285 at rush.
5. Never guess width — the tape measure decides, at the widest point, tooling loaded.
6. Never cross a posted county bridge because the routed way was slower.
7. Never put a driver on a permitted move who isn't on the NU-FLT-310 §1 table.

11. WHAT THIS DOCUMENT NEEDS FROM ADAM

1. Reactivate USDOT 4221697 — the MCS-150 update. Step zero for this SOP, for NU-FLT-313, and for the whole Fleet & DOT series. Office task, one sitting.
2. The measuring session. [Adam: each rig on its trailer, loaded for a real move — tape the widest and tallest point, write it on the Fleet Register.] Until then §2 is a question mark and every move is a guess. Same session fills the GVWR/GCWR blanks from the door stickers (NU-FLT-310 §11).
3. Name the permit desk. One person orders permits and owns the GAPROS login — [Adam: this is naturally the Office/Billing Coordinator seat from NU-GOV-005, which is itself still unfilled].
4. Confirm fees, escort bands, and curfews in GAPROS at account setup. The numbers in §3 are published 2026 figures and order-of-magnitude — the permit printout is the controlling document.
5. Annual vs single-trip decision once the widest-combo number exists: if the standard combos fit inside annual-permit dimensions, buy the annual and be done with it.
6. The county short list (§5) — which counties Nova's moves actually cross, with permit-desk phone numbers in the office file.

NU-FLT-316 · Rev DRAFT · Nova Underground · Parent: NU-FLT-300 · Cross-refs: NU-FLT-310, NU-FLT-313, NU-FLD-200 Driver ch., NU-SAF-121, NU-GOV-005 · Gate record: NU-FLT-316-F · Update NU-GOV-000 register on issue · Uncontrolled when printed.