Delaware Oversize and Overweight Permit Cost Examples
Four worked Delaware moves: the flat five-day fee, the 8,000 pound overweight blocks, the two weight regimes, superloads, and no annual permit.
By Haul Handbook editorial team· Updated Oct 5, 2026 · 13 min read
Delaware prices a hauling permit with one flat fee and one weight formula. A standard single-trip permit from DelDOT's Hauling Permit Office costs the same whether the load is wide, long, tall or heavy, and runs five days. Weight then adds a fixed charge for every 8,000 pounds, or any part of 8,000 pounds, over legal weight. The twist is what "legal weight" means, because Delaware writes two weight regimes into its vehicle code: one for the interstate and one for everything else.
The four moves below run that formula the way a permit clerk would. Every Delaware fee in this guide renders with its official source on the Delaware oversize and overweight permits page. To compare where your load turns oversize in other states, run it through the oversize permit cost estimator.
How Delaware builds the number
The fee table sits in DelDOT's Oversize/Overweight Hauling Permit Policy and Procedures Manual (October 2015), which the online OSOW Permit System still links as its policy manual. The live OSOW Permit System FAQ confirms the base fee, the superload floor and the overweight charge. Here are the parts:
- Oversize, single trip (Load Code 1): $30.00 for any load over legal size and below superload criteria.
- Overweight, single trip (Load Code 2): the same base, $30.00, before the weight charge.
- The weight charge: $10.00 for each 8,000 pound block, or portion of a block, over legal weight.
- Superload (Load Code 3): $60.00 as the floor, plus the weight charge, and the manual warns that further fees may apply.
- Amendment: $10.00 to amend a validated permit.
Manufactured housing (Load Code 4) and sealed ocean containers moving between the port and a seal facility (Load Code 5) price on the same base. The portion rule is the trap: a load one pound into a new 8,000 pound block pays for the whole block.
Legal size is the first test. Under 21 Del. C. 4502 and 4503, a vehicle may be 8 feet 6 inches wide and 13 feet 6 inches high, a semitrailer may run 53 feet on interstates and US routes, and a combination may run 60 feet overall off that network. Legal weight is the second test, and it depends on the road.
The two weight regimes
For weight, section 4502 of Title 21 covers every road except the interstate, and section 4503 covers the interstate. They set different numbers for the same truck:
| Truck | Off the interstate (4502) | On the interstate (4503) |
|---|---|---|
| 2-axle vehicle | 40,000 lb | 40,000 lb |
| 3-axle single vehicle | 65,000 lb | 54,000 lb |
| 4-axle single vehicle | 73,280 lb | 74,000 lb |
| 5 or more axles | 80,000 lb | 80,000 lb |
| Single axle | 22,400 lb | 20,000 lb |
Scroll sideways to see every column.
The interstate column also runs through the federal bridge formula, and every off-interstate limit is capped at the manufacturer's rating. Off the interstate, tractor-semitrailers carry their own lower limits at 3 and 4 axles. A 3-axle dump truck that is legal on US 13 can be thousands of pounds overweight the moment it merges onto I-95. That gap is why Delaware sells a separate interstate permit for 3- and 4-axle trucks, covered in the third example below.
Worked example 1: a 12-foot excavator at legal weight
A track hoe leaves a Wilmington yard on a lowboy at 12 feet wide and 13 feet 2 inches high, under every weight limit. Width is the only line it crosses, so this is an oversize-only move on a Load Code 1 permit. The whole state charge is $30.00, and the distance to Dover does not change it.
At 12 feet, Delaware's escort table has not started. The first width escort arrives over 13 feet. DelDOT can still add one: the manual says a load 12 feet wide or less that cannot keep up with traffic may be given escort requirements.
The permit runs five days from its effective date, sunrise to sunset, Monday through Sunday. If the combination stays within 75 feet, this load also fits the night envelope, so with prior approval noted on the permit it may move 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. on weeknights. The permit covers one trip from origin to destination by the most direct route, with no intermediate stops and no round trip, on state-maintained roads only.
Worked example 2: a 101,000 pound transformer section
A five-axle tractor and semitrailer carries a transformer section at 101,000 pounds gross, inside every legal dimension, on state roads off the interstate. Its legal weight under 4502 is 80,000 pounds, so it runs 21,000 pounds over. That is two full 8,000 pound blocks and part of a third, and the portion rule bills the part whole. Three blocks.
The permit is the Load Code 2 base of $30.00 plus three times $10.00.
Trim the load to 96,000 pounds and it sits exactly 16,000 pounds over, two blocks even. Add one pound and it goes back to three. The weight charge moves in whole blocks only, so the cheapest pound to remove is the one that drops a load under a block line.
The vehicle must be registered before DelDOT will sell the permit, and the permit and its supporting papers ride in the cab. Changing a validated permit is an amendment, which the manual lists at $10.00. An equipment breakdown is handled differently: the manual allows a validated permit to be extended up to 3 days.
Worked example 3: a 3-axle dump truck that needs the interstate
A 3-axle dump truck registered and loaded to 65,000 pounds is legal on US 13 and SR 1 under 4502. On I-95 the 4503 limit for that truck is 54,000 pounds, so the same load is over the interstate line. Delaware handles this with a dedicated credential under 21 Del. C. 4504, the Load Code 9 single-trip interstate permit, for 3- and 4-axle single vehicles at their state-legal weights of 65,000 and 73,280 lb that exceed the federal bridge formula on the interstate. It costs $1.00.
A contractor running that hop every week has one more option, the Multi-trip Interstate permit (Load Code 10), good for 60 single trips in one year. It is priced at exactly sixty single-trip interstate permits, so it saves no money. What it buys is fewer transactions and an exemption from the holiday restrictions.
Two weight credentials sit near this one and are easy to confuse. The Annual Weight Registration (Load Code 8) lets a 3-axle truck registered at 65,000 pounds operate at 70,000 pounds on construction or agricultural hauls. It raises the truck's legal weight and grants no movement permit. Current prices for both annual credentials render on the Delaware permits page.
Worked example 4: a 16-foot-wide superload at 130,000 pounds
A generator stator rides on a trailer with five or more axles at 16 feet wide and 130,000 pounds gross, on state roads off the interstate. Either number alone makes it a superload: DelDOT's line is 15 feet or more wide or high, 120 feet or more long, or over 120,000 pounds. The permit starts at the Load Code 3 floor of $60.00.
Weight then stacks on the floor. Against an 80,000 pound legal gross, the load runs 50,000 pounds over: six full blocks and part of a seventh, so seven blocks of the weight charge. The quote starts at the superload floor plus seven times $10.00, and the manual leaves room for further fees.
The fee is the small part of this move. Width over 15 feet and weight over 120,000 pounds each call for Delaware's top escort tier: front and rear escorts plus a separate Delaware State Police escort. The manual's combining rule says that when separate conditions each require one front and one rear escort, two escorts satisfy both, and one State Police escort can cover up to two loads moving together.
Time is the bigger cost. Superload permits run 1 to 5 business days, Monday to Saturday, and DelDOT may limit them to the actual move window. DelDOT Bridge Management reviews individual axle weights. The live FAQ sets that review at 28,000 pounds per axle, while the 2015 manual and the contact page say 25,000, so ask the Hauling Permit Office which applies to your axle spread. A load 15 feet or higher would also go to the county signal supervisor, and a superload review can take up to 14 days.
No annual permit for general freight
The second question in most states is when an annual permit pays for itself. In Delaware that question has no answer for general freight. 21 Del. C. 4504(c)(2)f bars multi-trip permits for any purpose the statute does not name, and 4504(d) adds a one year blanket permit for self-propelled cranes only.
What DelDOT sells instead are credentials typed by use:
- Ship permit (Load Code 6): multi-trip for 5 days, on state roads within 2 miles of the Port of Wilmington, excluding I-495.
- Pole and Piling (Load Code 7): multi-trip for 30 days, one tractor moving poles, piling and mill stock.
- Annual Weight Registration (Load Code 8) and Multi-trip Interstate (Load Code 10): the 3- and 4-axle credentials from the third example.
- Blanket Crane (Load Code 11): one year for a self-propelled crane, with two price levels split by crane weight plus a weight charge, and no interstate travel or superloads under the blanket.
- Twin Trailer route permit (Load Code 12): multi-trip for 30 days on a named route off the STAA network.
Each price renders with its source on the Delaware oversize and overweight permits page. A hauler moving the same oversize steel every week buys a single-trip permit every week, and no break-even point ever arrives.
Federally defined STAA vehicles need no permit at all on Delaware's STAA routes: I-95, I-495, I-295, US 13 from the Maryland line to the I-495 south interchange, US 40, US 113 from the Maryland line to US 13 in Dover, US 301, and the state-designated US 202 and SR 1 from I-95 to US 113.
The escort ladder and the calendar
Delaware's escort table in the policy manual climbs in three steps on each dimension:
| Dimension | 1 escort | 2 escorts | Front, rear and State Police |
|---|---|---|---|
| Width | over 13 ft up to 14 ft | over 14 ft | over 15 ft |
| Length | over 90 ft | 100 ft or more | 120 ft or more |
| Height | none | 15 ft or more | 17 ft 6 in or more |
| Weight | none | none | over 120,000 lb |
Scroll sideways to see every column.
A rear overhang of 15 feet or more adds one rear escort. With a single width escort, the escort runs at the rear on multi-lane highways and in front on two-lane highways. An escort vehicle must be a single-unit, non-permitted vehicle no smaller than a compact car, escorting one load, in visual and two-way radio contact with the permitted driver.
The calendar sets the delivery date. Standard permits move sunrise to sunset. DelDOT's 2026 holiday restrictions close permitted travel from noon the day before to 9 a.m. the day after New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day (observed July 3), Labor Day, Thanksgiving with the day after, and Christmas. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Good Friday, Juneteenth, Election Day and Veterans Day carry no hauling restriction. When weather or visibility makes travel hazardous, a permitted load may not move, and one already underway must exit at the first safe location and park.
What to check before you quote Delaware
Check which road the heavy miles run on. The same 3- or 4-axle truck can be legal under 4502 and over the line under 4503, and that decides whether you buy a Load Code 9 permit or nothing at all.
Check the weight against the 8,000 pound block lines, not just the legal limit. A few hundred pounds can move a quote a full block in either direction.
Check width, height, length and gross against the superload line before the calendar. A superload adds the State Police escort tier and a review that can take up to 14 days, and that matters more to the delivery date than the fee.
Questions go to the DelDOT Hauling Permit Office at 302-744-2700 or haulpermit@delaware.gov, per its contact page. Compare the same move in neighboring states on the oversize permit costs by state table, and see the rest of the credential stack at Delaware trucking permits.
FAQ
How much does a Delaware oversize or overweight permit cost?
DelDOT charges one flat fee for a standard single-trip permit, good for five days. An overweight load adds a fixed charge for every 8,000 pounds, or portion of 8,000 pounds, over legal weight. A superload starts at a higher floor and pays the same overweight charge on top. The current amounts render with their official source on the Delaware oversize and overweight permits page.
Does Delaware sell an annual oversize permit?
No general one. 21 Del. C. 4504 bars multi-trip permits for any purpose the statute does not name. The recurring credentials DelDOT sells are typed by use: a ship permit near the Port of Wilmington, pole and piling permits, an annual weight registration for some 3-axle trucks, a multi-trip interstate permit, a twin trailer route permit, and a one year blanket permit for self-propelled cranes.
When does a Delaware load need an escort?
Over 13 feet wide takes one escort, over 14 feet two, and over 15 feet front and rear escorts plus a Delaware State Police escort. Length over 90 feet takes one escort, 100 feet or more two, and 120 feet or more the State Police tier. Height of 15 feet or more takes two escorts and 17 feet 6 inches or more the State Police tier, as does weight over 120,000 pounds.
When can a permitted load move in Delaware?
Sunrise to sunset, Monday through Sunday, on a standard permit. Loads up to 75 feet long, 12 feet wide, 14 feet 6 inches high and 120,000 pounds may move 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. on weeknights with prior approval noted on the permit. Holiday blackouts on DelDOT's 2026 schedule run from noon the day before the holiday to 9 a.m. the day after.