By Haul Handbook editorial team· Updated Sep 28, 2026
CTDOT issues oversize and overweight permits through the Connecticut Commercial Vehicle Operations (CVO) WebPortal, which the DMV runs. Legal limits are 8 feet 6 inches wide, 13 feet 6 inches high, 45 feet for a single unit, 53-foot trailers on designated routes and 80,000 pounds gross. A single-trip permit costs $30 plus a $12 electronic transmittal fee, and annual permits are priced at $9 per 1,000 pounds of permitted weight. Loads over 16 feet wide or high, 150 feet long or 200,000 pounds are superloads that move at night only.
Connecticut legal limits (no permit needed at or under these)
- Width
- 8.5 ftC.G.S. 14-262(a)(1) requires a permit for a vehicle or combination wider than 102 inches including load, not counting mirrors, turn signals, steps and handholds, splash and spray devices, load-induced tire bulge or other approved safety devices protruding no more than 3 inches a side. Farm equipment, hay or straw loads and snow plows up to 144 inches are among the listed exceptions.
- Height
- 13.5 ftC.G.S. 14-264: no vehicle other than one loaded with loose hay or straw may exceed 13 feet 6 inches including load without a permit. The fine for a violation is $1,500.
- Gross weight
- 80,000 lbC.G.S. 14-267a(b) sets gross limits of 36,000 pounds for a two-axle vehicle, 53,800 for a three-axle vehicle, 58,400 for a three-axle combination, 67,400 for four or more axles, and 73,000 for four or more axles spread at least 28 feet. A vehicle meeting the federal bridge formula and axle limits may run at up to 80,000 pounds without a permit. Tires may carry no more than 600 pounds per inch of width. Bulk milk pickup tankers and agricultural commodity haulers may reach 100,000 pounds where federal law allows.
- Length: Semitrailer
- A trailer over 48 and up to 53 feet long, with no more than 43 feet from the kingpin to the center of the rearmost axle, is legal on designated routes (see length_note).
- Axle limits lb: note
- Statute: 22,400 pounds on any single axle, or 18,000 pounds per axle when axles are less than 6 feet apart; two consecutive tandem sets may carry 68,000 pounds when their first and last axles are 36 feet or more apart; other axle groups follow the federal bridge formula. The CTDOT FAQ table prints 24,400 pounds for an axle spaced 6 feet or more, which conflicts with the 22,400 pounds in C.G.S. 14-267a(b)(1); the statute figure is used here.
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
- $30 (The base oversize/overweight single-trip permit fee is $30 plus a $12 electronic transmittal fee, $42 in all. The permit is issued mainly for indivisible loads and is valid for one trip and return over three days. Permits over 200,000 pounds add an engineering analysis fee of $2 per 1,000 pounds over 200,000. C.G.S. 14-270(d) sets the same $30, $12 and $2 amounts.)
- Annual permit
- Connecticut prices annual permits by weight rather than at a flat amount: $9 per 1,000 pounds (or fraction) of permitted weight, plus the $12 electronic transmittal fee. C.G.S. 14-270(d)(4) sets a $650 minimum for an annual permit for an oversize indivisible load. Monthly permits are $100 per calendar month.
- Annual eligibility
- Annual and monthly divisible permits cover approved bulk materials. The annual indivisible permit is issued only to Connecticut-based carriers moving construction equipment, runs May 1 to April 30 and needs a no-fee route authorization for each trip. The annual milk permit covers bulk milk up to 100,000 pounds on a power unit and trailer with five or more axles. Under C.G.S. 14-270(b) any weight permit is limited to the gross weight on the vehicle's commercial or apportioned registration.
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 Connecticut 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
- Thresholds are from the CTDOT manufactured goods and equipment table for ideal traffic and road conditions, with a 16-foot maximum width. CTDOT may require more civilian or State Police escorts once a route is identified. Where the table marks State Police as to be determined, a State Police escort, if required, may replace one civilian escort. Mobile, modular and sectional housing has its own table: over 10 feet wide, one escort (rear on divided highways, front on undivided); over 13 feet 6 inches wide, front and rear on all highways; over 80 feet long, a rear escort on undivided highways; over 85 feet long, front and rear on all highways (90-foot maximum, 66-foot box maximum). A front pole car is required for all loads 14 feet 6 inches high or greater and may count as a civilian escort if it meets the escort vehicle rules.
- Equipment the escort vehicle carries
- Escort vehicles are governed by Regs., Conn. State Agencies 14-270-21 as summarized by CTDOT: at least 60 inches wide, no more than 1.5 tons capacity, top-mounted flashing or rotating amber lights on at all times, two-way radio with the permitted load, and an OVERSIZE LOAD sign at least 5 feet long and 12 inches high with 8-inch black letters on yellow, mounted on the roof or front and rear with the bottom at least 48 inches above the road.
Escort rules beyond the thresholds
Knowing when you need an escort is half of it. These are the Connecticut rules on who may run one, what the vehicle has to carry, and how the move is conducted.
- Rule scope
- Thresholds are from the CTDOT manufactured goods and equipment table for ideal traffic and road conditions, with a 16-foot maximum width. CTDOT may require more civilian or State Police escorts once a route is identified. Where the table marks State Police as to be determined, a State Police escort, if required, may replace one civilian escort. Mobile, modular and sectional housing has its own table: over 10 feet wide, one escort (rear on divided highways, front on undivided); over 13 feet 6 inches wide, front and rear on all highways; over 80 feet long, a rear escort on undivided highways; over 85 feet long, front and rear on all highways (90-foot maximum, 66-foot box maximum). A front pole car is required for all loads 14 feet 6 inches high or greater and may count as a civilian escort if it meets the escort vehicle rules.
- Equipment
- Escort vehicles are governed by Regs., Conn. State Agencies 14-270-21 as summarized by CTDOT: at least 60 inches wide, no more than 1.5 tons capacity, top-mounted flashing or rotating amber lights on at all times, two-way radio with the permitted load, and an OVERSIZE LOAD sign at least 5 feet long and 12 inches high with 8-inch black letters on yellow, mounted on the roof or front and rear with the bottom at least 48 inches above the road.
Conditions attached to every permit
The standing conditions Connecticut writes into the permit itself, which apply whether or not they are printed on your copy.
- Summary
- Permits may limit the highways and bridges used, the time of travel and the maximum speed, and may carry any other condition CTDOT considers necessary. A weight permit cannot exceed the gross weight shown on the vehicle's registration. The permit, a legible copy, or an electronic confirmation must be kept with the operator. Exceeding a permitted weight is fined at $15 per 100 pounds over; exceeding a permitted length or width carries a $300 minimum fine and height a $1,000 minimum; running off the permitted route carries a $1,500 fine per violated limit; a forged permit carries a $10,000 minimum fine and impoundment.
Travel restrictions
- Daylight only
- CTDOT publishes no single statewide daylight-only rule on its permit pages; travel times are set as conditions of each permit under C.G.S. 14-270(a). Weekend travel permits run Saturday and Sunday from daylight to noon only, and superloads move at night only.
- Curfews
- No time-of-day curfew list is published on the CTDOT permit pages checked; route and time limits are written into each permit.
- Weekend / holiday
- CTDOT's 2026 permit holiday travel restrictions: New Year's Day (Thursday, January 1); Good Friday, Friday, April 3 until daylight Monday, April 6; Memorial Day, noon Friday, May 22 until daylight Tuesday, May 26; Independence Day (Saturday, July 4); Labor Day, noon Friday, September 4 until daylight Tuesday, September 8; Thanksgiving, noon Wednesday, November 25 until daylight Monday, November 30; Christmas, noon Thursday, December 24 until daylight Saturday, December 26.
Superload and beyond-permit review
Loads past the standard single-trip permit thresholds get individual state review rather than an off-the-shelf permit.
CTDOT generally treats a move as a superload when it exceeds 150 feet long, 16 feet wide, 16 feet high or 200,000 pounds.
Superloads move at night only and typically need State Police escorts. The carrier must file a certified Connecticut route survey by a Connecticut-based surveyor within one week before the move, obtain encroachment permits and any town or private permissions for work on the route, pass an enforcement inspection one to two days before plus a same-day Level 7 inspection, and apply at least five business days ahead.
More Connecticut permit rules
- Single trip fee note
- The base oversize/overweight single-trip permit fee is $30 plus a $12 electronic transmittal fee, $42 in all. The permit is issued mainly for indivisible loads and is valid for one trip and return over three days. Permits over 200,000 pounds add an engineering analysis fee of $2 per 1,000 pounds over 200,000. C.G.S. 14-270(d) sets the same $30, $12 and $2 amounts.
- Annual permit fee note
- Connecticut prices annual permits by weight rather than at a flat amount: $9 per 1,000 pounds (or fraction) of permitted weight, plus the $12 electronic transmittal fee. C.G.S. 14-270(d)(4) sets a $650 minimum for an annual permit for an oversize indivisible load. Monthly permits are $100 per calendar month.
- Annual permit eligibility
- Annual and monthly divisible permits cover approved bulk materials. The annual indivisible permit is issued only to Connecticut-based carriers moving construction equipment, runs May 1 to April 30 and needs a no-fee route authorization for each trip. The annual milk permit covers bulk milk up to 100,000 pounds on a power unit and trailer with five or more axles. Under C.G.S. 14-270(b) any weight permit is limited to the gross weight on the vehicle's commercial or apportioned registration.
- Escort notes: rule scope
- Thresholds are from the CTDOT manufactured goods and equipment table for ideal traffic and road conditions, with a 16-foot maximum width. CTDOT may require more civilian or State Police escorts once a route is identified. Where the table marks State Police as to be determined, a State Police escort, if required, may replace one civilian escort. Mobile, modular and sectional housing has its own table: over 10 feet wide, one escort (rear on divided highways, front on undivided); over 13 feet 6 inches wide, front and rear on all highways; over 80 feet long, a rear escort on undivided highways; over 85 feet long, front and rear on all highways (90-foot maximum, 66-foot box maximum). A front pole car is required for all loads 14 feet 6 inches high or greater and may count as a civilian escort if it meets the escort vehicle rules.
- Escort notes: equipment
- Escort vehicles are governed by Regs., Conn. State Agencies 14-270-21 as summarized by CTDOT: at least 60 inches wide, no more than 1.5 tons capacity, top-mounted flashing or rotating amber lights on at all times, two-way radio with the permitted load, and an OVERSIZE LOAD sign at least 5 feet long and 12 inches high with 8-inch black letters on yellow, mounted on the roof or front and rear with the bottom at least 48 inches above the road.
- Permit conditions: summary
- Permits may limit the highways and bridges used, the time of travel and the maximum speed, and may carry any other condition CTDOT considers necessary. A weight permit cannot exceed the gross weight shown on the vehicle's registration. The permit, a legible copy, or an electronic confirmation must be kept with the operator. Exceeding a permitted weight is fined at $15 per 100 pounds over; exceeding a permitted length or width carries a $300 minimum fine and height a $1,000 minimum; running off the permitted route carries a $1,500 fine per violated limit; a forged permit carries a $10,000 minimum fine and impoundment.
- Statute note
- Width and length limits come from C.G.S. 14-262, height from 14-264 and axle and gross weights from 14-267a. Section 14-270 authorizes CTDOT permits for nonconforming vehicles and sets the $30 permit, $12 transmittal, $9 per 1,000 pound annual, $100 monthly, $650 minimum oversize indivisible annual and $2 per 1,000 pound engineering fees.
| Component | Applies to | Fee USD |
|---|---|---|
| Annual divisible load permit (approved bulk materials) | Per 1,000 pounds (or fraction) of permitted weight; one year from the effective date; not prorated or refundable | 9 |
| Monthly divisible load permit | Per calendar month or fraction (calendar months, not 30-day periods) | 100 |
| Annual indivisible permit (construction equipment, Connecticut-based carriers) | Per 1,000 pounds (or fraction) of permitted weight; May 1 to April 30, prorated by months remaining; a no-fee route authorization is required for each trip | 9 |
| Annual milk permit (bulk milk up to 100,000 pounds on five or more axles) | Per 1,000 pounds (or fraction) of permitted weight; May 1 to April 30, prorated | 9 |
| Annual permit for an oversize indivisible load, statutory minimum | Minimum annual fee per vehicle | 650 |
| Electronic transmittal fee | Added to each annual, monthly or milk permit | 12 |
| Radioactive pharmaceutical permit | Six months from the effective date | 25 |
| Industrial permit (moves of up to 1,500 feet between buildings of one plant) | Per permit | 0 |
| Name | Detail |
|---|---|
| Annual Milk Permit | Bulk milk up to 100,000 pounds on five or more axles, May 1 to April 30. |
| Annual Indivisible Permit (Non-posted Bridge Restrictions) | Construction equipment moved by Connecticut-based carriers, May 1 to April 30. |
| Annual and Monthly Divisible Load Permits | Approved bulk materials. |
The Connecticut permit office
- Apply or log in (Connecticut Commercial Vehicle Operations (CVO) WebPortal, managed by the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles)
- cvoportal.ct.gov
Legal limits before you need a permit
Connecticut sets its no-permit limits in statute. Width follows the national standard with small allowances for mirrors and safety devices, and height is capped by its own section with a fine for going over. Length depends on the setup: a single unit and a semitrailer each have a cap, and longer trailers with a limited kingpin setting run only on listed routes and the Interstate system, plus a short distance off them for fuel, food, repair and terminals.
Weight is where Connecticut stands out. The statute sets gross limits by axle count and spacing, separate limits for a single axle and for closely spaced axles, and a tire load limit per inch of width. A truck meeting the federal bridge formula can run at the standard gross cap without a permit. The limits and axle rows each carry their statute.
How the permit fees work
The fees come from C.G.S. 14-270 and the CTDOT permit page, and they agree. A single-trip permit pays a flat base fee plus an electronic transmittal fee. Past the superload weight line, an engineering analysis fee is added for each thousand pounds over. Annual and monthly permits are priced by permitted weight or by the month, each with the transmittal fee on top. The annual divisible permit is neither prorated nor refundable, while the construction equipment and milk permits are prorated by the months left.
The fee schedules below carry each line with its source.
Escorts and pole cars
CTDOT publishes an escort table for manufactured goods and equipment under ideal conditions. One escort starts past a set width, two at a wider mark, and three wider still, with front or rear placement depending on whether the highway is divided. Tall loads need a front escort, and a front pole car once they pass a set height. Long loads add rear escorts, and the longest add State Police front and rear.
Loads that are both wide and tall get State Police escorts front and rear. Mobile and modular housing follows its own table. Escort vehicles must meet the state's size, light, radio and OVERSIZE LOAD sign rules.
Superloads
CTDOT treats a move as a superload once it passes set limits on length, width, height or weight. Superloads move at night only and typically need State Police escorts. The carrier files a recent certified route survey by a Connecticut-based surveyor, secures encroachment permits and local permissions, passes an enforcement inspection shortly before the move plus a same-day inspection, and applies several business days ahead.
When loads can move, and what breaking the permit costs
CTDOT publishes no single statewide daylight rule; travel times are written into each permit. The holiday calendar is the fixed part, with long blocks around the major holidays. Weekend travel permits cover smaller loads from daylight to noon only. No wind or weather rule is published on the permit pages.
Every permit can limit roads, bridges, hours and speed, and the permit or an electronic confirmation must ride with the driver. The statute fines overweight by each hundred pounds over, sets minimum fines for exceeding permitted size, and fines each limit broken when a load leaves its route. A forged permit brings a heavy fine and impoundment.
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 Connecticut permit stack, see Connecticut trucking permits.