By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Sep 28, 2026
Arizona splits oversize and overweight permitting in two. The Enforcement and Compliance Division's Commercial Vehicle Permits office (Goodyear, and online through ADOT ePRO) sells Class A permits for non-reducible loads up to 14 feet wide, 16 feet high, 120 feet long, and 250,000 pounds on state routes, plus envelope permits; anything larger is a Class C permit from ADOT Maintenance Permits Services in Phoenix, with bridge engineering analysis above the R17-6-411 tables. Class A fees are set in A.R.S. 28-1105 ($15 oversize single trip, $75 overweight single trip, $360 and $600 annual) and envelope fees in 28-1143 ($150 to $1,500). Legal height is 13 feet 6 inches by statute and 14 feet on the designated system ADOT uses as its permit threshold; legal width is 102 inches on interstate, federal-aid, and designated state highways. Loads over 10 feet wide or 14 feet 6 inches high move daylight only unless eligible for 3 a.m. night and weekend transport, stop for six holidays, and observe weekday rush-hour curfews in metropolitan Phoenix, Tucson, and Yuma.
Who issues what in Arizona
The permit pages
Oversize and overweight
Arizona legal limits, fees, escorts, travel windows
Intrastate authority
The state operating credential, where required
IRP registration
Apportioned plates for interstate trucks
IFTA
The fuel tax license and decals
Diesel emissions inspection
Arizona requires an annual smoke opacity test
Arizona-specific requirements
Arizona puts nearly every trucking credential under ADOT and none of them is a state operating authority. The Motor Vehicle Division's Specialized Registration Services handles IRP and IFTA on one joint application, Commercial Vehicle Permits and Maintenance Permits Services split oversize and overweight permits by size, and the state's distinctive charge is the annual weight-based motor carrier fee added to registration for vehicles over 12,000 pounds, with a 30 percent reduction for carriers that run at least 45 percent of their miles empty. There is no state carrier number and no weight-distance tax.
No state operating authority and no carrier number
An Arizona-only carrier is an intrastate motor carrier that skips the federal new-entrant safety audit; ADOT's instruction is to call 602.712.4388 and confirm the correct operating authority under the company's USDOT profile. There is nothing to buy from the state.
Arizona sets its own intrastate insurance by weight
A.R.S. 28-4033 requires $750,000 over 26,000 pounds and $300,000 from 20,001 to 26,000 pounds for nonhazardous property, private and for-hire alike, with $1 million and $5 million hazardous tiers; the federal $750,000 floor applies only to interstate for-hire carriers.
One application for IFTA and IRP
Specialized Registration Services takes a single IFTA/IRP Application (70-0508) and requires an active MC number, Arizona Corporation Commission registration for entities, and a physical Arizona place of business (virtual offices are refused) before issuing either credential.
Annual motor carrier fee instead of a mileage tax
Every Arizona-registered vehicle over 12,000 pounds pays an annual motor carrier fee with registration, $800 at 80,000 pounds, cut to 70 percent for carriers running at least 45 percent of their miles empty (A.R.S. 28-5854 and 28-5855).
13 feet 6 inches by statute, 14 feet on designated routes
A.R.S. 28-1094 sets 13 feet 6 inches as the default legal height and has ADOT designate a 14-foot system; R17-6 Table 1 uses 14 feet as the State Highway System permit threshold. A one-year permit to run at up to 14 feet on designated routes is $45 per vehicle.
Two permit offices by load size
Class A permits (up to 14 feet wide, 16 feet high, 120 feet long, 250,000 pounds) come from Commercial Vehicle Permits in Goodyear or ADOT ePRO; loads over 250,000 pounds, 120 feet long, 16 feet high, or 14 feet wide need a Class C permit, issued by ADOT Maintenance Permits Services in Phoenix.
Weekday rush-hour curfews in three metro areas
Loads over 10 feet wide face 7 to 9 a.m. and 4 to 6 p.m. weekday curfews on listed Phoenix, Tucson, and Yuma freeways and state routes, with some Phoenix loop segments open to 12-foot loads with a rear escort.
Apportioned trucks skip emissions testing
Arizona apportioned registered vehicles are exempt from Arizona emission testing requirements.
Two-cent use fuel credit on the IFTA report
Arizona-based IFTA carriers claim a two-cent per gallon credit directly on the quarterly return when their Arizona diesel purchases exceed Arizona consumption; foreign-based carriers must file a refund claim.
The Arizona permit system
- Apply or log in (ADOT ePRO (online permitting and route check); permits are also sold at ports of entry, by mail, and through national permit services, but not over the phone)
- adotepro.azdot.gov/adot/login.asp
More Arizona rules that catch carriers out
- State carrier number: detail
- Recorded once in the state intrastate authority page (B1). Arizona issues no carrier number; ADOT asks intrastate carriers to confirm the operating authority on their federal USDOT profile, and the IFTA/IRP application asks for the USDOT and MC numbers.
- Weight distance tax: note
- Arizona levies no weight-distance or mileage tax. Its weight-based highway charge is the annual motor carrier fee paid with registration (A.R.S. 28-5852 and 28-5854), a flat amount by declared gross weight rather than a per-mile rate; distance enters only through IRP apportionment and IFTA fuel-use reporting.
- Motor carrier fee: summary
- A.R.S. 28-5852 imposes an annual motor carrier fee on each motor vehicle with a declared gross weight over 12,000 pounds that must be registered in Arizona, for use of the public highways. 28-5854 sets it by weight, from $64 at 12,001 to 14,000 pounds up to $800 at 75,001 to 80,000 pounds (for example $173 at 36,001 to 40,000 pounds, $336 at 40,001 to 45,000, $450 at 55,001 to 60,000, $627 at 60,001 to 65,000), added to and consolidated with the gross weight fee at registration. School buses and film and video production vehicles are exempt (28-5853).
- Motor carrier fee: reduced fee
- A carrier that prequalifies before registration pays seven-tenths of the rate for a vehicle that travels 45 percent or more of its registration-year miles empty or carrying only road-ready, restraining, or loading equipment, empty returnable containers, or goods returned for spoilage or rejection (A.R.S. 28-5855); ADOT's form is the Reduced Motor Carrier Fee Certificate (96-0141). Operating the vehicle outside those terms is a civil traffic violation.
- Motor carrier fee: trip permits
- A nonresident may instead buy a motor carrier fee trip permit per trip: $12 for 50 miles or less and $48 for more than 50 miles, valid 96 hours (28-5863), or a special 30-day permit at $96 for a vehicle not in the commercial transportation business (28-5864).
- Interstate registration: summary
- Arizona offers Interstate (Nonresident) Registration to owner-operators of commercially operated vehicles registered in another state or country who conduct interstate operations and do not qualify for or want IRP. The applicant cannot be an Arizona resident and needs valid FMCSA operating authority, current out-of-state or out-of-country registration, proof of the federal annual inspection, a Level 1 inspection for first-time applicants, and financial responsibility from an insurer authorized in Arizona, on the Interstate Registration Application (46-0501).
- Mexico commercial zone: summary
- A Mexico-based owner-operator of an interstate registered vehicle may not travel beyond the federal commercial zone around Arizona's border crossings: 4 miles beyond the city or town limits at Douglas, Nogales, and San Luis, and 3 miles at Lukeville, Naco, and Sasabe. Carriers with vehicles registered only in Mexico buy permits through the ServiceArizona Secure Access Gateway.
- Intrastate hours of service exceptions: summary
- A.R.S. 28-5234(C) lets three groups of intrastate drivers restart their hours-of-service calculation whenever they go on duty after 24 or more consecutive hours off: drivers primarily transporting groundwater drilling rigs, drivers hauling construction materials and equipment to or from an active construction site within a 75 air-mile radius of the normal work reporting location (not placarded hazmat), and drivers of public utility service vehicles operating primarily within the utility's service area.
- Escort operator certification: summary
- Pilot and escort vehicle operators must hold certification meeting the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance standard (or an equivalent program), renewed at least every four years, be 18 or older, and carry the certificate; operators who perform traffic control need at least $500,000 of commercial liability insurance (A.R.S. 28-1110). Details are in the state permits page.
The permit offices and the online system
ADOT ePRO is the online door for most permits, including the route check. Permits also sell at ports of entry, by mail, through national permit services, and at the Central Commercial Vehicle Permit Office, but not over the phone.
Class C permits run through ePRO too, and ADOT Maintenance Permits Services reviews them. Allow for that review time before you book a large move.
The permit types Arizona issues
Class A permits cover a single described non-reducible load on state routes, single trip, for thirty days, or for a year, with separate oversize and overweight fee lines set by statute. Envelope permits cover non-specific non-reducible loads within the same limits for thirty days or a year. Class C permits cover anything larger, with bridge engineering analysis when a load falls outside the rule's tables.
There are narrower permits too: a special height permit for designated routes, reducible multiple-trailer combinations near the border, and a seasonal fiber and forage module mover permit. Every fee line is a sourced row on our Arizona oversize page.
Entering Arizona without Arizona credentials
A foreign-based interstate truck without Arizona or IRP registration and a fuel tax license buys up to three single-trip permits: a registration permit priced by axles and miles, a motor carrier fee permit, and, for heavy diesel units, a use fuel permit. Frequent visitors can buy multi-trip registration and fuel permits instead. Our Arizona trip and fuel permits page covers all of them.
Curfews, holidays, and weather
Wide loads face weekday rush-hour curfews on listed freeways and state routes in metro Phoenix, Tucson, and Yuma. Larger permitted loads stop for the listed holidays and weekends unless they qualify for early-morning night and weekend transport. A driver must stop when visibility, road surface, or wind destabilizes the load.
Compare beyond Arizona
Running multi-state loads? The trucking permits by state table shows which permit families and issuing offices apply in every jurisdiction, the oversize permit costs by state table compares limits and fees across all 51 jurisdictions, and the permit cost estimator prices a specific load per state.