Transportation officials in North Carolina have cleared a huge backlog of permit applications that had delayed shipments of heavy and large equipment across the state.

According to Associated Press reports, single-trip permits that normally are issued in a day took three or four times as long, thanks to an avalanche of application right before Oct. 1.
Permit prices went up that day, as did the fine for not having one. And for the first time, 16-foot-wide mobile homes could be transported on eastern North Carolina roads, which raised the permit demand even further.
The last workday before the costs rose - from $10 to as high as $48 - the permit office three times the usual number of applications.
The permit office staff worked Saturdays and Sundays for three weeks and borrowed workers from other DOT offices to catch up. But a ruling from an administrative law judge allowing the Transportation Department to temporarily loosen some permit requirements is what really broke up the logjam.
Permits have been moving on schedule since Friday.