This may be good news to Crusing Granny if she's looking for road escort work, but a warning to others! Piece in The Australian today about the number of huge loads being trucked along roads in the north of WA becos of the mining boom. One example they gave was that there was probably going to be at least one monster load on the Great Northern Highway between Port Hedland and Newman every day for the next 12 to 18 months. Seems some of the miners are having to book up to 12 months ahead to get permits for a big load. Be careful out there, people! Cheers, Tony

Good call and advice Tony.
The stuff has to be built. The stuff has to be moved, and road is the only way to go.
So keep your UHF radio tuned to Ch 40 and keep your ears on.
The best way to behave when confronted with one of these 8metre loads, weighing anything up to 250 tonnes is to get off the road!!!
The calls on the radio give you at least 5 kms warning to plan to get off the road. It could be travelling at 100 KPH, but should be travelling at 80 KPH, so plan for it.
Don't argue. There's no point in getting arrogant and trying to have a stand off. They'll win.
Watching these moves can be quite interesting when you see the engineering it takes to build the trucks to carry these loads.
Stay safe out there folks.

Son says the mines are due to open again here in Biggenden in a couple of years. They mine some product that is added to steel to harden it. Maybe I should google and see what it is.
Does that mean we will be in for some big machinery on our roads around that time?

I personally like seeing the big loads and always have my camera ready to document what I have seen. It is also good trying to figure out just what they are?
I admire the drivers (and escorts) for their skill and patience in moving these items.

One of the best reasons to have a CB radio is to get plenty of warning about big loads. We usually have ours tuned to Channel 40. When there is a big load being piloted you start to hear the talk between the pilot vehicles and the load, quite a way in advance. This is really useful in places where there is some distance between spots where you can pull off the road. We also pick up conversation between truckies as they pass - very useful to know when on single bitumen lane roads, or on dirt roads, because can look for places to pull well over.

just as long as the roads stand up to the weight that maney loads a yr could cause some damage to them .
be patient and polite use some common-sense and every one will get on just gr8

dibs

You'd be surprised where they send the biggest loads, apart from the need to get to the most isolated mining sites in the country. Each load is granted a permit and the specific route for the job is indicated on the permit, and it must be followed, or big fines result.
Many of these roads are not up to the job. Many of these roads are already damaged, and then a 90 tonne something comes rumbling along and the poor road surface takes another hit.
During the floods all over-width loads are stopped to avoid further damage to the road edges and shoulders. The soggy road foundation is damaged, and then we come along and further damage is inflicted on these soft surfaces.
One of the worst roads they send over-dimension trucks is Yorkeys Crossing, diverting around Pt. Augusta. The open surface road is roughly developed on clay and some sand, the actual sea bed at the top of the Spencer Gulf. A very small shower of rain can shut it.
So the heaviest, biggest stuff to be transported around this country gets the weakest, worst, narrowest, roughest roads.
Isolation and lack of traffic demands are the 2 main reasons for lack of maintenance.
Considering the fact the permits cost a fee, the truck companies pay high registration fees, allegedly to be spent on roads.
Well, not these roads. The coastal and metro highways seem to get the lion's share of the highway expenditure, while the majority of income in each state is generated out in the "sticks", accessed only by the one worst road.