Before hiring a single truck you need to know whether the equipment clears everything it will pass under, whether the bridges take the concentrated weight, and which permits have to be pulled. That is the route survey. Here is what it checks, in what order, and past which dimensions it stops being optional.
A route survey is the physical review of the path an over-limit load will travel. It is not a quote and not a sales proposal: it is a technical document that answers three questions in this order, and none of them can be skipped.
Does it clear? The dimensions of the piece against overhead clearances, roadway widths, curve radii and site access. Does it hold? The weight and how it spreads across axles against the bridge ratings and structures along the way. Under which permit, and how long? Which authorities have to sign off on the move and how long they actually take to issue.
The reason it exists is simple. In project cargo the cost of getting it wrong is not the freight, it is the site. A unit stopped in front of a bridge that will not take the load becomes a recovery crane, an improvised detour and an installation date that slips. That is why the survey comes first, and why the firm date is committed after it is done.
Mexico's NOM-012-SCT-2-2017 sets the weight and dimensions a commercial vehicle may run with on federal-jurisdiction highways. If the load exceeds any of these values, the move leaves the normal regime and enters the special-permit one. That is where the route stops being a detail and becomes what governs the date.
General values from NOM-012-SCT-2-2017, published in the DOF on December 26, 2017 and in force since February 26, 2018. Mirrors may stick out up to 20 cm per side without counting toward width. The standard sets the exact value per vehicle configuration and per road class (ET, A, B, C and D), so the number that applies to a given move depends on the highway it will run on. Always verify against the current text.
The limit that stops the most moves is not total weight, it is height. A power transformer on a standard lowboy goes past 4.25 m without anyone noticing on the purchase order, and the clearance that stops it is almost never on the federal highway: it is an overpass in the metro area, ten minutes from the plant.
Actual length, width, height and weight, not the catalog numbers. Deck height gets added to the height of the piece, because what passes under a bridge is the combination, not the equipment alone. This is also where the center of gravity and the lifting points get defined, which later decides which crane gets in.
Vehicle bridges, overpasses, power lines, overhead signage and toll structures. Every critical point gets logged with its clear height and its margin against the load. A tight clearance is not always solved by changing routes: sometimes it is solved with a line clearance, and that takes time and coordination with the authority that owns the line.
What punishes a structure is concentrated weight on few axles, not the total weight of the shipment. Each bridge rating along the route gets reviewed against the real axle distribution of the configuration to be used, and where needed the crossing is planned at reduced speed, alone on the span, or along its centerline.
Turning radii, grades, roadway widths, roundabouts and turnarounds. This is where most routes that looked fine on the map fall apart. A 30-meter extendable trailer does not make the turn where a standard tractor-trailer does, and the point where it does not is usually a frontage road near the destination, not the highway.
It is worth little for the load to reach the gate if inside there is nowhere to swing, nowhere for the crane to set up, or ground that will not take the outrigger loads. The access, the yard, the bearing surface and the working area for the lift get reviewed, and the exact set-down point gets defined.
Which federal, state and municipal permits apply to the trip, how long they take to issue and which time-of-day restrictions they carry. Many of these moves may only run in specific windows and with escort, and that completely changes the math on when to start in order to hit the installation date.
Dimensions and weight reviewed against the actual route. Critical points of the trip with their restriction. Which permits apply and how long they take to issue. The equipment the move calls for. And a realistic delivery window, not an optimistic one.
Origin and destination with exact addresses. Length, width and height of the piece. Weight. Whether lifting points are already defined. And the target date. That starts it. A drawing or spec sheet of the equipment makes the survey sharper and faster.
The Grupo SEIS route survey and feasibility study is free. The first assessment goes out the same business day. The full plan takes 48 business hours when the move requires a route survey and permits, because confirming clearances, bridge ratings and real issue times is not something that can be rushed without making it up.
And if the survey concludes the load will not make it that way, we say so. We lay out the alternative: another route, another configuration, breaking the piece down, or moving the window. Finding out in the survey costs days. Finding out with the unit loaded in front of the bridge costs the site date and the recovery bill.
At Grupo SEIS it is free. It covers dimensions and weight against the actual route, the critical points of the trip, which permits apply, the equipment the move calls for, and a realistic delivery window.
The first assessment goes out the same business day. The full plan, in 48 business hours when the move requires a route survey and permits, because overhead clearances, bridge ratings and issue times have to be confirmed with the authorities involved.
NOM-012-SCT-2-2017 sets the general maximums at 2.60 m (8 ft 6 in) wide and 4.25 m (13 ft 11 in) tall. If the load exceeds either one, or the weight the standard allows for that configuration and road class, the move falls under the special-permit regime and the route governs the date.
The survey identifies which permits apply and how long they take. Pulling them gets coordinated as part of the move once it is contracted. The breakdown of which permits exist and who issues them is on the permits sheet.
Yes, and there the survey splits in two: the Mexican leg with its standard and its permits, and the U.S. leg with its own, issued state by state. The border crossing point and the equipment change get planned as part of the route. It is developed on the MX-USA crossing sheet.
Origin, destination, dimensions, weight and target date get the survey started. Free, and if it is not our kind of job we say so and point you to someone whose job it is.
