Permits

LoadPass Permits (formerly known as the ND Uniform County Permit System) is a program that is governed by the Executive Board and Load Pass Permit Advisory Committee of the Western Dakota Energy Association (formerly ND Association of Oil & Gas Producing Counties).

The truck permitting system provides a consolidated location for companies to obtain overweight (non-divisible loads) and over-dimension permits for travel on local roads, including member county, township and city roads, and eliminates the need for a company traveling through multiple counties to obtain a permit from multiple county courthouses.

The system has been in place for over 30 years in western North Dakota oil country, and has recently been rebranded as LoadPass Permits and expanded into non-oil-producing North Dakota communities.

The counties/cities presently using the LoadPass Permit program are:

North Dakota state law requires any organized township within a participating county to participate in the same permit system as that county. Specific township information is available when entering your route information into the LoadPass permit form.

Trip Permits are required by the members for overweight or over-dimension non-divisible loads traveling on member roads. All cranes, workover rigs and roaded earth moving equipment must have a LoadPass permit to travel on member roads. Some permits will require county approval and some permits will be automatically approved, depending on the load, road conditions, and route taken. Permits are considered valid for a single trip (from point A to point B).

For round trip travel, the reverse trip requires a second permit. Although permits are single trip movement forms, the ePermit purchased on our website allows for a three-day window in which to take the trip. This gives the user a couple of days to obtain permits before the trip is to be taken, and allows for unforeseen delays. The exception to that rule is the Rig Move Permit, which is valid for movement on all three days, if appropriate.

A Rig Move Permit is required for permission to move a drilling rig from one site to another, using participating county roads. A county approved Rig Move Permit only gives the permission to move the rig and the units associated with it. Each overweight or over-dimension unit within the rig move group, must have a valid trip permit for the move as well, if applicable. The cost of the Rig Move Permit is $500 per county in and $500 per county out of the site, and requires county approval. The counties have two days to act on the permit request.

A LoadPass permit is required on any load that is over-dimension. The participating counties/cities/townships follow the state guidelines for over-dimension loads. In addition, any load that exceeds 14’6” in width is required to be signed and flagged. And, any load exceeding 16’ wide is additionally required to have an escort vehicle with flashers in front and back of the load while traveling on participating county roads. Multiple wide load vehicles may be grouped together with one escort vehicle in front and back of group. Any load 16’ or wider may not exceed a speed of 25 mph.

The Western Dakota Energy Association LoadPass Permits provides the restriction information, notifications and restriction map as a courtesy to the counties and the industry. The information is kept as up to date as possible, and the notification system has a history of being quite reliable, but we can’t guarantee accuracy. There is a lot of data to collect and maintain when working with multiple entities and thousands of road segments, and communication systems sometimes fail. So there is always a chance that the information we provide is not correct. So please do not rely on this information alone. It is the driver’s responsibility to drive legally on the county roads, so please use whatever resources you need to make sure you are driving legally on the member county, city, or township roadways. Please call the authorities at the appropriate local government office before driving to clarify any questions you have about county roadways or routing. Local government contact information.