The short version: a Ohio single-trip permit starts at $20 before bands, overweight and the transaction charge; an escort is first required at 13' or more wide; and the load becomes a superload at over 120,000 lb. Everything below carries the Ohio document it came from, that document's own revision date, and the date we read it.
1. Ohio legal limits
Anything over one of these needs a permit. Every value links to the document that sets it.
| Measure | Legal limit |
|---|---|
| Width | 8'6"rev. 2013-07-01 · read 2026-09-01 |
| Height | 13'6"rev. 2013-07-01 · read 2026-09-01 |
| Semitrailer length | 53'rev. 2013-07-01 · read 2026-09-01 |
| Overall length | None published |
| Kingpin to rear axle | None published |
| Front overhang | None published |
| Rear overhang | None published |
| Gross weight | 80,000 lbrev. 2001-06-29 · read 2026-09-01 |
| Single axle | 20,000 lbrev. 2001-06-29 · read 2026-09-01 |
| Tandem axle | 34,000 lbrev. 2001-06-29 · read 2026-09-01 |
2. When Ohio requires an escort
| Measurement | First escort trigger | First police escort trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Width | 13' or morerev. 2018-01-01 · read 2026-09-01 | None published |
| Height | 14'6" or morerev. 2018-01-01 · read 2026-09-01 | None published |
| Length | over 90'rev. 2018-01-01 · read 2026-09-01 | None published |
| Rear overhang | None published | None published |
| Gross weight | None published | None published |
Every escort rule on file, in full8 rules
- Over 90 ft long — one rear escort — escort thresholds; height-sensing device; form stamp "Rev. 01/18" (month only — recorded as the 1st) rev. 2018-01-01 · read 2026-09-01
- Over 13 ft up to 14 ft 6 in wide — one escort (lead on a two-lane highway, rear on a multiple-lane highway) — escort thresholds; height-sensing device; form stamp "Rev. 01/18" (month only — recorded as the 1st) rev. 2018-01-01 · read 2026-09-01
- Over 14 ft 6 in wide — one lead and one rear escort — escort thresholds; height-sensing device; form stamp "Rev. 01/18" (month only — recorded as the 1st) rev. 2018-01-01 · read 2026-09-01
- Over 14 ft 6 in up to 14 ft 10 in high — one lead escort carrying a height-sensing device — escort thresholds; height-sensing device; form stamp "Rev. 01/18" (month only — recorded as the 1st) rev. 2018-01-01 · read 2026-09-01
- Over 14 ft 10 in high — one lead escort with a height-sensing device and one rear escort — escort thresholds; height-sensing device; form stamp "Rev. 01/18" (month only — recorded as the 1st) rev. 2018-01-01 · read 2026-09-01
- Over the escort threshold in two or more of length, width and height — one lead and one rear escort — escort thresholds; height-sensing device; form stamp "Rev. 01/18" (month only — recorded as the 1st) rev. 2018-01-01 · read 2026-09-01
- Over 16 ft wide — a law-enforcement escort is required in addition to the private escorts — single-trip fee tables; superload definition; Section 9 axle limits; law-enforcement escort undated document · read 2026-09-01
- Ohio may impose escorts, a route survey or special work at the department’s discretion, and publishes no price for any of them — discretionary escorts; flag placement; private escort driver qualification rev. 2023-11-03 · read 2026-09-01
3. Ohio single-trip permit fees
| Charge | Amount |
|---|---|
| Single-trip base | $20rev. 2023-11-03 · read 2026-09-01 |
| Transaction / card | None publishedrev. 2023-11-03 · read 2026-09-01 |
| Route analysis review | Not yet covered |
| Route with no bridges | Not yet covered |
Dimension bands
| Band | Fee |
|---|---|
| over legal width, up to 14 ft wide and 14 ft 6 in high — $55 outbound surcharge | $55rev. 2023-11-03 · read 2026-09-01 |
| over legal height, up to 14 ft 6 in high, at or under legal width — $55 outbound surcharge | $55rev. 2023-11-03 · read 2026-09-01 |
| over 14 ft wide — $125 outbound surcharge | $125rev. 2023-11-03 · read 2026-09-01 |
| over 14 ft 6 in high, at or under 14 ft wide — $125 outbound surcharge | $125rev. 2023-11-03 · read 2026-09-01 |
4. How Ohio prices overweight
OAC 5501:2-1-05 sets a flat $125 outbound overweight surcharge up to 120,000 lb gross. Above 120,000 lb the rule charges "one hundred twenty-five dollars plus four cents per ton over sixty tons, per mile traveled" — a distance term that cannot be evaluated without per-jurisdiction mileage, so no band above 120,000 lb is on file.
5. Ohio's superload threshold
Above one of these, the state stops issuing over the counter and prices the move after an engineering review.
| Trigger | Threshold |
|---|---|
| Gross weight | over 120,000 lbundated document · read 2026-09-01 |
| Width | over 14'undated document · read 2026-09-01 |
| Height | over 14'6"undated document · read 2026-09-01 |
| Length | None published |
| Short axle spacing | Not yet covered |
6. Route survey and bridge review
The dimensions at which Ohio triggers a physical route inspection or an engineering review, and what the agency charges to review it.
| Measurement | Inspection / review trigger |
|---|---|
| Width | Not yet covered |
| Height | Not yet covered |
| Length | Not yet covered |
7. Police escorts
Charges exist and no schedule is published. Ohio requires a law-enforcement escort in addition to private escorts over 16 ft wide and publishes no officer count, no position and no hourly or per-mile rate.
This is a positive finding: we searched and there is nothing to quote. It is not the same as "no police escort is ever required here".
8. When you can move it
Holiday, curfew and night-travel windows are not yet encoded for Ohio.
Ohio spring thaw restrictions →
Why those windows are absent rather than estimated
They are not guessed at here. What we do publish is the seasonal weight-restriction picture, with the date we last read each state's own bulletin — a curfew invented from a plausible pattern is worth less than an honest gap, because a reader cannot tell the two apart on the page.
9. Permit office
The agency behind each figure above is linked from that figure. We publish no per-state permit-office phone number.
Why there is no phone number here
We are not publishing per-state permit-office phone numbers yet, and the reason is worth stating: the two seed lists available for them are both demonstrably stale — the federal one gives two different states the same phone number — and a wrong number on a page like this costs somebody a morning. The agency behind each figure above is linked from that figure, which is the part we can stand behind today.
11. What this does not include
Named rather than gestured at, because each of these can exceed the permit itself. Every item is listed; open one for why it is excluded.
Line haul, fuel and driver time
This is a permit fee, not a freight rate.
Civilian pilot car rates
We hold no rate data, and the two commercial sites that publish market rates disagree by nearly a factor of two on the same service.
Route-survey engineering
The agency's review fee is shown where the state publishes one; the engineer's own fee is a private cost with no schedule.
Bonds and escrow
Set per move by the agency, and in at least one state the escort is billed at actual cost against it.
Utility coordination and line lifts
Arranged with each utility, priced by each utility.
Second-issuer permits
A toll, bridge or city authority inside the same state issues its own permit, and a state total that omits it is missing a whole permit.
12. Every source behind this page (6)
Every document behind Ohio6 sources
- ODOT — Operational Guide for Vehicles Operating with a Special Hauling Permit — Ohio Department of Transportation — single-trip fee tables; superload definition; Section 9 axle limits; law-enforcement escort
undated document · read 2026-09-01 - ODOT Form OS-1A — Limitations and Provisions for Special Hauling Permits (PDF) — Ohio Department of Transportation — escort thresholds; height-sensing device; form stamp "Rev. 01/18" (month only — recorded as the 1st)
rev. 2018-01-01 · read 2026-09-01 - Ohio Adm. Code 5501:2-1-04 — Flags, lighting and escort vehicles — Ohio Laws and Administrative Rules — discretionary escorts; flag placement; private escort driver qualification
rev. 2023-11-03 · read 2026-09-01 - Ohio Adm. Code 5501:2-1-05 — Permit application processing fees — Ohio Laws and Administrative Rules — (A) basic charge and surcharge units; (A)(1) oversize bands; (A)(2) overweight bands; combination rule
rev. 2023-11-03 · read 2026-09-01 - Ohio Rev. Code §5577.04 — Maximum axle and gross weights — Ohio Laws and Administrative Rules (Legislative Service Commission) — (B)(1) single axle; (B)(2) tandem axle; (E) 80,000 lb overall cap; (B)(3) bridge formula
rev. 2001-06-29 · read 2026-09-01 - Ohio Rev. Code §5577.05 — Maximum width, height and length — Ohio Laws and Administrative Rules (Legislative Service Commission) — (B)(5) width; height; (C) length bands
rev. 2013-07-01 · read 2026-09-01
Questions
How much is an oversize permit in Ohio?
The single-trip base is $20, before the dimension bands, the overweight component and the transaction charge. The base alone is rarely what is paid.
When does Ohio require a pilot car?
The first width trigger is 13' or more.
What is a superload in Ohio?
Ohio's published gross-weight superload line is over 120,000 lb. It is not 80,000 lb; that is the federal legal gross limit, not a superload threshold.