By Haul Handbook editorial team· Updated Oct 6, 2026
Colorado oversize and overweight permits come from the CDOT Office of Freight Mobility & Safety through the COOPR online permitting system. Legal limits are 8 feet 6 inches wide, 14 feet 6 inches high, 45 feet for a single vehicle and 70 feet for a combination, 80,000 lbs gross on the Interstate and 85,000 lbs off it. A single-trip oversize permit costs $30 and an overweight or oversize-and-overweight single trip $30 plus $10 per axle, up to 200,000 lbs. Annual permits cost $250 for oversize only and $400 for overweight or both, inside an envelope of 17 feet wide, 16 feet high and 200,000 lbs. Chapter 6 special permits cover 200,000 to 500,000 lbs and superloads go past that.
Who issues what in Colorado
The permit pages
Colorado-specific requirements
Colorado needs no PUC authority for general freight (deregulated by HB 11-1198 in 2011), but its intrastate USDOT trigger is 16,001 lbs with a "CO" suffix on the marking. Legal height is 14 feet 6 inches and 85,000 lbs is legal off the Interstate. Fuel tax and plates are both Department of Revenue programs, and CDOT sells oversize permits through COOPR.
No PUC authority for general freight
C.R.S. 40-10.1-105(1)(i) takes the transportation of property out of PUC regulation, except towing and moving. Only towing carriers, household goods movers and passenger carriers need PUC permits.
16,001 lb intrastate trigger and the CO suffix
Colorado's intrastate commercial vehicle starts at 16,001 lbs GVWR or GCWR, plus any apportioned-plate vehicle, tow truck or placarded hazmat load. Intrastate-only carriers mark the USDOT number followed by "CO".
State cargo insurance minimum
Intrastate carriers carry $10,000 of cargo coverage per vehicle, or the value of the load if lower, unless the shipper agrees in writing to less. Federal rules have no general cargo minimum.
Taller and heavier legal limits
Legal height is 14 feet 6 inches, and the off-Interstate gross limit runs to 85,000 lbs by formula.
No IFTA fees
Colorado charges nothing for the IFTA license or decals.
No weight-distance tax
Colorado carriers report fuel tax through IFTA; Colorado levies no weight-distance tax.
The Colorado permit system
- Apply or log in (COOPR online permitting system; users set up their own accounts and many permits self-issue)
- coopr.codot.gov
The CDOT permit office
Open a COOPR account online; many permits self-issue without a permit technician. Single-trip permits turn around in about two hours during business hours. You can pay by card for a per-permit fee or fund an escrow account. A CDOT permit covers only the state highways listed on it, so city and county roads need their own permission.
The permit types Colorado issues
Non-divisible loads use single-trip or annual permits up to the standard weight ceiling, Chapter 6 special permits above it, and superload permits beyond that. A company running annual permits on two or more trucks also buys a company fleet permit so they all expire together. Divisible loads have their own non-Interstate overweight permits, and longer vehicle combinations run on LVC permits on designated routes.
Holiday and local restrictions
Extra-legal loads are barred during daytime hours on Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day and on the afternoons before them, and longer vehicle combinations may not run at all on those days. The Cripple Creek area adds afternoon curfews on holiday weekends.
Compare beyond Colorado
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.