The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) has published a list of travel restrictions for certain Class 1 heavy vehicles for the upcoming Christmas and New Year’s period.
For vehicles operating under a permit, the NHVR says operators should check the permit’s conditions to establish whether Christmas or public holiday travel restrictions are explicitly listed or are referenced in related notices. All heavy vehicles are subject to conditions of access under their relevant notice or permit.
Here are the details for the jurisdictions operating under the Heavy Vehicle National Law (excludes WA and NT).
NSW
Eligible vehicles operating under the following notices must comply with Christmas and Easter restrictions published in those notices.
- Multi-State Class 1 Load Carrying Vehicle Dimension Exemption Notice 2023 (No.2) – Details can be found in the New South Wales Class 1 Load Carrying Vehicle Operator’s Guide (PDF, 1.2MB) and Additional Access Conditions for oversize and overmass heavy vehicles and loads.
- National Class 1 Special Purpose Vehicle (up to 40t total mass) Mass and Dimension Exemption Notice 2021 (No.1) – Details can be found in the National Class 1 Special Purpose Vehicle (up to 40t total mass) Mass and Dimension Exemption Notice 2021 Operator’s Guide.
- New South Wales Class 1 4-Axle & 5-Axle All Terrain Mobile Crane Mass and Dimension Exemption Notice 2019 (No.1) – Details can be found in the New South Wales Class 1 4-axle and 5-axle All Terrain Mobile Crane Operator’s Guide (PDF, 506KB) and the New South Wales 4 and 5 Axle Crane Notice – Industry Information Sheet (PDF, 599KB).
- New South Wales Class 1 All Terrain Mobile Crane and Dolly Combination Mass and Dimension Exemption Notice 2019 (No.1) – Details can be found in the New South Wales Class 1 All Terrain Mobile Crane and Dolly Combination Operator’s Guide (PDF, 436KB) and the New South Wales Crane and Dolly Notice – Industry Information Sheet (PDF, 773KB).
- National Class 1 Agricultural Vehicle and Combination Mass and Dimension Exemption Notice 2020 (No.1) – Details can be found in the National Class 1 Agricultural Vehicle and Combination Mass and Dimension Exemption Notice Operator’s Guide.
Details of the travel requirements during the Christmas holiday period can also be found at Transport for NSW State-wide oversize holiday curfews and are outlined in the following fact sheets:
- 2023-2024 December/January Holiday Travel Requirements (PDF, 207KB)
- Long Weekend Travel Requirements – Load carrying vehicles (PDF, 156KB)
- Special purpose vehicles (PDF, 134KB)
Queensland
Eligible vehicles operating under the following notices must comply with Christmas and Easter restrictions published in the Queensland Access Conditions Guide.
- Queensland Class 1 Special Purpose Combination Mass & Dimension Exemption Notice 2019 (No. 1),
- Multi-State Class 1 Load Carrying Vehicle Dimension Exemption Notice 2023 (No.2),
- Queensland Class 3 Truck and Dog (exceeding 19m up to 31.5m in length) Mass and Dimension Exemption Notice 2022 (No.1)
- Queensland Class 3 B-Double and Road Train (Carriage of Indivisible Items) Dimension Exemption Notice 2022 (No.1)
Holiday restrictions do not apply to Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) up to 3.5m operating under:
- a permit that references the Queensland Access Conditions Guide, or
- the National Class 1 Special Purpose Vehicle (up to 40t total mass) Mass and Dimension Exemption Notice 2021 (No.1).
Eligible vehicles operating under the National Class 1 Agricultural Vehicle and Combination Mass and Dimension Exemption Notice 2020 (No.1) must comply with Christmas and Easter restrictions published in that Notice details can be found in the National Class 1 Agricultural Vehicle and Combination Mass and Dimension Exemption Notice Operator’s Guide.
Port of Brisbane OSOM Police escort exemption for permits
During the Christmas and New Year period, an exemption from requiring police escorts is provided for Heavy vehicle movements under permit, that do not exceed:
- 5.5m in width
- 35m in length
- 6.7m in height
All other pilots and escorts conditions for Heavy vehicle movements to the above proposed dimensions, apply.
Heavy vehicle movements for the above proposed dimensions (excluding height), require a Traffic Guidance Scheme.
Permitted mass conditions are the same as those outlined in Port of Brisbane OSOM pre-approvals and granted under the NHVR permit.
No access over the Lucinda Drive Bridge and Bishop Drive, unless the origin or destination premises are on Bishop Drive.
South Australia
As per the South Australia Escorting guidelines for oversize and over mass vehicles and loads (PDF, 799KB), where an oversize load requires a police escort, travel will not be permitted:
- on South Australian public holidays
- during public holiday periods
- during major events (e.g. Tour Down Under).
A public holiday period means
- a period of 3 or more consecutive days covering a declared South Australia public holiday and adjacent weekend days (for example Easter and every long weekend)
- the period between 23 December and 3 January (inclusive).
Tasmania
The Department of State Growth’s Transport Safety & Investigation Officers will not be providing a service from 23 December 2023 through to 2 January 2024 (inclusive). This will mean that any activities that have a condition of an escort (under permit or notice), will not be able to comply with those conditions and will not be able to operate over this period unless it is in the event of an emergency.
Victoria
ACT
No specific Christmas restrictions in place.
Access permits
Due to Christmas closures, access permit office closures will be in place. The full details are available here.