Minnesota Oversize Permit Cost: Worked Examples
Five worked Minnesota permit moves: the flat trip fee, the per-mile damage fee summed by axle group, the job permit, and the escort grid.
By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Sep 28, 2026 · 11 min read
Minnesota prices an oversize permit with one flat fee and prices weight by the mile. The size of the load barely moves the permit bill. What moves it is how heavy each axle group runs and how far the load travels, because MnDOT adds a per-mile damage assessment fee for every overweight group on the truck. Every current Minnesota figure renders with its official source on the Minnesota oversize and overweight permits page. This guide walks five moves through the fee rules in Minn. Stat. 169.86 and MnDOT's Damage Assessment Fee Calculator page, so the schedule reads like a quote. To check whether your load is oversize in the first place, run it through the oversize permit cost estimator.
What sets the price on a Minnesota single trip permit
- Single trip permit: $15.00 for one trip of a non-divisible load, valid 7 days (Minn. Stat. 169.86, subd. 5(a)).
- Job permit: $36.00 for like loads (same product, weight, and dimensions) on one designated route with the same power unit, valid 60 days.
- Damage assessment fee: added to either permit when the load is overweight. MnDOT takes the per-mile rate for each overweight axle group, adds the rates together, and multiplies the sum by the miles traveled. On a job permit the result is also multiplied by the number of moves.
- Width, height, and length: no separate charge. An oversize load at legal weight pays the permit fee alone.
The damage fee comes from a table with three columns, one per axle group shape:
- Two axles spaced within 8 feet or less: 12 cents a mile at 34,001 to 36,000 pounds, rising in steps to 30 cents a mile at 44,001 to 46,000 pounds. Nothing above 46,000 pounds is permitted.
- Three axles spaced within 9 feet or less: 5 cents a mile at 42,001 to 44,000 pounds, rising in steps to 19 cents a mile at 58,001 to 60,000 pounds. Nothing above 60,000 pounds is permitted.
- Four axles spaced within 14 feet or less: 4 cents a mile at 50,001 to 52,000 pounds, rising in steps to 20 cents a mile at 70,001 to 72,000 pounds. Nothing above 72,000 pounds is permitted.
Two things follow from that shape. Every extra axle in a group buys a lower rate at the same weight, and route length is a direct input on every overweight move. The examples below use only the bottom and top band of each column, the rows this site carries with a source. MnDOT's calculator page lists every step in between.
For reference, Minnesota's legal limits are 8 feet 6 inches wide, 13 feet 6 inches high, 75 feet for a tractor and semitrailer, and 80,000 pounds gross, with 20,000 pounds on a single axle and 34,000 pounds on a tandem on 10-ton routes (Minn. Stat. 169.80, 169.81 and 169.824, as MnDOT restates them in Section 05 of the 2026 Commercial Vehicle Resource Book).
Worked example 1: a 14-foot-wide excavator at legal weight
An excavator on a lowboy, 14 feet wide and 14 feet high, grossing under 80,000 pounds with every axle group inside its legal limit. The load is over on width and height and legal on weight, so there is no damage fee. The permit is
$15.00whether the trip runs 20 miles or 300.
No escort is required by statute. Minn. Stat. 169.812 starts the width escorts at more than 15 feet at the bottom of the load or more than 16 feet at the top, so this load sits under both lines. MnDOT can still add escorts in the permit when it decides the route needs them.
The cost shows up in the calendar and the equipment. Past 12 feet 6 inches wide, the load needs OVERSIZE LOAD signs front and rear, plus the red or orange flags every load over 9 feet wide carries. It also falls under the holiday rule: no movement from 2 p.m. the day before to 2 a.m. the day after the six named holidays, none during the fishing opener weekend, and none from 4 to 8 p.m. on Fridays and Sundays from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day. At 14 feet it stays under the 14 foot 6 inch line that triggers the Twin Cities and Duluth rush hour curfews. Six more inches of width would take away its weekday mornings and afternoons in both metros.
Worked example 2: a 90,000-pound combination, 200 miles
A five-axle combination hauling a transformer: 12,000 pounds on the steer axle, 35,000 pounds on the tractor tandem, and 43,000 pounds on a three-axle trailer group spaced within 9 feet. Gross is 90,000 pounds, and the load fits the legal width and height.
Here is the damage fee, group by group:
- Steer axle: 12,000 pounds is inside the 20,000 pound single axle limit, so it adds nothing.
- Tandem: 35,000 pounds is over the 34,000 pound tandem limit and lands in the first band of the two-axle column, 12 cents a mile.
- Three-axle group: 43,000 pounds lands in the first band of the three-axle column, 5 cents a mile.
The sum is 17 cents a mile. Over 200 miles that is 34 dollars in damage fees, added to the
$15.00single trip permit. Send the same load 400 miles and the damage fee doubles to 68 dollars. The permit fee stays the same.
One paperwork step comes before the permit is worth anything. The vehicle's registered weight has to meet or exceed the gross weight on the permit, so a unit registered at 80,000 pounds needs its registration raised through DVS Prorate before it moves.
Worked example 3: a heavy lowboy at the top of the table
A crane component on a lowboy: 14,000 pounds on the steer axle, 45,000 pounds on the tractor tandem, and 71,000 pounds on a four-axle trailer group spaced within 14 feet. Gross is 130,000 pounds, well under the 250,000 pound superload line.
- Tandem at 45,000 pounds: the top band of the two-axle column, 30 cents a mile.
- Four-axle group at 71,000 pounds: the top band of the four-axle column, 20 cents a mile.
The sum is 50 cents a mile. A 150-mile permitted route comes to 75 dollars in damage fees on top of the single trip permit.
This configuration has no headroom left. Put 1,001 more pounds on that tandem and it lands at 46,001 pounds, where the two-axle column has no rate, and MnDOT does not permit it. The same is true past 72,000 pounds on the four-axle group. The fix is more axles: shift weight to a group with more axles, where the same pounds price lower and the ceiling sits higher.
The permit also stops at the edge of the state system. A MnDOT permit is valid on 10-ton paved trunk highways, U.S. highways, and interstates only. MnDOT cannot approve county or local roads, so the last miles to a jobsite need the local road authority's own approval.
Worked example 4: ten loads on one route with a job permit
Take the 90,000-pound combination from example 2 and give it a repeat job: ten like loads, same product, weight, and dimensions, over the same 200-mile route with the same power unit, inside 60 days. That is the job permit's exact definition.
The job permit costs
$36.00plus the damage fee multiplied by the number of moves. At 17 cents a mile over 200 miles, each move carries 34 dollars in damage fees, so ten moves carry 340 dollars.
Buying ten single trip permits instead carries the same 340 dollars in damage fees, because the fee follows the axles and the miles on every trip. The only difference is the base: one job permit fee against ten single trip fees. Multiply the single trip fee by the number of moves you expect, and compare that to one job permit fee. Change the route, the product, or the tractor, and the loads no longer qualify.
Worked example 5: a 17-foot-wide load becomes a superload
A tank shell 17 feet wide on a legal-weight trailer. Width alone makes it a superload: MnDOT treats any vehicle or load over 16 feet wide, over 16 feet high, over 150 feet long, or over 250,000 pounds gross as a superload. The application goes through the Minnesota SUPERLOAD Permit System instead of a standard permit order.
The escort count now depends on the road. Under Minn. Stat. 169.812, a load over 15 feet at the bottom or 16 feet at the top takes one certified rear escort on a multi-lane divided roadway and certified front and rear escorts on an undivided roadway. If any part of the load crosses the centerline of an undivided road, a certified licensed peace officer leads, with front and rear escorts behind. Escort drivers need Minnesota pilot car certification under Minn. Stat. 299D.085.
The schedule tightens too. In the seven-county Twin Cities metro, a load over 16 feet wide moves at night, midnight to 5 a.m. Monday to Friday. MnDOT may require a physical route survey no more than 14 days before the move, and any overhead power line or cable that has to be lifted needs the owner's coordination before the permit issues. Build those steps into the schedule before you quote a delivery date.
The annual permit, and where it stops
Repeat oversize work can go on an annual permit, but Minnesota has no single general-purpose annual permit. Most oversize annual permits, for construction equipment and supplies, mobile cranes, manufactured homes, commercial boat haulers, double-deck buses, and new empty trailers, cost
$120.00for up to 12 months (Minn. Stat. 169.86, subd. 5(d)). They cover up to 16 feet wide, 15 feet high, and 110 feet long, with route approval required.
The overweight versions price by gross weight instead of by the mile. The ladder opens at
$200.00for 90,000 pounds or less and tops out at
$900.00for 145,001 to 155,000 pounds. None of these annual permits covers more than 155,000 pounds. A move past 155,000 pounds goes back to single trip permits and the per-mile damage table, and past 250,000 pounds to the superload review.
Seasonal rules shift the math again. Spring load restrictions cut axle weights on many roads, while the winter increase and the harvest season increase each allow 10 percent above legal weights under their own conditions. The full list renders on the Minnesota oversize and overweight permits page.
Reading the Minnesota schedule like a quote
Start with weight. If every axle group is legal, the permit is one flat fee and the rest of the cost is time: signs, escorts, curfews, and holiday bans. If a group is overweight, find its column by axle count and spacing, read the band, add the groups together, and multiply by the miles. Check that no group sits above its column's ceiling. Then decide between single trips and a job permit by counting like moves on one route.
Compare the same load against other states on the oversize permit costs by state table, and see every other credential Minnesota expects at Minnesota trucking permits. For questions on a specific move, MnDOT's permit office answers at 651-296-6000 and ofcvopermits.dot@state.mn.us.
FAQ
How much is a Minnesota oversize permit?
A single trip permit is one flat fee, valid for 7 days, set by Minn. Stat. 169.86. An oversize load at legal weight pays that fee and nothing else. An overweight load adds a damage assessment fee that MnDOT calculates per mile. The current amounts render with their sources on the Minnesota oversize and overweight permits page.
How does MnDOT calculate the damage assessment fee?
MnDOT looks up a per-mile rate for each overweight axle group, adds those rates together, and multiplies the sum by the miles traveled. The rate depends on the group's weight and on how many axles share it: two axles within 8 feet, three within 9 feet, or four within 14 feet.
What is the heaviest axle group Minnesota will permit?
The damage fee table stops at 46,000 pounds for two axles within 8 feet, 60,000 pounds for three axles within 9 feet, and 72,000 pounds for four axles within 14 feet. MnDOT does not permit a group above its column's top band, so a heavier load has to spread across more axles.
When does a Minnesota oversize load need escorts?
By statute, width triggers escorts over 15 feet at the bottom of the load or over 16 feet at the top, and length triggers them over 110 feet. The count depends on the road. At those first thresholds a divided multi-lane highway takes one rear escort, and an undivided road takes a front and a rear escort. Length over 150 feet takes two escorts on a divided road too, and MnDOT can require more in the permit.