North Carolina Oversize & Overweight Permits

When North Carolina needs a permit

Run the numbers first: over 8'6" wide, 13'6" high, 80,000 lb, or legal length and you buy a permit from NCDOT's Central Permit Office. Single-trip is $12 per dimension over legal, plus $3 per 1,000 lb above 132,000. On the road, escorts start at 12' wide and a high-pole car at 14'5", and you move sunrise to sunset Monday through Saturday, never Sunday. Watch Charlotte and Raleigh rush hours and posted low bridges.

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; 60 ft overall off the designated network). Axle limits and the federal Bridge Formula still cap weight. NCDOT's Central Permit Office issues, now through the PIMS online system.
• Escort / pilot car: One escort over 12' wide, two escorts over 14' wide (front and rear on two-lane roads), and police escort may be required over 15' wide. Height over 14'5" needs a high-pole (height) car. Length over 110' takes one escort, over 150' two. A front escort is required above 149,999 lb. Escort drivers must hold NC certification.
• Superload: No single named 'superload' dimension. Weight over 132,000 lb jumps the fee tier and pulls a bridge/structure analysis, and anything over 15' wide (or roughly 15' high or 105' long) needs Central Permit Office review and route engineering before it moves.
• Travel curfew: Sunrise to sunset, Monday through Saturday. No Sunday travel and no movement on the major holidays or holiday weekends. Overwidth, tall, or long loads are daylight-only. Loads over 10' wide face a 7-9 a.m. and 4-6 p.m. ban within a 10-mile radius of Charlotte, Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, and a posted low bridge overrides the permit either way.
• Permit fee: Single-trip is $12 per dimension over legal (height, width, length, and weight up to 132,000 lb), plus $3 per 1,000 lb over 132,000 lb. Permits needing an engineering study add a $100 non-refundable application fee. Annual permits run into the low hundreds.

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