Maryland Oversize & Overweight Permits

When Maryland needs a permit

Maryland ties most permitted loads to daylight, but the window is a half hour after sunrise to a half hour before sunset, weekdays and Saturday to noon (COMAR 11.04.02.06). Nothing runs around the clock unless it is Maryland-registered special mobile equipment at legal size and 80,000 lb, on a $500 continuous travel permit. Fees are $30 for the first 40 tons plus $5 a ton above that, with a book of ten single-trip permits at $300. Escorts start at 13' wide or 85' long; 14' wide takes two and also drops you into a 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. window statewide.

Thresholds, escorts, and curfews

• Legal max before a permit: Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 13'6" high, 80,000 lb gross, or over legal length (semitrailer 48 ft, 53 ft on designated routes). MDOT SHA Hauling Permits issues; Baltimore and city structures can add a local permit.
• Escort / pilot car: One escort for loads over 13' wide, over 85' long, over 14'6" high, or over 60 tons (120,000 lb); two escorts at 14' wide or more (including manufactured housing) or 140' or longer. Police escort comes in on the widest and heaviest moves, and a height-pole car plus a route survey ride the tall loads. Confirm the exact escort on the permit.
• Superload: Superload thresholds hinge on the route: generally over 150,000 lb gross (or over 120,000 lb on non-Interstate routes), with dimensional caps around 16' wide, 16' high, and 120' long. Bridge/structure review, a route survey, and 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. day moves come before it rolls.
• Travel curfew: A half hour after sunrise to a half hour before sunset is the window, weekdays and Saturday to noon (COMAR 11.04.02.06). Maryland trims an hour off both ends of the usual half-hour-either-side rule, so do not plan on it. Nothing moves Saturday afternoon, Sunday, or on the holiday periods the Hauling Permits Unit lists each December for the year ahead. Around the clock travel is not a size break: the continuous travel permit is $500 a year, runs only on Maryland-registered special mobile equipment, and requires legal dimensions and 80,000 lb or less. Any load 14' wide or wider is boxed into 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. statewide, and 12' or wider, 100' or longer, or over 45 tons is boxed into the same window on the Capital Beltway (I-495/I-95) and the Baltimore Beltway (I-695/MD 695).
• Permit fee: Base fee is $30 for the first 40 tons of gross weight plus $5 for each additional ton over 40 tons; a book of ten single-trip permits is $300. Gross over 60 tons adds an engineering structural-review fee. Annual/blanket options exist. Apply about 5 days out; the permit is good for 5 travel days.

More for Maryland