New Hampshire Cracks Down on Bridge Weight Limits

August 22, 2007 • New Hampshire's Department of Transportation has recently cracked down on bridge weight limit compliance, refusing permits to companies whose equipment exceeds the weight restrictions. The recent enforcement has forced crane companies and contractors to find alternative routes to get their jobs done.

Although the weight limit has been in place for years, those laws weren't always being followed by drivers. It wasn't until Aug. 1 that companies reported being denied permits to cross E-2 bridges. Bridges designated by the DOT as E-2 have limits on the amount of weight it can carry based on its structural capacity. For a four-axle vehicle like a crane, the limit on a non-interstate highway is 60,000 pounds, or up to 73,000 pounds with additional registration.

 

Kathy Hatfield, vice president of Able Crane Service, Merrimack, N.H., reported being denied a permit to travel Route 101 into Vermont. Instead, the company had to drive south through Massachusetts and back into Vermont, adding a least an hour onto the drive. “At best, it has become much more difficult to get around the state,” Hatfield said.

 

Other companies, such as Miller Construction of Windsor, Vt., have reported difficulties with the new strict enforcement of bridge limits, according to reports on the Concord Monitor website. The construction company was denied a permit to move a modular home because his crane was deemed too heavy for the bridge it had to cross.

 

While the stricter enforcement of the rules began on Aug. 1, the day of the Minnesota bridge collapse, the New Hampshire Department of Transportation has said that its enforcement of the weight limits does not relate to that disaster, according to the Concord Monitor report. Mark Kirouac, assistant administrator of the highway maintenance bureau, said the department started giving more thorough reviews to permit applications at the beginning of July, after becoming aware that vehicles were crossing bridges that they shouldn't.

 

Jim Gilbert, permit supervisor at the Department of Transportation, said that while he began looking at the routes drivers were taking—and the bridges that those routes included—before the Minnesota bridge collapse, that disaster has further emphasized the need for enforcing these limits. The DOT works with contractors to suggest alternate routes, and contractors can find other solutions, such as dismantling cranes. The DOT also plans to have additional materials available on its website soon, including maps with labeled bridges. “It's the utmost safety to the public,” Gilbert said. “That's what this whole thing's about.”