Montana Pilot Car Requirements

Montana Highway Patrol escort as specified in permit conditions. NOT ESTABLISHED in ARM 18.8.511A, which sets civilian pilot counts (2 front + 1 rear over 18', 2 front + 2 rear over 24') and names no MHP threshold. Treat the 20' figure as a planning assumption and confirm with MDT.

Rear pilot car. ARM 18.8.511A sets this at over 16'6" — non-interstate 1 front + 1 rear, interstate 1 rear (subsecs. (1)(a)(ii), (1)(b)(i)); this entry fires 6" early on purpose. Above 18' non-interstate it is at least 2 front + 1 rear, and above 24' at least 2 front + 2 rear (subsecs. (1)(a)(iii),(iv)); interstate above 18' is at least 2 rear side by side.

Front pilot with a height pole or equivalent overhead-detection device. ARM 18.8.511A(1)(c) sets this at over 17' (and adds a rear pilot over 24', subsec. (1)(d)); this entry stays two feet lower on purpose.

NON-INTERSTATE: "loads exceeding 12 feet 6 inches wide to 16 feet 6 inches wide must have one front pilot vehicle" (ARM 18.8.511A(1)(a)(i), quoted in MDT's eTRIPs permit-restrictions list, item 37a). ON THE INTERSTATE the first pilot is a REAR pilot and does not start until over 16'6" (ARM 18.8.511A(1)(b)(i)). This schema has no road-class field, so the lower non-interstate trigger is encoded — an interstate-only move may need less.

Rear pilot. MDT's own length triggers are much higher: ARM 18.8.511A(1)(a)(v) puts a rear pilot at over 150' on non-interstate, and (1)(a)(vi) adds a front pilot above 200'. This entry fires at 105' on purpose, 45 feet before the state's rule. The former citation, ARM 18.8.1605, does not exist in MDT's citation set.

Front pilot. NOT ESTABLISHED at 85' — MDT names no front-pilot length trigger below 200' (ARM 18.8.511A(1)(a)(vi)); uspilotcars puts a REAR escort at over 110' non-interstate and over 120' interstate. Three sources, three sets of numbers. This entry fires at 85', the lowest of them, on purpose. The former citation, ARM 18.8.1605, does not exist in MDT's citation set.

NON-INTERSTATE: daylight hours only once the load exceeds 10' wide (also once over 150' long or 15'6" high) — MDT Permit Restrictions items 1a-1e. INTERSTATE: 24/7 up to 18' wide. Montana's daylight window and any night endorsement are set in the permit; confirm with MDT before planning a night move.

NON-INTERSTATE: no holiday or holiday-weekend travel once the load exceeds 12'6" wide (also over 150' long or 15'6" high); 10'-12'6" wide is daylight-only on holidays. INTERSTATE: 24/7 up to 18' wide, no holiday travel above 18'. Holidays are New Year's, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas, with holiday-weekend extensions defined by ARM 18.8.101 (MDT Permit Restrictions items 1a-1e, 5). Separately, non-interstate loads over 18' wide, 150' long or 17' high get no weekend travel at all.