Arizona Oversize Permit Cost: Worked Examples
Three Arizona moves priced: a $15 Class A oversize trip, a $75 overweight permit, and a Class C superload with engineering fees.
By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Sep 28, 2026 · 8 min read
Arizona sells oversize permits from two offices at two price levels. ADOT's Commercial Vehicle Permits office 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, at fees the legislature wrote into A.R.S. 28-1105. Anything bigger goes to ADOT Maintenance Permits Services as a Class C permit, where a bridge engineering fee can outweigh the permit itself. The three moves below price each path the way the statute and ADOT's own pages do.
Example 1: the width-only move and its 96 hours
A contractor hauls a 12 foot wide excavator on a lowboy from a Phoenix yard to a job near Flagstaff on I-17. The rig stays under 80,000 pounds and under 14 feet 6 inches high. Width is the only problem: Arizona's legal width is 102 inches on the interstate and designated state highways under A.R.S. 28-1093, and 12 feet is well past it.
The permit line is one number. A Class A oversize single trip costs $15.00 under 28-1105(A), and ADOT's fee page says it runs 96 hours or until the vehicle leaves Arizona, whichever comes first. The same statute sells a 30-day permit for $30.00 and an annual for $360.00. Two trips inside 30 days cost the same either way; the third trip makes the 30-day permit the cheaper buy. The annual equals 24 single trips or twelve 30-day permits, so it pays only for a load that moves most months. It covers one load described on the permit, on a truck registered for 80,000 pounds, and ADOT says it may not be used to routinely haul legal loads on over-width trailers.
The clock matters more than the fee. At over 10 feet wide, this load loses continuous travel under R17-6-401 and moves from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset. ADOT's FAQ adds that sunrise-to-sunset loads move Monday through Friday only. The rule does allow night and weekend travel from 3:00 a.m. on routes Table 4 authorizes, and at over 11 to 14 feet wide that takes a rear escort under R17-6-402(D)(1).
Phoenix adds a curfew. Under R17-6-404, a load over 10 to 16 feet wide may not travel I-17 in Phoenix from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. or 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. on weekdays. A departure after 9:00 a.m. clears the city and still reaches Flagstaff in daylight. One more cost sits at the yard gate: Class A permits cover state routes only, and a city street needs the local authority's permit. When both ADOT and a city require one, 28-1105(C) has the carrier pay the fee to ADOT only.
Example 2: the overweight move where 30 days costs the same as one
A Tucson carrier moves a 110,000 pound non-divisible press to customer sites in Yuma and Casa Grande. The load is inside the Class A envelope, so each move buys a Class A overweight permit. The truck must be registered for 80,000 pounds before the permit is valid.
Here is the quirk. Section 28-1105(A) charges $75.00 "for each permit and each thirty day permit" for excess weight, and $600.00 for an annual. The single trip and the 30-day permit cost exactly the same. A carrier who expects even one more trip inside the month loses nothing by buying the 30-day version. The annual equals eight 30-day permits, so a carrier moving this press in nine or more months of the year comes out ahead on the annual.
Carriers who haul different machines every week have a third option. An envelope permit under A.R.S. 28-1141 through 28-1151 covers non-specific, non-reducible loads inside the same 250,000 pound, 14 foot wide, 16 foot high, and 120 foot long limits. Section 28-1143 prices the oversize and overweight envelope at $500.00 for 30 days or $1,500.00 a year, the oversize-only envelope at $150.00 or $750.00, and each added power unit at $50.00. The envelope has strings attached under 28-1144: only listed power units may run under it, the original permit must ride in the cab (a photocopy or fax is not valid), and it does not cover mobile or modular homes.
Example 3: the Class C superload and its engineering fee
A 300,000 pound transformer, 15 feet wide, leaves a rail siding for a substation 150 route miles away. At over 250,000 pounds and over 14 feet wide, it is past every Class A limit and needs a Class C permit, applied for through ADOT ePRO.
Let's break down the bill with ADOT's Class C fee list:
- The Class C permit fee is $90.00 for a load no greater than 18 feet high and wide that weighs over 80,000 pounds.
- If the load does not meet the axle tables of R17-6-411, ADOT charges an engineering analysis fee of $125.00 per 50-mile increment. A 150-mile route is three increments, or $375.
- ADOT must receive that fee before the analysis begins.
That puts the paperwork at $465 before a single escort is hired. The engineering fee is the larger line, and it grows with distance while the permit fee does not. A 300-mile route would carry six increments, or $750, on the same $90 permit.
The calendar costs as much as the money. ADOT says loads over 250,000 pounds, over axle weight, or over posted bridge weights go to ADOT Bridge Preservation Services, and that analysis may take up to two weeks. Once issued, a Class C permit is valid four working days. This load is too heavy for the 3:00 a.m. night rule, which stops at 250,000 pounds, so it moves in daylight only. On a Table 4 route flagged for route-specific restrictions, a Class C load may not move from noon Friday until 3:00 a.m. Monday under R17-6-407.
If ADOT requires a law enforcement escort, R17-6-306 has the permittee contact the Arizona Department of Public Safety at least 12 hours before transport. ADOT's EZ Pay page says DPS bills escort costs plus a $4.00 administrative fee per transaction to the carrier's ServiceArizona EZ Pay account.
The 14 foot height question
Arizona's statutory height limit is 13 feet 6 inches under 28-1094(A). ADOT and local authorities designate a system of highways where 14 feet runs without a permit under 28-1094(B), and ADOT's R17-6 Table 1 uses 14 feet as its permit threshold on the State Highway System. For equipment that sits at 14 feet, 28-1094(C) sells a one-year special permit for a laden height up to 14 feet at $45.00 per vehicle. A permit for a laden height over 14 feet on designated routes costs $15.00 per vehicle under 28-1094(D).
What escorts and holidays add
Arizona has no single statewide daylight escort table. R17-6-305 lets ADOT decide escorts from the road, the load's dimensions, and the time of travel, and Table 4 prints route-specific conditions on the permit. The rule fixes a few thresholds of its own:
- Night and weekend travel from 3:00 a.m.: a rear escort over 11 to 14 feet wide, front and rear escorts over 14 to 16 feet wide, and a front escort with a height pole over 15 feet high (R17-6-402(D)).
- Overhang over 20 feet at either end: an escort at that end, and two if both ends exceed it (R17-6-307(C)).
- Phoenix's SR 24, the SR 101 Loop, part of the SR 202 Loop, and Tucson's SR 989 during weekday curfew hours: a rear escort over 10 to 12 feet wide, and no travel over 12 feet (R17-6-404(C)).
Every escort operator needs certification to the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance standard or an equivalent program, renewed at least every four years under A.R.S. 28-1110. Operators who direct traffic must carry at least $500,000 in commercial liability coverage.
Holidays close the road to the same larger loads. Under R17-6-403, a load over 10 feet wide, 14 feet 6 inches high, 10 feet of overhang, 120 feet long, or 250,000 pounds may not move on New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, or Christmas Day. For a Friday or Saturday holiday, travel stops at noon Thursday. For a Sunday or Monday holiday, it stops at noon Friday and resumes Tuesday.
Next steps before you buy
Buy Class A permits online through ADOT ePRO, through a permit service, by mail, or at a port of entry; ADOT does not take applications by phone. Check the route in ePRO before each trip, since R17-6-401 requires a review of current Table 4 conditions and closures. The fee line on an Arizona move runs from $15 to a few hundred dollars. The daylight rule, the metro curfews, and a two-week bridge review on the heaviest loads decide the schedule, and the schedule is where the real cost sits.