By Haul Handbook editorial team· Updated Oct 4, 2026
The DOT&PF Commercial Vehicle Customer Service Center in Anchorage sells every oversize and overweight permit through the State-Wide Oversize Overweight Permitting system (akswoop.com, myAlaska log-in), with fees fixed in 17 AAC 25.380 and operating conditions in the Administrative Permit Manual (April 2023) that 17 AAC 25.320(b) adopts by reference. Legal limits are 102 inches wide and 15 feet high (17 feet between the Fox Weigh Station and Prudhoe Bay on the Dalton and Elliott Highways). No flat gross-weight cap applies: gross weight is set by the Bridge Gross Weight Formulas, with axle-group and tire limits on top. A single-move permit costs $40 for oversize or overweight alone and $70 for both, plus $25 or $35 surcharges for excess width or height and a $25 surcharge at a gross of 150,000 pounds or more. Extended-period permits run from $85 for 30 days to $1,100 for 12 months.
Alaska legal limits (no permit needed at or under these)
- Width
- 8.5 ft17 AAC 25.012(a): a vehicle including load may not exceed 102 inches wide. Attached equipment may extend up to three inches beyond the 102-inch limit on each side, and mirrors, turn signal lamps, cab handholds, splash and spray suppressant devices, load-induced tire bulge, retracted RV awnings and manufacturer-installed appurtenances do not count.
- Height
- 15 ft17 AAC 25.012(b): 15 feet including load, except that a vehicle operating between the Fox Weigh Station and Prudhoe Bay on the Dalton and Elliott Highways may be 17 feet high.
- Gross weight
- No flat gross-weight figure: 17 AAC 25.013(a)(6) sets maximum gross weight by the Bridge Gross Weight Formulas, along with axle-group limits and 600 pounds per inch of tire width.Alaska's rule has no fixed 80,000-pound cap. Gross weight is the most restrictive of the axle and axle-group limits, the tire limit of 600 pounds per linear inch of nominal tire width (25.013(a)(1)), and the Bridge Gross Weight Formula W = 500 [LN/(N-1) + 12N + 36], rounded to the nearest 500 pounds. Vehicles with no lift axles in the drive group add 3,000 pounds to the formula result (25.013(a)(6)(B)); lift axles in the drive group of the power unit do not count toward legal gross. An idle-reduction unit adds up to 550 pounds (25.013(g)).
- Length: Note
- 17 AAC 25.012(c) for National Highway System routes: power vehicle 45 ft; semitrailer or trailer cargo-carrying length 53 ft; a truck with one cargo-carrying vehicle, or a tractor with two, 75 ft overall; a tractor with one cargo-carrying vehicle has no overall length limit; overhang 3 ft beyond the front bumper and 4 ft beyond the rear. 25.012(d) for other state highway system routes keeps the 45 ft and 53 ft limits but caps a truck with one cargo-carrying vehicle, or a tractor with one or two, at 75 ft overall. On all routes no more than two cargo-carrying vehicles may be in a combination (25.012(e)). A saddlemount combination may be 97 ft overall (17 AAC 25.015(b)). Long combination vehicles run only on the routes and lengths in 17 AAC 25.014.
Axle weight limits
Gross weight is one ceiling; each axle group carries its own limit, and a load can be legal on gross weight yet overweight on an axle. Exceeding any of these needs an overweight permit.
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Permit fees
- Single trip
- $40 (17 AAC 25.380(a)(1) and (3): the basic processing charge for a single move is $40 when the load is oversize only or overweight only, and $70 when it is both (25.380(a)(4)). Surcharges are added for width, height and very heavy gross weight, and loads needing bridge design review pay $80 an hour.)
- Annual eligibility
- Alaska's longest permit is a 12-month extended-period permit for unlimited moves: $550 for oversize only or overweight only, $1,100 for both (17 AAC 25.380(a)(6)(E)). 17 AAC 25.320(c) bars extended-period permits for loads over 10 ft 6 in wide, over 15 ft high (over 17 ft on the Fox Weigh Station to Prudhoe Bay corridor), over legal length, with more than 10 ft of overhang, or over 125 percent of legal weight. Extended-period permits are issued in one, three, six, nine or 12 month increments, cannot be canceled or have their dates changed, and renew only at the permittee's request.
Single-trip permit fee schedule
A single-trip permit stacks a base fee with a weight-tiered maintenance fee, and the heaviest loads add a supervision fee.
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To price a specific load, try the oversize permit cost estimator, or compare every state on the national oversize permit table.
To see how these fees combine on real loads, walk through Alaska oversize permit cost worked examples.
Escort thresholds
What the escort itself has to be
Hitting the threshold is only half of it. The escort vehicle, its equipment, its driver's certification and where it rides are all regulated, and the carrier is the one holding the permit when they are not met.
- Rule scope
- The permit itself states how many pilot/escort vehicles are required, based on the overall dimensions of the vehicle and load (General Permit Information). The thresholds above are the manual's floors, and the permit office may add safeguards, flaggers, traffic control plans or a rolling road closure (Manual 6.7).
- Escort vehicle standards
- Pilot/escort vehicles must be legal-size passenger vehicles or light trucks with no trailer and a 360-degree field of view, carry commercial vehicle insurance, display OVERSIZE, WIDE LOAD or LONG LOAD signs and a roof-mounted amber beacon visible for 500 feet, and carry an 18 or 24 inch STOP/SLOW paddle, three reflective triangles, a 5 B:C fire extinguisher, a reflective vest and a flashlight with red cone. A vehicle that itself needs a permit may not escort another permitted load (Manual 12.3).
- Operator requirements
- Pilot/escort operators and flaggers must complete State-approved flagger training and carry proof of it, and be at least 18; the permittee must ensure escort drivers are at least 18 for noncommercial vehicles, 19 for intrastate commercial vehicles, and 21 for interstate commercial vehicles (Manual 12.2.4 and 12.4).
- Communications
- Two-way radio contact is required between the transport vehicle and its escorts, and the power unit must have an operable CB radio (Manual 12.5).
Escort rules beyond the thresholds
Knowing when you need an escort is half of it. These are the Alaska rules on who may run one, what the vehicle has to carry, and how the move is conducted.
- Rule scope
- The permit itself states how many pilot/escort vehicles are required, based on the overall dimensions of the vehicle and load (General Permit Information). The thresholds above are the manual's floors, and the permit office may add safeguards, flaggers, traffic control plans or a rolling road closure (Manual 6.7).
- Escort vehicle standards
- Pilot/escort vehicles must be legal-size passenger vehicles or light trucks with no trailer and a 360-degree field of view, carry commercial vehicle insurance, display OVERSIZE, WIDE LOAD or LONG LOAD signs and a roof-mounted amber beacon visible for 500 feet, and carry an 18 or 24 inch STOP/SLOW paddle, three reflective triangles, a 5 B:C fire extinguisher, a reflective vest and a flashlight with red cone. A vehicle that itself needs a permit may not escort another permitted load (Manual 12.3).
- Operator requirements
- Pilot/escort operators and flaggers must complete State-approved flagger training and carry proof of it, and be at least 18; the permittee must ensure escort drivers are at least 18 for noncommercial vehicles, 19 for intrastate commercial vehicles, and 21 for interstate commercial vehicles (Manual 12.2.4 and 12.4).
- Communications
- Two-way radio contact is required between the transport vehicle and its escorts, and the power unit must have an operable CB radio (Manual 12.5).
Conditions attached to every permit
The standing conditions Alaska writes into the permit itself, which apply whether or not they are printed on your copy.
- Application content
- An application describes the vehicle and load, origin, destination, proposed route, dates and times, and why the load needs a permit, with an explanation if the applicant claims it is non-divisible (17 AAC 25.330(a)). The route is required for all overweight permits and for moves over 14 ft wide, 16 ft 6 in high or 150 ft long; overweight applications also need axle spacings, weight per axle group, and tire count and nominal width (Information Required When Applying For Permits).
- Indemnity
- The driver, owner and lessee agree to hold the state harmless for claims arising from the move, and the department may require a surety bond (17 AAC 25.330(c)).
- Carry requirement
- The driver must produce the permit on request, and an altered permit is void (17 AAC 25.340(c) and (d), reproduced in the division's 17 AAC 25 compilation). A permitted vehicle must still stop at open weigh stations (17 AAC 25.320(d)).
- Denial for violations
- The department may deny a permit to a person with three or more violations under AS 45.75.380(a)(10) or (11) in the 90 days before the application (17 AAC 25.320(f)).
- Breakdown substitution
- If a permitted vehicle breaks down beyond roadside repair, a similar vehicle validly registered under AS 28.10 may be substituted and reported at the next weigh station or to the customer service center (17 AAC 25.320(e)).
Travel restrictions
- Daylight only
- No (Over-width loads and loads over 17 ft high travel in daylight only unless equipped with the lighting and retroreflective tape in Manual Section 13 or as the permit specifies (Manual 6.1.3 and 9.3.3). Night authorization does not lift peak-traffic, weekend or holiday restrictions (13.6).)
- Curfews
- Urban peak-traffic restrictions stated on the permit apply inside defined Anchorage, Eagle River, Fairbanks, Juneau, Kenai/Soldotna, Ketchikan and Palmer/Wasilla boundaries; for example the Anchorage area runs between the Glenn Weigh Stations on the north and the Potter Weigh Station on the south (Manual 5.2).
- Weekend / holiday
- Permitted oversize and overweight vehicles may not move during the Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day holiday periods unless the permit allows it. For a Sunday or Monday holiday the restriction runs 84 hours starting at noon the previous Friday; for a Friday or Saturday holiday, 84 hours starting at noon the previous Thursday (Manual Section 14). The holiday notice adds that loads wider than 10 ft 6 in are barred on those holidays on all Kenai Peninsula roads south of the Potter Weigh Station and on the Parks, Glenn and Richardson Highways.
- Wind / weather
- Long combination vehicles must stop during inclement weather (17 AAC 25.014(e)), defined as fog, rain or snow cutting visibility below 1,000 feet, wind that keeps a vehicle from holding its lane, or ice, snow or freezing rain that costs traction (17 AAC 25.900(18)). Check 511.alaska.gov for road conditions before a permitted move (General Permit Information).
- Weekend
- Permits may carry weekend restrictions of no movement after noon Saturday or at any time Sunday (Manual 3.2.4). From October 1 to April 15 those weekend restrictions do not apply north or east of the Fox Weigh Station on the Steese, Elliott or Dalton Highways for loads over 10 ft 6 in wide, over 85 ft long, over 17 ft high, or with front overhang over 10 ft or rear overhang over 4 ft (15.1).
- Daylight hours rule
- Over-width loads and loads over 17 ft high travel in daylight only unless equipped with the lighting and retroreflective tape in Manual Section 13 or as the permit specifies (Manual 6.1.3 and 9.3.3). Night authorization does not lift peak-traffic, weekend or holiday restrictions (13.6).
- Weekend
- Permits may carry weekend restrictions of no movement after noon Saturday or at any time Sunday (Manual 3.2.4). From October 1 to April 15 those weekend restrictions do not apply north or east of the Fox Weigh Station on the Steese, Elliott or Dalton Highways for loads over 10 ft 6 in wide, over 85 ft long, over 17 ft high, or with front overhang over 10 ft or rear overhang over 4 ft (15.1).
- Weather
- Long combination vehicles must stop during inclement weather (17 AAC 25.014(e)), defined as fog, rain or snow cutting visibility below 1,000 feet, wind that keeps a vehicle from holding its lane, or ice, snow or freezing rain that costs traction (17 AAC 25.900(18)). Check 511.alaska.gov for road conditions before a permitted move (General Permit Information).
Superload and beyond-permit review
Loads past the standard single-trip permit thresholds get individual state review rather than an off-the-shelf permit.
Superloads are vehicles or loads over 150 ft overall length, over 18 ft wide, over 18 ft high, or with a gross vehicle weight of 250,000 lb or more (Administrative Permit Manual 17.1.1 and the Superload Notice).
The permit office requires five business days' advance notice for superload requests because they need additional analysis and approvals; superloads needing bridge analysis typically take five working days after submission. Bridge design review is billed at $80 an hour under 17 AAC 25.380(a)(5).
More Alaska permit rules
- Single trip fee note
- 17 AAC 25.380(a)(1) and (3): the basic processing charge for a single move is $40 when the load is oversize only or overweight only, and $70 when it is both (25.380(a)(4)). Surcharges are added for width, height and very heavy gross weight, and loads needing bridge design review pay $80 an hour.
- Annual permit eligibility
- Alaska's longest permit is a 12-month extended-period permit for unlimited moves: $550 for oversize only or overweight only, $1,100 for both (17 AAC 25.380(a)(6)(E)). 17 AAC 25.320(c) bars extended-period permits for loads over 10 ft 6 in wide, over 15 ft high (over 17 ft on the Fox Weigh Station to Prudhoe Bay corridor), over legal length, with more than 10 ft of overhang, or over 125 percent of legal weight. Extended-period permits are issued in one, three, six, nine or 12 month increments, cannot be canceled or have their dates changed, and renew only at the permittee's request.
- Annual permit details: covers: validity
- Up to 12 months; extended-period permits are sold in one, three, six, nine or 12 month increments
- Annual permit details: note
- 17 AAC 25.380(b)(7) charges snow-removal equipment the extended-period fee for unlimited moves. Under 25.330(c) the department may require a surety bond or similar instrument when it judges that in the state's interest, but no amount is fixed.
- Permitted weight notes: allowances
- Overweight permits up to 125 percent of legal axle, axle-group or gross weight may be issued without further bridge checks (Administrative Permit Manual 10.1.2). Above that, speed caps apply: over 125 to 140 percent 45 mph, over 140 to 150 percent 40 mph, over 150 to 175 percent 35 mph, over 175 percent 25 mph (10.2.2). Bridge crossings may be limited to 3 mph with no braking or gear shifting, straddling the centerline, or one vehicle on the structure (10.3).
- Permitted weight notes: over cap rule
- Permits are issued only for non-divisible vehicles or loads unless the department finds the state's interest is served, highway usefulness is not diminished, safety is not compromised, and the public is not unreasonably inconvenienced (17 AAC 25.320(a)). Non-divisible means separating the load would compromise its use, destroy its value, or take more than eight work hours to dismantle (17 AAC 25.900(26)).
- Escort notes: rule scope
- The permit itself states how many pilot/escort vehicles are required, based on the overall dimensions of the vehicle and load (General Permit Information). The thresholds above are the manual's floors, and the permit office may add safeguards, flaggers, traffic control plans or a rolling road closure (Manual 6.7).
- Escort notes: escort vehicle standards
- Pilot/escort vehicles must be legal-size passenger vehicles or light trucks with no trailer and a 360-degree field of view, carry commercial vehicle insurance, display OVERSIZE, WIDE LOAD or LONG LOAD signs and a roof-mounted amber beacon visible for 500 feet, and carry an 18 or 24 inch STOP/SLOW paddle, three reflective triangles, a 5 B:C fire extinguisher, a reflective vest and a flashlight with red cone. A vehicle that itself needs a permit may not escort another permitted load (Manual 12.3).
- Escort notes: operator requirements
- Pilot/escort operators and flaggers must complete State-approved flagger training and carry proof of it, and be at least 18; the permittee must ensure escort drivers are at least 18 for noncommercial vehicles, 19 for intrastate commercial vehicles, and 21 for interstate commercial vehicles (Manual 12.2.4 and 12.4).
- Escort notes: communications
- Two-way radio contact is required between the transport vehicle and its escorts, and the power unit must have an operable CB radio (Manual 12.5).
- Escort notes: spacing
- Permitted loads not in convoy keep 800 to 1,500 feet from other escorted oversize loads traveling the same direction in rural areas (Manual 12.6.1).
- Escort notes: dalton reductions
- North of Coldfoot (MP 175) on the Dalton Highway, one required escort may be dropped under listed length conditions unless the permit says otherwise (Manual 15.2).
- Seasonal permits note
- Alaska publishes no seasonal permit class. Its seasonal rules run the other way: spring weight restrictions under 17 AAC 25.100, posted as 85, 75 or 50 percent of legal axle weights by public notice, which a regular overweight permit does not override unless the department approves (25.013(e)); traction weight shifting of up to 2,000 lb per drive axle without a permit from October 1 to April 15 on the Steese, Elliott, Dalton and Richardson Highways north of North Pole (25.013(d)); a 1,500 lb snow and ice allowance from October 1 to April 30 (25.335(b)(1)); and triple-trailer LCVs between Anchorage and Fairbanks only from May 1 to September 30 (25.014(d)).
- Permit conditions: application content
- An application describes the vehicle and load, origin, destination, proposed route, dates and times, and why the load needs a permit, with an explanation if the applicant claims it is non-divisible (17 AAC 25.330(a)). The route is required for all overweight permits and for moves over 14 ft wide, 16 ft 6 in high or 150 ft long; overweight applications also need axle spacings, weight per axle group, and tire count and nominal width (Information Required When Applying For Permits).
- Permit conditions: indemnity
- The driver, owner and lessee agree to hold the state harmless for claims arising from the move, and the department may require a surety bond (17 AAC 25.330(c)).
- Permit conditions: carry requirement
- The driver must produce the permit on request, and an altered permit is void (17 AAC 25.340(c) and (d), reproduced in the division's 17 AAC 25 compilation). A permitted vehicle must still stop at open weigh stations (17 AAC 25.320(d)).
- Permit conditions: denial for violations
- The department may deny a permit to a person with three or more violations under AS 45.75.380(a)(10) or (11) in the 90 days before the application (17 AAC 25.320(f)).
- Permit conditions: breakdown substitution
- If a permitted vehicle breaks down beyond roadside repair, a similar vehicle validly registered under AS 28.10 may be substituted and reported at the next weigh station or to the customer service center (17 AAC 25.320(e)).
- Permit conditions: changes
- Cancellations and changes cost $30 each; single-trip permits issued through SWOOP that are unexpired and unused may change the date or plate up to two times at no charge; extended-period permits cannot be canceled or have dates changed (Cancellation and Change Policy).
- Permit conditions: single trip window
- A single-trip permit runs three days (five days for one-way trips over 400 miles), counted inclusively except Sundays and designated holiday periods (Manual 3.2.1).
- Overweight fee schedule note
- Alaska prices overweight permits by a flat processing charge, not by distance or weight tier: $40 overweight-only or $70 oversize-and-overweight per single move, a $25 surcharge at 150,000 lb gross or more, and the extended-period table for repeat moves (17 AAC 25.380). The only time-based charge is $80 an hour for bridge design review.
The Alaska permit office
- Apply or log in (SWOOP online permitting at akswoop.com; customers sign in with a myAlaska account. Customers can self-issue single-trip permits up to 100 ft long, 16 ft high, 12 ft wide, 125 percent of legal weight and 10 ft overhang, and extended-period permits up to 85 ft long, legal height, 10 ft 6 in wide, 125 percent weight and 10 ft overhang; larger loads go to the permit office.)
- akswoop.com
- Name
- Commercial Vehicle Customer Service Center (CVCSC), State-Wide Oversize Overweight Permitting (SWOOP)
Legal limits without a permit
Width is capped including load, with small allowances for mirrors, lights and other appurtenances. Height is capped including load, with a higher limit between the Fox Weigh Station and Prudhoe Bay on the Dalton and Elliott Highways. Length limits depend on the configuration and the route class, and long combination vehicles run only on named routes.
Gross weight has no flat cap. It is the lowest of the axle-group limits, the tire limit and the Bridge Gross Weight Formula, with a bonus for trucks with no lift axles in the driving axle group.
How permits are priced
Each single move pays a flat processing charge, one amount for oversize or overweight alone and a higher one for both. Surcharges follow fixed width and height brackets, with separate height brackets on the haul road corridor, and one more for very heavy gross weights. Loads that need bridge design review pay by the hour.
Extended-period permits cost more but cover unlimited moves, priced by length of term and by whether the load is oversize, overweight or both.
Escorts and travel windows
Escort counts rise with width, length and height, following the Administrative Permit Manual that 17 AAC 25.320 adopts. Over-width loads run in daylight unless they carry the manual's lighting, use pull-offs so traffic does not stack up, and slow down as they get wider.
Permits may bar movement after noon Saturday and all day Sunday, though north and east of the Fox Weigh Station that restriction lifts in winter. Every permitted load stops for the Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day periods, and urban areas carry peak-hour restrictions.
Seasonal weight rules
Alaska's seasons change the weight picture in both directions. In spring, DOT&PF can post restrictions that cut legal axle weights on thawing roads, and a regular overweight permit does not override them without approval. In winter, the driving axles of a power unit may carry extra weight on the northern highways, and scales allow for snow and ice build-up.
How to read this page
A value reading "Not confirmed" means we could not verify the figure on an official agency page at review time, so it stays open rather than guessed. Superload moves above the standard permit thresholds get individual review by the state; contact the permit office named on this page. For the rest of the Alaska permit stack, see Alaska trucking permits.