Texas Oversize & Overweight Permits

When Texas needs a permit

Texas runs the permit desk at TxDMV, not TxDOT. Over 8'6" wide, 14' high, 80,000 lb, or 65 ft and you buy a permit first. One pilot car past 14' wide, two past 16', more for length; TxDMV can add police on superheavy loads over 254,300 lb. Move in daylight only, dodge the metro rush hours, and post a permit bond (43 TAC Ch. 219).

Thresholds, escorts, and curfews

• Legal max before a permit: Permit needed over 8'6" wide, 14' high, 80,000 lb gross (20,000 lb single axle / 34,000 lb tandem), or 65 ft overall combination (45 ft for a single vehicle). Under all of those, run on your normal authority.
• Escort / pilot car: One escort over 14' wide, two (front and rear) over 16' wide. Length: one escort over 110', two over 125'. Height over 17' takes a front height-pole car, over 18' takes two. Exceed the trigger in two dimensions at once and you run front and rear, and TxDMV can order law-enforcement escorts on superheavy moves.
• Superload: Superheavy permit once you top 254,300 lb gross, or 200,001 to 254,300 lb with under 95 ft of axle spacing, plus very wide or tall loads. Expect a route and bridge-structure study and 4 to 8 weeks of lead time. Fees run into the thousands.
• Travel curfew: Daylight only for over-width and over-height loads, 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset. Metro rush-hour bans hit larger loads in Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, and San Antonio. Holiday no-move windows apply. Smaller oversize can run weekends; superheavy loads are held to strict day and route windows.
• Permit fee: General single-trip oversize/overweight permit base fee $60. Loads over 80,000 lb add a highway-maintenance fee ($150 to $375 by weight); over 200,000 lb add a $35 vehicle-supervision fee. Superheavy and superload permits cost far more with engineering-review charges. Annual over-axle/over-gross permit base $90 plus admin and county fees. A permit bond is required ($10,000 standard, $15,000 for over-axle/over-gross).

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