Highway Uprating Program

Each designated highway in the province of New Brunswick has a prescribed maximum Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) of, 43,500 kg, 50,000 kg, 56,500 kg or 62,500 kg. The highway designations may be found in Schedule B of NB regulation 2001-67.

The uprating program provides a mechanism allowing industry to request that the current GVW limit of a highway be temporarily increased from its existing regulated GVW limit to a higher regulated GVW limit. The increase to the highway category allows cargo to be transported on multiple legal vehicle configurations at maximum legal payload. This improves cost efficiencies in transportation of the goods and reduces the number of trucks operating on a specific route, during their temporary or seasonal operation. All vehicles operating under this program are not permitted to exceed the legal mass and dimension prescribed for the vehicle under Schedule “A” of the NB regulation 2001-67

Industry requests to evaluate a highway must be submitted to the Special Permits Office using the “Uprating Program – Industry Application” form. Program evaluations require 4-10 weeks. All vehicles must carry a permit specific to their vehicle, which reflects the terms and conditions of this authorization.

Requests for vehicle permits must be submitted to the Special Permits Office using the “Uprating Program – Vehicle Permit” application. Vehicle permits are issued within 2 business days of application.