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.
Who issues what in Connecticut
The permit pages
Connecticut-specific requirements
Connecticut regulates who may haul freight mainly through vehicle rules rather than operating authority: no freight authority exists, but a USDOT number, annual insurance proof and FMCSR compliance start at 18,001 pounds for intrastate carriers. Three agencies split the work: DMV (USDOT enforcement, insurance, IRP, the CVO portal), CTDOT (household goods certificates and oversize/overweight permits) and DRS (IFTA, the intrastate motor carrier road tax registration and the Highway Use Fee).
USDOT number at 18,001 pounds, not 10,001 or 26,001
Intrastate carriers need a USDOT number, annual insurance proof and FMCSR compliance once a vehicle reaches 18,001 pounds GVWR, GCWR or actual weight. The interstate line is the federal 10,001 pounds.
Intrastate trucks register for the motor carrier road tax too
C.G.S. 12-487(a) requires a carrier running a qualified motor vehicle only within Connecticut to register it with DRS for $10 per vehicle a year and carry the identification markers on the lower rear exterior of the doors, renewable annually. This is separate from the IFTA license, which covers interstate vehicles.
Per-mile Highway Use Fee on top of IFTA
Since 2023, vehicles of 26,000 pounds or more in FHWA Classes 8 to 13 owe a weight-based per-mile Highway Use Fee to DRS, filed quarterly in myconneCT whether or not the carrier ran Connecticut miles that quarter.
Driver skills certification at 18,001 pounds
A motor carrier may not let anyone drive a Connecticut-registered vehicle rated 18,001 pounds or more without an on-the-road skills test in that vehicle and a signed, dated written certification of the driver's skills and fitness (C.G.S. 13b-415).
Household goods movers still need state authority
Connecticut deregulated general freight in 1995 but kept a certificate of public convenience and necessity for household goods carriers, with a $177 application fee, a filed tariff and a potential hearing if objections arrive. Tariffs may no longer include a fuel surcharge.
IRP in person only at Wethersfield
All IRP work happens at the DMV IRP Unit, Room 102, 60 State Street, Wethersfield; branch offices do not process IRP, and fees must be paid with certified check, bank check or money order.
Permit fees priced by weight
Annual oversize/overweight permits cost $9 per 1,000 pounds of permitted weight plus a $12 transmittal fee, and annual indivisible permits run May 1 to April 30 and are open only to Connecticut-based carriers moving construction equipment.
Holiday permit bans stretch across long weekends
Permitted loads cannot move from noon on the Friday before Memorial Day and Labor Day until daylight Tuesday, from noon Wednesday of Thanksgiving week until daylight Monday, and from Good Friday until daylight the following Monday.
The Connecticut permit system
- Apply or log in (Connecticut Commercial Vehicle Operations (CVO) WebPortal, managed by the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles)
- cvoportal.ct.gov
More Connecticut rules that catch carriers out
- State carrier number: detail
- Recorded once in the state intrastate authority page (B1). Connecticut issues no freight carrier number; intrastate carriers of 18,001 pounds or more use an FMCSA USDOT number. Household goods carriers hold a CTDOT certificate whose number must appear in their advertising.
- Weight distance tax: note
- Connecticut Highway Use Fee. Since January 1, 2023 (2021 Conn. Pub. Acts 177, Section 1) Connecticut charges a per-mile fee to carriers operating eligible vehicles on its highways: a gross weight of 26,000 pounds or more and FHWA vehicle Class 8 through 13. The rate rises with gross weight, from 2.5 cents a mile at 26,000 to 28,000 pounds to 10 cents at 78,001 to 80,000 and 17.5 cents over 80,000. Carriers register with DRS in myconneCT and file a return every quarter (monthly until September 2023), due the last day of the month after the quarter, even for quarters with no Connecticut miles. Late or incomplete returns owe 10 percent of the unpaid fee or $50, whichever is greater, plus 1 percent interest a month. DRS questions: 860-297-5677.
The permit office and the CVO portal
Applications and payment run through the Connecticut Commercial Vehicle Operations WebPortal, and the OS/OW Permit Office in Newington takes questions by email. Payment is online by credit or debit card only. The permit pages publish no dedicated permit office phone line, so email is the channel CTDOT names.
One mix-up to avoid: trip permits for registration come from commercial wire services, not the oversize office, and the fuel side runs through DRS.
The permit types Connecticut issues
A single-trip permit covers one trip and return over a short window, mainly for indivisible loads, with an electronic transmittal fee on top. Annual permits are priced by each thousand pounds of permitted weight rather than at a flat amount, and a monthly permit covers approved bulk materials by the calendar month.
Two annual permits have their own rules. The annual indivisible permit is open only to Connecticut-based carriers moving construction equipment, runs from May to April and needs a free route authorization for each trip. The annual milk permit covers bulk milk on trucks with enough axles. Our Connecticut oversize page carries every fee line with its source.
Holidays, weekends and superloads
Connecticut's holiday bans run long. Around Memorial Day, Labor Day and Thanksgiving, permit loads stop at noon on the day before the weekend and wait until daylight after it, and Good Friday starts its own long weekend ban. Weekend travel permits are available for smaller loads, daylight to noon only.
Superloads move at night only, usually with State Police escorts, after a certified route survey and pre-move inspections.
Compare beyond Connecticut
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.