Massachusetts Oversize Permit Cost: Worked Examples

How MassDOT prices an oversize or overweight permit, worked through a wide load, a triaxle on the per-1,000-pound formula and a superload.

By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Sep 27, 2026 · 10 min read

Massachusetts prices an oversize or overweight permit from a three-row table in 700 CMR 8.05(4), and the row your load lands in matters more than its size. Two of the rows are flat. The third charges by the thousand pounds, counted from what the bridge formula lets your axles carry, so the same truck can cost very different amounts depending on how far apart its axles sit. Every fee this guide works through renders with its source on the Massachusetts oversize and overweight permits page. To see which states treat your load as oversize at all, run it through the oversize permit cost estimator.

The three rows of Table 1

MassDOT's Highway Division issues permits through OASIS, its Oversize Overweight Permitting and Routing Application, and the fees come from Table 1 of 700 CMR 8.05(4). Here is how the rows split:

Irreducible load, flat. A load that cannot be broken down and exceeds any legal limit for size and weight pays $40.00 per trip. The same load can run on an annual permit at $400.00 a year.
Super load, flat. A load over 130,000 pounds that requires detailed engineering calculations pays $300.00 per single trip.
Reducible load, by the thousand. A load that could be reduced, such as a dump truck or a construction hauler, pays $50.00 for every 1,000 pounds over the federal bridge formula.

The legal limits that decide whether you need a permit at all come from M.G.L. c. 90, ss. 19 and 19A: 102 inches wide, 13 feet 6 inches high, 53-foot semitrailers, and 80,000 pounds gross on three or more axles. Each single axle is capped at 22,400 pounds, or 18,000 pounds per axle when the axles sit less than 6 feet apart. The regulation sets the fees; OASIS quotes the fee on each application, and MassDOT's pages publish no other schedule.

Worked example 1: a 12 foot wide excavator, legal weight

Start with the simplest move. An excavator on a lowboy measures 12 feet wide, at legal height, legal length and legal gross weight. It cannot be taken apart, so it is an irreducible load, and width is the only limit it breaks.

The permit is

$40.00

for the trip. Nothing in Table 1 scales that fee with width, so a load at 12 feet and a load at 14 feet sit on the same row. If you move the same kind of equipment across Massachusetts often, the annual permit at $400.00 equals ten trips at the current figures, so the eleventh trip in a year is where the annual permit starts saving money.

The calendar costs you more than the fee does. Here is what MassDOT allows:

Permit loads move on State Highways from 12:01 a.m. Monday to noon Saturday, and on Sunday from 12:01 a.m. to noon.
No permit movements on New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day.
Around New Year's Day, Independence Day and Christmas, the ban runs from noon the day before to noon the day after.

Escorts are the open question on a wide load. MassDOT publishes no width, height or length escort table on its Commercial Truck Permits pages, in 700 CMR 8.00 or on the public OASIS page. Escort and police detail conditions are set on each permit, so read the permit before you book a pilot car. The one escort rule in statute is in M.G.L. c. 90, s. 19: a crane or boom that extends more than 15 feet beyond the bed or body needs another vehicle following right behind the projecting end, and a crane or boom extending more than 4 feet has to show a red light or red flag at its rear.

Worked example 2: a triaxle on the reducible annual permit

This is the example most carriers get wrong, because the fee depends on axle spacing.

Take a three-axle dump truck with 20 feet from the centerline of the steer axle to the centerline of the rear axle. That is the "Distance of Extreme Axles" the Reducible Annual Permit application asks for. The owner wants a permit weight of 73,000 pounds, the ceiling 700 CMR 8.05(1) sets for three axles.

Let's break it down. M.G.L. c. 90, s. 19A prints the bridge formula as W = 500(LN/(N-1) + 12N + 36), where L is the distance in feet between the extreme axles of the group, N is the number of axles, and W is rounded to the nearest 500 pounds.

With L at 20 and N at 3, the first term is 20 times 3 divided by 2, which is 30.
12N is 36, and the formula adds another 36, so the bracket totals 102.
500 times 102 is 51,000 pounds. That is what the formula allows this axle group to carry.
The request is 73,000 pounds, which is 22,000 pounds over the formula.

That is 22 increments. Each one costs $50.00. Spread the same three axles further apart and the formula allows more, so fewer increments attach. That is why two triaxles asking for the same permit weight can pay different fees.

The regulation text in our record does not say how a partial thousand is counted. The example uses whole thousands on purpose. If your gap lands on a fraction, take the figure OASIS quotes.

Adding the Mass Pike

The reducible permit covers only the designated state highways and through routes in Attachment A of the regulation. I-90 is extra. The application says so plainly: checking the box to add I-90, the Mass Pike, costs 25 percent of the total state roadway permit fee. On the truck above, that is a quarter of the 22 increments added on top.

The limits that cap the request

A few rules sit above the arithmetic:

The permit weight can never exceed the vehicle's registered weight or its GVWR. The application asks for both, and the GVWR section must be completed by the manufacturer, a certified dealer or an authorized representative.
The ceilings by axle count are 73,000 pounds on three axles (triaxles up to 77,000 pounds by axle spread), 87,000 pounds on four, and 99,000 pounds on five or more.
Permits issue only for vehicles registered for the full gross weight of vehicle and load. The apportioned side of registration is on the Massachusetts IRP registration page.

Reducible permit trucks also carry skid chains from November 1 through May 1, may not move on large areas of hard packed snow or ice or during a snowstorm, and must carry the list of designated ways with the permit. A second overweight conviction within 12 months revokes the permit for at least 90 days.

Worked example 3: a 160,000 pound transformer

Now a heavy one. A transformer on a multi-axle trailer weighs 160,000 pounds gross, and MassDOT needs detailed engineering calculations to clear the route.

Weight decides the row here. The super load row in Table 1 starts over 130,000 pounds and applies when detailed engineering calculations are required, so this move pays

$300.00

for its single trip. A non-divisible load below that line, or one that needs no detailed engineering review, stays on the irreducible row instead. Table 1 does not state whether any other row stacks with the super load fee, so confirm the total OASIS quotes before you price the job.

Two more rules shape this move:

The 105 percent tolerance. Under M.G.L. c. 90, s. 19A, a vehicle that weighs up to 105 percent of its permit weight is not treated as in violation. For a 160,000 pound permit that ceiling is 168,000 pounds. Above it, the penalty is figured on the difference between the actual weight and the permitted weight.
Damage liability. Under 700 CMR 8.00, the permittee is liable for damage to roadways and bridges, and bridge postings still apply to a permitted load.

If MassDOT denies the application, you can appeal in writing to the Chief Engineer within five working days.

The Boston tunnels are a foot lower

Height is where Massachusetts routing surprises out-of-state carriers. The statewide limit is 13 feet 6 inches, and MassDOT lists these route limits in Boston:

Route	Height limit
Callahan Tunnel	12 ft 6 in
Sumner Tunnel	12 ft 6 in
Ted Williams Tunnel	13 ft 6 in
O'Neill Tunnel (I-93)	13 ft 6 in
CANA (City Square) Tunnel	13 ft 6 in
Massachusetts Turnpike	13 ft 6 in

Scroll sideways to see every column.

A load that is legal everywhere else in the state can still be too tall for the Callahan or the Sumner. Tandem trailers never run in the Sumner, Callahan or Ted Williams Tunnels, and generally run only on I-90 between the New York line and the I-95 interchange in Weston. All hazardous cargo and cargo tankers are barred from the Boston tunnels.

What to check before quoting

Next steps, in order:

Decide the row. Can the load be reduced? If it can, you are on the per-1,000-pound formula. If it cannot, check whether it tops 130,000 pounds and needs detailed engineering calculations.
For a reducible load, measure the extreme axle spacing, run the Section 19A formula, and count the thousands between that figure and the permit weight you want.
Add 25 percent of the state roadway fee if the route uses the Mass Pike.
Check height against the Callahan and Sumner Tunnels if the route touches Boston.
Check the date against the noon-to-noon holiday bans and the Saturday noon cutoff.
Read the escort conditions on the issued permit.

The Truck Permit Office is at 668 South Avenue in Weston and answers at (857) 368-3690, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Compare your quote against the same move elsewhere on the oversize permit costs by state table, and see the rest of the credential stack at Massachusetts trucking permits.

FAQ

How much does a Massachusetts oversize permit cost?

It depends on which row of 700 CMR 8.05(4) Table 1 the load falls in. An irreducible load that exceeds a legal size or weight limit pays a flat fee per trip or a flat annual fee. A super load over 130,000 pounds that needs detailed engineering calculations pays a separate flat fee per single trip. A reducible load pays a fee for every 1,000 pounds it runs over the federal bridge formula. The current figures render with their source on the Massachusetts oversize and overweight permits page, and OASIS quotes the fee on each application.

How is the Massachusetts reducible load permit fee calculated?

Work out what the bridge formula allows the axle group to carry, subtract that from the permit weight you request, and count the thousands. M.G.L. c. 90, s. 19A prints the formula as W = 500(LN/(N-1) + 12N + 36), with W rounded to the nearest 500 pounds. A triaxle with 20 feet between its extreme axles is allowed 51,000 pounds, so a request for 73,000 pounds is 22,000 pounds over and is charged 22 increments. Adding I-90 costs 25 percent of the state roadway permit fee on top.

What is the height limit in the Boston tunnels?

MassDOT lists the Callahan Tunnel and the Sumner Tunnel at 12 feet 6 inches, a foot under the 13 feet 6 inch statewide limit in M.G.L. c. 90, s. 19. The Turnpike, the Ted Williams Tunnel, the O'Neill Tunnel and the CANA (City Square) Tunnel allow 13 feet 6 inches. Tandem trailers and hazardous cargo are barred from the Boston tunnels outright.