Oversize & Overweight Permits by State
The legal max before you need a permit, the width and height that trigger a pilot car or police escort, the superload tier, night and weekend curfews, and the fee. Covers all 50 states and DC. Reference only, not legal advice.
8'6"Legal width
13'6"Legal height
80KFederal GVW
51Jurisdictions
01
The envelope
Legal load, permit, escort, superload
Four tiers decide your day. Stay inside the legal load (about 8 feet 6 inches wide, 13 feet 6 inches high, 80,000 pounds) and you just drive. Go over and you buy a permit in every state you cross. Get wide, tall, or long enough and you add a pilot car or police escort. At the top sits the superload, with a route survey and bridge study. Layered on all of it are travel curfews. The numbers change at every state line, so read each permit.
02
By state
Oversize permit rules for all 50 states and DC
Tap a state for the legal max, the escort and superload thresholds, the travel curfew, and the fee.
| State | Permit over | Escort |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama AL | Permit needed over 8'6" wide | Escort |
| Alaska AK | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 15' high | Escort |
| Arizona AZ | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 14' high, 80,000 lb | Escort |
| Arkansas AR | Permit needed over 8'6" wide | Escort |
| California CA | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 14' high, 65' overall length, or 80,000 lb | Escort |
| Colorado CO | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 14'6" high on designated highways | Escort |
| Connecticut CT | No permit up to 8'6" wide, 13'6" high, 80,000 lb, and 48' trailer | Escort |
| Delaware DE | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 13'6" high, 80,000 lb gross, or over legal length | Escort |
| District of Columbia DC | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 13'6" high, over 40 ft long | Escort |
| Florida FL | Permit needed over 8'6" wide | Escort |
| Georgia GA | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 13'6" high, 80,000 lb gross, or beyond legal length | Escort |
| Hawaii HI | Permit needed over 9' | Escort |
| Idaho ID | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 14' high, 80,000 lb, or past legal length | Escort |
| Illinois IL | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 13'6" high, 80,000 lb gross, or the state legal length limits | Escort |
| Indiana IN | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 13'6" high, 80,000 lb gross | Escort |
| Iowa IA | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, over 13'6" high, over 80,000 lb, or over 45' single unit / 53' trailer | Escort |
| Kansas KS | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, over 14' high, or over 80,000 lb on the Interstate | Escort |
| Kentucky KY | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 13'6" high, 80,000 lb gross, or over legal length | Escort |
| Louisiana LA | Permit needed over 8'6" wide on the Interstate and designated routes | Escort |
| Maine ME | No permit up to 69' long, 8'6" wide, 80,000 lb, and 13'6" high; a non-reducible load may reach 14' high without a permit as long as it stays off the Maine Turnpike | Escort |
| Maryland MD | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 13'6" high, 80,000 lb gross, or over legal length | Escort |
| Massachusetts MA | No permit up to 8'6" wide, 13'6" high | Escort |
| Michigan MI | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 13'6" high, or the legal length | Escort |
| Minnesota MN | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, over 13'6" high, over 80,000 lb, or over 45' single unit / 75' combination length | Escort |
| Mississippi MS | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 13'6" high, 80,000 lb gross, or the legal length for your combination | Escort |
| Missouri MO | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 80,000 lb gross | Escort |
| Montana MT | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 14' high, 80,000 lb, or past legal length | Escort |
| Nebraska NE | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, over 14'6" high, over 80,000 lb, or over a 53' trailer inside a 65' overall combination | Escort |
| Nevada NV | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 14' high, 70' long, 10' overhang, or 80,000 lb | Escort |
| New Hampshire NH | No permit up to 8'6" wide, 13'6" high, 80,000 lb, and within legal length | Escort |
| New Jersey NJ | No permit up to 8'6" wide, 13'6" high, 80,000 lb, and within legal length | Escort |
| New Mexico NM | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 14' high, 80,000 lb, or past legal length | Escort |
| New York NY | No permit up to 8'6" wide, 13'6" high, 80,000 lb, and within legal length | Escort |
| North Carolina NC | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 13'6" high, 80,000 lb gross, or over legal length | Escort |
| North Dakota ND | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, over 14' high, over 80,000 lb on the Interstate, or over your route's legal length | Escort |
| Ohio OH | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 13'6" high, 80,000 lb gross, or a 53' trailer / the legal overall length | Escort |
| Oklahoma OK | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 14' high on the Interstate/US/state highways | Escort |
| Oregon OR | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 14' high, or 80,000 lb; also for over-length combinations beyond the legal length | Escort |
| Pennsylvania PA | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 13'6" high, 80,000 lb gross, or over legal length | Escort |
| Rhode Island RI | No permit up to 8'6" wide, 13'6" high, 80,000 lb, and within legal length | Escort |
| South Carolina SC | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 13'6" high, 80,000 lb gross, or over legal length | Escort |
| South Dakota SD | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, over 14' high, over 80,000 lb, or over SD's legal length | Escort |
| Tennessee TN | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 13'6" high, 80,000 lb gross, or over legal length | Escort |
| Texas TX | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 14' high, 80,000 lb gross | Escort |
| Utah UT | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 14' high, 80,000 lb, or past legal length | Escort |
| Vermont VT | No permit up to 8'6" wide, 13'6" high, 80,000 lb, and within legal length | Escort |
| Virginia VA | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 13'6" high, 80,000 lb gross, or over legal length | Escort |
| Washington WA | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 14' high, 80,000 lb, a single unit over 40', or a trailer over 53' | Escort |
| West Virginia WV | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 13'6" high, 80,000 lb gross, or over legal length | Escort |
| Wisconsin WI | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 13'6" high, 80,000 lb gross, or the legal length limits | Escort |
| Wyoming WY | Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 14' high, or 80,000 lb, and past legal length | Escort |
Sources: state DOT/DMV/DPS oversize-overweight permit offices; FHWA; FMCSA. Last reviewed July 2026. Permit rules, escort thresholds, and fees change; confirm with the issuing state before you rely on a figure.
Oversize Permit FAQ
When do I need an oversize or overweight permit?
Once a load exceeds the legal envelope you need a state permit. The federal legal load is about 8 feet 6 inches wide, up to 13 feet 6 inches high (14 feet in many western states), roughly 48 to 53 feet of trailer, and 80,000 pounds gross. Go over any one of those in width, height, length, or weight and you buy a permit from that state before you roll. Each state you cross needs its own.
When does an oversize load need a pilot car or escort?
It depends on width, height, and length, and every state sets its own trigger. As a rough guide, loads wider than 12 feet often need one escort and wider than 14 feet need two, an over-height load may need a height pole car, and very long loads need front and rear escorts. Police escorts come in at superload sizes. Read the state permit conditions, because the numbers move at every state line.
What is a superload?
A superload is the largest permit tier, above the normal oversize range, that needs a special engineering permit and usually a route survey and bridge analysis. The threshold varies by state, commonly something like over 16 feet wide, over 16 feet high, well over 120 feet long, or over 200,000 pounds. Superloads take longer to approve, cost more, and can be held to a strict routing and time window.
Can I move an oversize load at night or on the weekend?
Often no. Most states restrict oversize travel to daylight, sunrise to sunset, and many ban movement on weekends, holidays, and during metro rush hours. Wide loads may be held over holiday weekends entirely. The exact curfew is written on your permit, so check it. Continuous travel is sometimes allowed for loads that are only overweight, not over-dimension.
03
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