Tennessee Oversize Permit Cost: Worked Examples

Four worked Tennessee oversize moves: the flat width bands, the per ton mile weight charge, and the Highway Patrol escort floor.

By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Jul 30, 2026

Tennessee charges a flat fee for each dimension a load exceeds, then prices weight on completely different logic. Excess width, height and length each carry a small fixed fee. Excess weight carries the same small base plus six cents for every ton mile the load travels inside Tennessee, so distance sets the bill as much as tonnage does. Two carriers pulling identical trailers pay different amounts because one of them is going farther. Every figure this guide prices renders with its official source on the Tennessee oversize and overweight permits page; this guide walks four moves through the schedule. To check whether your load is oversize in Tennessee at all, run it through the oversize permit cost estimator.

How Tennessee builds the number

Four features shape a Tennessee quote:

Width in three steps. Over the legal 8 feet 6 inches and up to 14 feet is $20.00. Over 14 feet and up to 16 feet is $30.00. Above 16 feet the charge is $30.00 plus five dollars for every additional foot or fraction.
Height and length are flat. Anything over 13 feet 6 inches high is $20.00, and anything past the statutory length limits is $20.00. Tennessee's legal height sits below the 14 feet that California, Oregon and Texas allow, so a load that runs legal out west can need a permit here.
Weight is priced by the mile. Excess weight opens at $20.00 and then bills six cents per ton mile above the legal gross limit. TDOT publishes a weight price sheet that turns the rate into a price per mile for each 500 pound step of gross weight.
Annual permits are sold per vehicle. An over-dimension annual is $100.00, and overweight annuals run from $750.00 up to 100,000 pounds through $3,500.00 at the top tier. A load that is both over-dimensional and overweight pays both.

Every application runs through TNTRIPS, the state's online permitting system. The permit office takes no orders by phone or email, and carriers who cannot apply online are pointed at a third-party permit service. Payment is by card, check, or an escrow account that takes several weeks to open.

Two honesty notes before the examples. TDOT marks its weight price sheet as educational, says it is not a binding price list, and reserves the right to change the pricing, so read the per mile column as a lookup table for the rule's six cent rate rather than as a quote. And Tennessee's own sources contradicted each other in two places, the seed cotton module annual and the houseboat single trip bands, where the TDOT rule and the TDOT price page named different amounts. Both are now settled against the statute the rules implement, which prices each of them directly, so the figures on the state permits page are the statutory ones rather than a guess between two sources.

Worked example 1: twelve feet wide at legal weight

A dozer on a lowboy running 12 feet wide at legal height, length and weight is one charge: $20.00, good for ten days, with no extensions and one amendment allowed. Escorts are a separate question from the fee. Between 10 feet and 12 feet 6 inches wide Tennessee wants one front escort only on two-lane highways with less than 24 feet of pavement, and none at all on the interstate system or on any highway with four or more lanes. Route the same load down an interstate and the escort disappears while the permit price does not move.

The load still has to be marked. Over 10 feet wide, Tennessee wants an Oversize Load banner front and rear, 7 feet long and 18 inches high in black lettering on yellow, plus red flags at least 18 inches square at the widest points. On any permitted overwidth movement past 10 feet, a flagperson is required at every bridge structure where the roadway is less than 20 feet wide. None of that appears on the permit invoice, and all of it appears in the day rate the carrier has to cover.

Worked example 2: 88,000 pounds, and why the route sets the price

Now the weight side. A trailer at 88,000 pounds gross is four tons over the legal limit. The permit line opens at

$20.00

and then bills six cents for each of those ton miles, so every Tennessee mile adds four times six cents, or twenty-four cents.

Run the arithmetic on a route. A hundred Tennessee miles adds twenty-four dollars of weight charge on top of the base. Three hundred miles adds seventy-two. Double the in-state distance and the weight charge doubles with it, which is why a Tennessee quote built only from the permit base is wrong before the truck turns a wheel. TDOT's price sheet does the same arithmetic for you in 500 pound steps, because a 500 pound step is a quarter of a ton and a quarter ton at six cents is a penny and a half per mile.

Repeat the lane and the annual changes the answer. An overweight annual up to 100,000 pounds costs $750.00 for one named vehicle and stops the per mile meter for a year. Annuals are sold per vehicle rather than per fleet, and Tennessee sells none above 165,000 pounds gross, above 13 feet 10 inches high, above 90 feet long, or above 13 feet 6 inches wide. A vehicle holding an overweight annual can add a single trip permit for width, height or length, but never for more weight.

Axle limits decide whether the load can be permitted at all, before price enters the conversation. By special permit Tennessee allows 20,000 pounds on a single axle and 40,000 on a tandem. Keep the truck and trailer combination at 10 feet wide or less with a non-divisible load and those rise to 23,000 single, 46,000 tandem and 60,000 on a tridem. The sourced table is on the state permits page.

Worked example 3: eighteen feet wide, where the escort dwarfs the permit

Width above 16 feet is where the fee schedule and the escort rules both change gear. The fee itself stays small:

$30.00

plus five dollars for every foot or fraction above 16 feet, so an 18 foot load is two feet over and adds ten dollars, for forty dollars of permit.

Then the requirements stack up. Past 16 feet wide the movement is extra-overdimensional under rule 1680-07-01-.12, which forces a route survey before the permit issues and front and rear escorts in radio contact on every highway. Past 18 feet wide, the Tennessee Highway Patrol has to escort it, at $65.00 per officer per hour plus a per mile charge, with a minimum of two officers and a minimum of four hours billed. That is an eight officer hour floor before the load moves an inch, against a permit that cost forty dollars. Price the escort first and the permit second.

Height runs its own ladder. A front escort with a height pole is required over 15 feet, and rule 1680-07-01-.10 will not let the application be processed at 15 feet or more without a route survey identifying the vertical clearance at every overpass. TDOT's FAQ answers the same question with 15 feet 6 inches, and the state permits page records the gap. Plan against the stricter rule.

Worked example 4: past 165,000 pounds, the fee that multiplies by route

Above 165,000 pounds gross Tennessee adds a bridge evaluation fee, and the wording is what costs money: it is charged for each different route proposed. The fee is

$100.00

from 165,000 up to 250,000 pounds and

$300.00

from 250,000 up to 500,000 pounds, with actual cost above that. Propose three candidate routes for the same load and pay the evaluation three times.

The clock stretches with the weight as well. TDOT processes an ordinary permit in up to three days, a move from 165,001 to 250,000 pounds in five, one from 250,001 to 500,000 pounds in fifteen, and anything above that in thirty. The application is a package rather than a form: a detailed proposal with a route survey, a sketch of vehicle and load, tire sizes and contact pressures, axle spacing, load distribution and a traffic control plan, all reviewed by the TDOT Structures Division. The permit issues at the department's sole discretion, and TDOT can require a law enforcement escort and bill the permittee its actual cost.

One more gate sits outside the fee schedule. Anyone moving an oversize or overweight load in Tennessee has to carry liability coverage at the limits rule 1680-07-01-.22 sets and furnish a certificate of insurance to the permit office, on an ACORD form for companies and corporations. The office can also demand a bond with surety or a CPA-certified statement of solvency, in an amount it decides, with no published figure to budget against.

What to check before quoting

Measure width first, because it picks the fee band and it picks the escorts. Count Tennessee miles next, because that is the multiplier on the weight charge. Add the escort floor before the permit fee, since two officers for four hours outweighs almost any single trip charge. Ask whether the route touches Memphis city streets, the only local jurisdiction that runs its own permit on top of the state one. Then check the calendar: escorted loads sit out weekday rush hours in Davidson, Rutherford, Knox, Shelby and Hamilton counties, and TDOT closes holiday windows around Easter, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas through New Year's Day. Compare the same move elsewhere on the oversize permit costs by state table, and see Tennessee's full credential stack at Tennessee trucking permits.

FAQ

How much does a Tennessee oversize permit cost?

Excess width, height and length each carry a flat single trip fee, and width steps up at 14 feet and again at 16 feet. Weight works differently: a base fee plus six cents for every ton mile above the legal gross limit, so the total moves with the distance traveled inside Tennessee. Every current figure renders with its source on the state permits page.

Why does the same overweight load cost more on a longer Tennessee route?

Because Tennessee bills excess weight per ton mile instead of charging a flat overweight fee. Each ton above the legal gross limit is billed for every mile it travels in the state, so doubling the in-state distance doubles the weight portion of the permit while the base fee stays put.

When does Tennessee require a Highway Patrol escort, and what does it add?

Above 18 feet of width or 18 feet of height. Tennessee Highway Patrol escorts come on top of any civilian escorts, billed per officer per hour plus a per mile charge, with a minimum of two officers and a minimum of four hours. That eight officer hour floor is usually larger than the permit fee itself.

Can I buy a Tennessee annual permit instead of single trip permits?

Yes, for one named vehicle. Over-dimension and overweight annuals are priced separately and a load that is both pays both. Tennessee sells no annual above 165,000 pounds gross, above 13 feet 10 inches high, above 90 feet long, or above 13 feet 6 inches wide, and an overweight annual can be supplemented for width, height or length but never for more weight.

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California Oversize Permit Cost: Worked Examples

Three worked California oversize moves: which Caltrans permit each needs, which fee lines apply, and where escort rules change the total.

Florida Oversize Permit Cost: Worked Examples

Three worked Florida oversize moves: dimension tiers for trip permits, per-mile overweight pricing, and when an annual permit wins.

Sources

Primary statutes and official agency pages this guide relies on. Laws and fees change, so confirm against the current source before you act.

Permit Prices, single trip and annual permit fee tables · Tennessee Department of Transportation, Traffic Operations Division
OS/OW Permit FAQs · Tennessee Department of Transportation, Traffic Operations Division
TDOT Weight Price Sheet, price per mile by gross weight · Tennessee Department of Transportation
Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1680-07-01-.24 (Fees) · Tennessee Secretary of State, Division of Publications
Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1680-07-01-.12 (Additional Requirements for Super Heavy and/or Extra-Overdimensional Movements) · Tennessee Secretary of State, Division of Publications
Tenn. Code Ann. 55-7-205 (Permits for moving vehicles of excess weight or size) · Tennessee Code Unannotated, published for the State of Tennessee by LexisNexis

Haul Handbook publishes educational information about trucking registration and compliance requirements. This is not legal, financial, or tax advice. Rules, fees, and deadlines change; confirm with the agency before you file or pay.