Alaska Oversize Permit Cost: Worked Examples
Four worked Alaska moves under 17 AAC 25.380: processing charges, width, height and weight surcharges, extended permits and superloads.
By Haul Handbook editorial team· Updated Oct 4, 2026 · 11 min read
Alaska prices an oversize or overweight permit as a short list of flat charges. 17 AAC 25.380 sets one processing charge per single move, then adds a surcharge for each line the load crosses: width, height and very heavy gross weight. Distance does not enter the math, and tonnage matters only at one gross weight line. That makes an Alaska permit easy to price before you call the permit office. Every current figure renders with its official source on the Alaska oversize and overweight permits page. This guide runs four moves through the rule so the numbers read like a quote. To see where your load crosses a legal line in other states, try the oversize permit cost estimator.
How Alaska builds the number
Start with the legal envelope. Under 17 AAC 25.012, a vehicle and load may be 102 inches wide and 15 feet high. Between the Fox Weigh Station and Prudhoe Bay on the Dalton and Elliott Highways, the legal height is 17 feet. A semitrailer can run 53 feet, and a tractor with one semitrailer on the National Highway System has no overall length limit.
Weight works differently from most states. Alaska has no flat 80,000-pound gross cap. 17 AAC 25.013 sets 20,000 pounds on a single axle and 38,000 on a tandem, then caps gross weight with the Bridge Gross Weight Formula, axle-group limits, and 600 pounds per inch of tire width. Whatever that formula allows is your legal gross, and an overweight permit is measured against it.
Past those lines, the permit price is built from these parts:
- Processing charge, one limit crossed: $40.00 for a load that is oversize only, and the same $40.00 for a load that is overweight only.
- Processing charge, both crossed: $70.00 for a load that is oversize and overweight. You pay this one charge in place of the two single-limit charges.
- Width surcharge: $25.00 over 10 feet wide up to 16 feet, and $35.00 over 16 feet.
- Height surcharge: $25.00 over 16 feet high up to 16.5 feet, and $35.00 over 16.5 feet. On the Dalton and Elliott corridor the height steps start higher: $25.00 over 17 feet up to 18.5 feet, and $35.00 over 18.5 feet.
- Gross weight surcharge: $25.00 on an overweight move at a gross of 150,000 pounds or more.
- Bridge design review: $80.00 per hour when the move needs review by the department's bridge design section.
Note where the surcharges start. A load can be over the legal width without paying the width surcharge, because that surcharge begins only past 10 feet. The same holds for height between 15 and 16 feet. In those bands, you pay the processing charge alone.
You buy every permit through the State-Wide Oversize Overweight Permitting system (SWOOP) at akswoop.com, run by the DOT&PF Commercial Vehicle Customer Service Center in Anchorage. Allow at least 24 hours' notice. A single-trip permit runs three days, or five days for a one-way trip over 400 miles, not counting Sundays and holiday periods.
Worked example 1: an 11-foot-wide load from Anchorage to Fairbanks
A contractor hauls an 11-foot-wide modular office north on the Parks Highway. It stands 14 feet high and sits within legal weight on every axle. Width is the only line it crosses, so it is an oversize-only move.
Let's break down the price:
- The processing charge for an oversize-only move is $40.00.
- At 11 feet it is over 10 feet wide, so add the width surcharge of $25.00.
- Height and weight are legal, so nothing else applies.
Those two lines are the whole permit fee. At 11 feet, SWOOP lets the carrier issue it online without waiting on the permit office, since self-issue reaches 12 feet wide.
The conditions cost more than the fee. Here is why. The Administrative Permit Manual calls for one pilot car ahead of a load over 10 feet 6 inches wide, up to 12 feet. An over-width load travels in daylight only unless it carries the lighting and reflective tape that Section 13 of the manual lists. During the Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day holiday periods, the department's holiday notice bars loads wider than 10 feet 6 inches from the Parks, Glenn and Richardson Highways and from Kenai Peninsula roads south of the Potter Weigh Station. Book the trip around those windows.
Worked example 2: wide, tall and heavy at once
Now a transformer on a multi-axle trailer moving out of Anchorage. The load is 13 feet wide and 16 feet 3 inches high, and it grosses 155,000 pounds, well past the legal gross for its axles.
It crosses both size and weight, so it pays the combined charge. Let's break it down, one line at a time.
Processing charge. Oversize and overweight together is $70.00.
Width. At 13 feet, the load is in the band over 10 feet up to 16 feet, which adds $25.00.
Height. At 16 feet 3 inches, it is in the band over 16 feet up to 16.5 feet, which adds $25.00.
Gross weight. The transformer is past the gross weight line. A gross of 150,000 pounds or more adds $25.00.
Add those four lines and you have the permit fee. Heavy loads can carry one more charge. The manual issues overweight permits up to 125 percent of legal weight without further bridge checks. A load past that point may go to the bridge design section, and that review bills
$80.00per hour. The rule sets no fixed number of hours, so treat the review as a separate line you cannot quote in advance.
Conditions for this load
At 13 feet wide, the manual calls for two pilot cars, front and rear. Speed caps follow the overweight percentage: over 125 to 140 percent of legal weight runs at 45 mph, and heavier loads run slower. The permit may also limit bridge crossings to 3 mph with no braking or gear shifting. The application must list the route, axle spacings, weight per axle group, and tire count and width, since every overweight permit needs them.
Seasons matter here too. In spring, DOT&PF can post weight restrictions as a percentage of legal axle weights. A regular overweight permit does not override a posted restriction unless the department approves it.
Worked example 3: repeat moves on an extended-period permit
A paving contractor moves a 10-foot-wide excavator on a lowboy between job sites all summer. The combination is legal height, legal length, and within legal weight. It is oversize only, and under the 10-foot width line, so a single trip pays only the
$40.00processing charge.
Next steps: compare that against an extended-period permit for unlimited moves.
- Up to 30 days costs $85.00.
- Over 30 days up to 90 days costs $220.00.
- Over 90 days up to six months costs $330.00.
- Twelve months costs $550.00.
The 90-day permit costs less than six single-move processing charges. A crew that moves the machine six or more times in a season comes out ahead on the extended permit. The same break-even holds for a load that is both oversize and overweight, where 90 days costs
$385.00against the
$70.00combined charge per single move.
Eligibility is narrow. 17 AAC 25.320(c) bars extended-period permits for loads over 10 feet 6 inches wide, over legal height or length, with more than 10 feet of overhang, or over 125 percent of legal weight. The 11-foot load in example 1 cannot use one at all.
Extended permits are also rigid. The department's cancellation and change policy says they cannot be canceled or have their dates changed. A single-trip permit bought through SWOOP can change its date or plate up to two times for free while it is unexpired and unused. Any other change costs $30.00, and a cancellation costs $30.00.
Worked example 4: a superload on the Dalton Highway
A process module moves on the Dalton Highway between the Fox Weigh Station and Prudhoe Bay. It is 20 feet wide and 19 feet high. Past 18 feet in either width or height, the Superload Notice classes the move as a superload. Lengths over 150 feet and gross weights of 250,000 pounds or more also qualify.
The fee structure stays the same. On the corridor north of the Fox Weigh Station, the legal height is 17 feet, so a 19-foot load pays the corridor surcharge for over 18.5 feet, $35.00. At 20 feet wide, the width surcharge is the over-16-foot step of $35.00. Those sit on top of the processing charge for the size, weight or both that the load crosses.
The time is what changes. The permit office asks for five business days' notice on a superload. If it needs bridge analysis, that review bills by the hour as shown above. At 20 feet wide, the manual calls for four pilot cars and caps speed at 40 mph. At 19 feet high, a front pilot runs ahead, though the manual drops the height pole north of the Fox Weigh Station. From October 1 to April 15, the weekend restrictions do not apply north or east of the Fox Weigh Station on the Steese, Elliott and Dalton Highways for loads like this one.
What sits outside the permit fee
The permit fee does not include registration. Alaska takes no part in the International Registration Plan. A truck registered in another state buys a 30-day temporary registration certificate before it runs Alaska roads, which the Alaska IRP registration page covers. The permit also does not cover the pilot cars, which the carrier hires separately.
What to check before quoting
Measure width and height against the surcharge bands, check whether the route touches the Dalton and Elliott corridor, and confirm the legal gross from the bridge formula before you call a load overweight. Then check escorts and travel windows on the state permits page. Compare states on the oversize permit costs by state table, and see the full Alaska stack at Alaska trucking permits.
FAQ
How much does an Alaska oversize permit cost?
17 AAC 25.380 sets a flat processing charge per single move:
$40.00for a load that is oversize only or overweight only, and
$70.00for a load that is both. Surcharges are added for width over 10 feet, height over 16 feet (over 17 feet on the Dalton and Elliott corridor), and gross weight at or above the 150,000-pound line. Distance does not change the price.
Does Alaska have an 80,000 pound gross weight limit?
No. 17 AAC 25.013 sets no flat gross cap. Legal gross is the most restrictive of the axle and axle-group limits, 600 pounds per inch of tire width, and the Bridge Gross Weight Formula. An overweight permit is measured against that result, and permits up to 125 percent of legal weight issue without further bridge checks under the Administrative Permit Manual.
When does an Alaska oversize load need a pilot car?
Under the Administrative Permit Manual, one pilot car is needed over 10 feet 6 inches wide, two over 12 feet, three over 14 feet, and four over 18 feet. Length, overhang and height add their own thresholds, such as one pilot for a combination over 85 feet long and a front pilot with a height pole over 17 feet high. The permit itself states the final count.
Can I buy an extended-period permit instead of single trips?
Only for smaller loads. 17 AAC 25.320(c) bars extended-period permits for loads over 10 feet 6 inches wide, over legal height or length, with more than 10 feet of overhang, or over 125 percent of legal weight. Eligible loads can buy unlimited moves for 30 days up to 12 months, and the price for a 90-day permit is less than six single-move processing charges.