When you’re behind a truck with the “Oversized Load” sign on a two-lane road, you know that it’s going to be a long drive. But it’s nothing compared to the stress of heavy equipment transport, otherwise known as heavy hauling, in the Bay Area. Transporting heavy machinery requires careful planning and execution to ensure safe transit. In this blog post, we’ll discuss some tips to help you prepare for your next heavy hauling project, and how our transportation and engineering service in the Bay Area can assist you.

1 – Plan ahead with a route survey

Before you hit the road, it’s essential to know the route your equipment will take. Conducting a route survey can help you identify potential hazards, such as construction, tolls, and heavy traffic. A survey can also locate obstacles like low bridges and underpasses, turning radiuses, hanging electrical wires, and railroad crossings. Knowing the route beforehand will help you plan for any necessary detours and avoid potential accidents.

2 – Fees and permits

Before you begin your journey, make sure you have all the required permits in place. Ensure you comply with federal, state, and local regulations when transporting heavy equipment. If you’re crossing state lines, you and your team should be familiar with each state’s rules for oversized loads. Remember that commercial vehicles transporting more than 10,000 pounds must comply with federal regulations. Accessorial charges for things like shrink wrap, layovers, tolls, and lodging may also apply.

3 – Visual safety

Transporting an oversized load can pose a significant risk to other motorists. Therefore, it’s crucial to follow proper safety procedures and carry special markings to alert other drivers. Different states have varying requirements for markings, but in general, it’s a good idea to have orange or red warning flags measuring 12-18 inches for daytime travel. Use red lights or flashing amber lights for nighttime travel and a giant yellow reflective banner that other drivers can see.

4 – Inspect your truck

Before you hit the road, inspect your trailer to ensure it’s ready for the journey. Check for damage to chains, straps, and binders used to tie down machinery. Look for signs of chafing on hydraulic hoses. Ensure the brakes are in good working order, and the wheels have adequate tire pressure. Inspect the trailer itself to make sure it’s level.

Bay Area Heavy Hauling

Are you feeling uncertain about heavy equipment transport in the Bay Area? Turn to Sheedy Crane. Our Bay Area Heavy Hauling services are backed by a staff of engineers, project managers and riggers who are experts in heavy lifting and overweight/over-dimensional load transport.

Our engineering services include:

Engineered critical lift planning
Heavy Hauling and over-dimensional cargo tie-down and planning
Custom 2D and 3D CAD support
Conceptual drawings and designs
Professional engineer stamped calculations and drawings
Temporary support structure planning and designs
Site organization, supervision, and technical assistance
Load testing
Feasibility studies
Route surveys
Budget estimates

Before any of our operators set foot on a work-site, our engineers have evaluated every aspect of a proposed project. With safety in mind, we plan for all possible scenarios based on the load, route, and projected lift. Our civil and building engineers use 2D and 3D CAD designs to predict exactly how a heavy hauling/lifting operation will function in the real world. This enhances the predictability, precision, and productivity of everyone involved in the project. Our engineering services in the San Francisco Bay Area help facilitate heavy lifts, heavy hauling, structural shoring, seismic retrofitting, and hoist services around the Western United States. Read on for considerations for heavy hauling projects.

What is heavy hauling?

Heavy haul trucking, also known as oversize or overweight trucking, is a specialized type of transportation that involves moving extremely large and heavy cargo that exceeds the standard legal limits for weight, width, height, and length on public roads. This type of hauling requires special equipment and permits to ensure safe and legal transportation of the goods.

Typically, heavy haul trucking involves transporting items such as industrial equipment, machinery, construction materials, large vehicles, prefabricated structures, and other oversized loads that cannot be easily carried by regular trucks.

Heavy Hauling Engineering

Our team of experienced operators and engineers are responsible for some very impressive feats of modern technology, physics, and engineering. For example, a dual-lane heavy haul of a refinery pressure vessel for the Diablo Canyon Power Plant required careful logistical and safety planning. Hundreds of thousands of pounds had to be moved countless miles through the roads of California; this entailed careful route planning and proper engineering precautions. Many aspects of a project need to be taken into account whenever planning for a heavy haul, such as:

The weight limit of the roads on a proposed route
The weight of the refinery pressure vessel
The weight limit of all heavy hauling equipment, including trailers, trucks, cranes, and the equipment used to secure the item to the bed of the trailer
Maximum MPH of the transporting vehicle
Safe securing of the load and proper weight testing
Possible construction of temporary structures to facilitate the transport of the item
Heavy and over-dimensional cargo tie-down and planning
Engineered critical lift planning

sheedy crane heavy hauling job diablo canyon — Our Heavy Hauling work at Diablo Canyon

This project helped facilitate upgrades to the Diablo Canyon Power Plant, a facility that is responsible for 8.6% of total California power generation and 23% of the state’s carbon-free generation. This power plant supplies the electrical needs to more than 3 million people; with a job this large, errors in safety planning and engineering calculations are simply not an option.

Heavy Hauling Considerations for Engineers

When engineering a safe route for a heavy haul, engineers don’t just take the weight limit of certain roads into account; engineers also must plan for any obstructions on the proposed route. Here are just a few obstructions that we’ve encountered on routine route planning:

Bridges: Measuring bridges and obtaining weight limits is incredibly important. Some states do not have the height limits recorded for certain bridges, so it may be necessary to have an engineer measure the dimensions of any and all bridges before the route is approved.
Trees: If a tree is obstructing a proposed route, permission is required to have a tree trimmed or cut down. Older trees may be protected by state laws; if this is the case, the tree may have to be tied down, or another route must be planned.
Wires: If utility or electrical wires are obstructing a route, a utility or electrical company must be contracted to help temporarily move the wires. Other considerations, such as traffic safety and control, must be taken into account. This generally requires working with local police to ensure the safety of all bystanders and operators.
Railroad Crossings: If a load is particularly heavy, a truck may not be moving more than 5-10 MPH at any given time (or even slower). Owners of the railroad must be contacted to ensure a proper amount of leeway when crossing certain tracks.
Signal Lights and Signs: If traffic lights or overhanging signs are blocking the proposed route, light contractors, state entities, and other service professionals will need to assist with the heavy haul.

Clearance laws are different for every state and generally come in either 2in or 6in clearance variants. This just means that there needs to be at least two inches or six inches between the top of the load and the highest point on the bridge. Other federal regulations for weight limits on federal highways and interstates and service roads must also be honored, and permits must be obtained if load limits exceed the usual weight capacity.