By Haul Handbook editorial team· Updated Oct 5, 2026
Oversize and overweight permits for state highways are issued by the Hawaii DOT Highways Division district engineer for the island where the move happens (Oahu, Maui County, Hawaii Island, Kauai) on form DOT 4-005. County roads are permitted by the county engineer (HRS 291-36(a)). Legal limits are set by statute: 9 feet wide (wider than the mainland's 8.5 feet), 14 feet high, 45 feet for a single vehicle, 65 feet for a tractor-semitrailer on most roads with a 48-foot semitrailer cap, 20,000 lb on a single axle, 34,000 lb on a tandem, and an 80,000 lb gross. Statutory permit fees run $5 to $25 (HRS 291-36(j)), but HDOT announced on July 8, 2026 that all oversize/overweight permit application fees are waived until further notice. An escort vehicle is required above 12 feet wide.
Hawaii legal limits (no permit needed at or under these)
- Width
- 9 ftHRS 291-34(a): no motor vehicle or power vehicle over nine feet wide including load may operate on a public road without a permit. Vehicles wider than nine feet may cross a public road without a permit (HRS 291-36(h)).
- Height
- 14 ftHRS 291-34(b): 14 feet including load, and never above a bridge's posted height. HAR 19-104-14(b), adopted in 1981, still prints 13 feet 6 inches; the statute, amended since, governs.
- Gross weight
- 80,000 lbHRS 291-35: single axle 20,000 lb (axles 40 inches or less apart count as one); tandem (more than 40 and no more than 96 inches) 34,000 lb; axle groups over 96 inches by the bridge formula W = 500(LN/(N-1) + 12N + 36), with two consecutive tandems allowed 34,000 lb each at 36 ft or more apart provided the gross does not exceed 80,000 lb; any one wheel 10,000 lb; never over the manufacturer's axle capacity or designed GVWR/GCWR, or a posted bridge limit. The 1981 permit rule (HAR 19-104-21) still prints older figures (24,000 lb single axle, 12,000 lb wheel, 80,800 lb); the statute governs.
- Length: Note
- HRS 291-34(c): a single vehicle 45 ft including load; a truck-tractor and semitrailer 65 ft overall with the semitrailer no longer than 48 ft; any combination no more than two units (a tractor-semitrailer counts as one) and 65 ft overall. The 65-ft overall limits do not apply on interstate highways and certain qualifying federal-aid highways designated by the director. Loads may project up to 4 ft past the vehicle's extremity, or further with an escort, and must be at least 7 ft above the road where they project beyond the front tires; with a projection, a single vehicle may be 45 ft and a vehicle with trailer 60 ft (off interstates). Pipe, poles, timbers, steel and similar non-dismemberable structural loads are exempt from the length limits but need clearance lamps at night (291-34(c)(5)).
Axle weight limits
Gross weight is one ceiling; each axle group carries its own limit, and a load can be legal on gross weight yet overweight on an axle. Exceeding any of these needs an overweight permit.
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Permit fees
- Annual eligibility
- Hawaii's longer-term permit is the continuous operation permit ($10 under HRS 291-36(j), currently waived), valid for no more than one year, for a specific vehicle or load over a specific route or restricted area during set hours, and only where the vehicle or load is under 12 ft wide and the overall length is 70 ft or less (agricultural equipment moved within its normal area is exempt from that size cap) (HAR 19-104-4(2)). A copy of an annual permit may be carried in the vehicle with the original available at the operator's office in the issuing county (HRS 291-36(e)).
Single-trip permit fee schedule
A single-trip permit stacks a base fee with a weight-tiered maintenance fee, and the heaviest loads add a supervision fee.
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To price a specific load, try the oversize permit cost estimator, or compare every state on the national oversize permit table.
To see how these fees combine on real loads, walk through Hawaii oversize permit cost worked examples.
Escort thresholds
What the escort itself has to be
Hitting the threshold is only half of it. The escort vehicle, its equipment, its driver's certification and where it rides are all regulated, and the carrier is the one holding the permit when they are not met.
- Escort vehicle standards
- A passenger car or a two-axle truck rated at no more than 20,000 lb gross with a clear view front and rear, at least one rotating or oscillating amber light on the cab roof visible at 500 ft in sunlight, low-beam headlights on, and two-way radio contact with the hauling vehicle (HAR 19-104-28).
- How far ahead or behind the escort rides
- Escort distance from the load by combined speed: 200 ft at 30 mph or less, 300 ft at 40, 350 ft at 50, 500 ft at 60, 600 ft at 70 or more (HAR 19-104-28(c)). Escorted loads may not convoy on two-lane highways and are spaced about 15 minutes apart; on highways of four or more lanes the district engineer may let loads 12 ft wide or less travel in escorted pairs (HAR 19-104-26).
Liability cover the permit itself requires
Distinct from your operating-authority minimums: this is the cover Hawaii attaches to the permit, banded by the dimension you are permitted for. Each one is sourced.
- Permit insurance groups
- HAR 19-104-9 requires the permit applicant to file a certificate of self-insurance or of comprehensive automobile liability insurance naming the State as additional insured, with minimums of $100,000 bodily injury for one person, $300,000 bodily injury for more than one person in any one accident, and $50,000 property damage in any one accident; higher minimums required by other law prevail. HDOT's permit page says a certificate of insurance must be on file.
Escort rules beyond the thresholds
Knowing when you need an escort is half of it. These are the Hawaii rules on who may run one, what the vehicle has to carry, and how the move is conducted.
- Escort vehicle standards
- A passenger car or a two-axle truck rated at no more than 20,000 lb gross with a clear view front and rear, at least one rotating or oscillating amber light on the cab roof visible at 500 ft in sunlight, low-beam headlights on, and two-way radio contact with the hauling vehicle (HAR 19-104-28).
- Spacing
- Escort distance from the load by combined speed: 200 ft at 30 mph or less, 300 ft at 40, 350 ft at 50, 500 ft at 60, 600 ft at 70 or more (HAR 19-104-28(c)). Escorted loads may not convoy on two-lane highways and are spaced about 15 minutes apart; on highways of four or more lanes the district engineer may let loads 12 ft wide or less travel in escorted pairs (HAR 19-104-26).
Conditions attached to every permit
The standing conditions Hawaii writes into the permit itself, which apply whether or not they are printed on your copy.
- Application content
- Form DOT 4-005 asks for the owner or lessee, route, movement type, object or load, method of movement, make, axles, gross and tare weight, license, and overall dimensions; overweight applications need plan and elevation sketches of wheel arrangements, dimensions and load distribution (HDOT permit page).
- Carry requirement
- The permit is carried in the vehicle and shown on demand; for annual permits a copy may be carried with the original at the operator's office in the issuing county (HRS 291-36(e)).
- Summary
- Permits issue only to persons who own and operate the vehicle or operate it under a bona fide rental or lease (HAR 19-104-3), and are not transferable (19-104-11). For an operational emergency an applicant may phone the district engineer for a permit and must file the written application within five days (HAR 19-104-7(c)).
- Violation
- Size and weight violations are fined $250 for up to 100 lb over plus $0.11 per pound beyond that, applied per axle group as well as gross; excess dimensions are fined $50 to $200 by how far over (HRS 291-37). The fine falls on the employer when the driver is an employee, and on the consignee or Hawaii shipper for sealed containers and flatracks.
Travel restrictions
Superload and beyond-permit review
Loads past the standard single-trip permit thresholds get individual state review rather than an off-the-shelf permit.
Hawaii's rules use no superload term. Overweight permits are limited to 48,000 lb on a single axle and 84,000 lb on a tandem on pavement, lower on structures by tread width, with 12,000 lb per tire; larger overloads go to the construction and maintenance branch for review (HAR 19-104-22). Moves of houses or similar objects 14 ft or wider, and unusual objects, need investigation before a permit issues (HAR 19-104-10(c)), and excessive loads may take at least three weeks.
More Hawaii permit rules
- Annual permit eligibility
- Hawaii's longer-term permit is the continuous operation permit ($10 under HRS 291-36(j), currently waived), valid for no more than one year, for a specific vehicle or load over a specific route or restricted area during set hours, and only where the vehicle or load is under 12 ft wide and the overall length is 70 ft or less (agricultural equipment moved within its normal area is exempt from that size cap) (HAR 19-104-4(2)). A copy of an annual permit may be carried in the vehicle with the original available at the operator's office in the issuing county (HRS 291-36(e)).
- Escort notes: escort vehicle standards
- A passenger car or a two-axle truck rated at no more than 20,000 lb gross with a clear view front and rear, at least one rotating or oscillating amber light on the cab roof visible at 500 ft in sunlight, low-beam headlights on, and two-way radio contact with the hauling vehicle (HAR 19-104-28).
- Escort notes: spacing
- Escort distance from the load by combined speed: 200 ft at 30 mph or less, 300 ft at 40, 350 ft at 50, 500 ft at 60, 600 ft at 70 or more (HAR 19-104-28(c)). Escorted loads may not convoy on two-lane highways and are spaced about 15 minutes apart; on highways of four or more lanes the district engineer may let loads 12 ft wide or less travel in escorted pairs (HAR 19-104-26).
- Permit insurance groups
- HAR 19-104-9 requires the permit applicant to file a certificate of self-insurance or of comprehensive automobile liability insurance naming the State as additional insured, with minimums of $100,000 bodily injury for one person, $300,000 bodily injury for more than one person in any one accident, and $50,000 property damage in any one accident; higher minimums required by other law prevail. HDOT's permit page says a certificate of insurance must be on file.
- Permit conditions: application content
- Form DOT 4-005 asks for the owner or lessee, route, movement type, object or load, method of movement, make, axles, gross and tare weight, license, and overall dimensions; overweight applications need plan and elevation sketches of wheel arrangements, dimensions and load distribution (HDOT permit page).
- Permit conditions: carry requirement
- The permit is carried in the vehicle and shown on demand; for annual permits a copy may be carried with the original at the operator's office in the issuing county (HRS 291-36(e)).
- Permit conditions: summary
- Permits issue only to persons who own and operate the vehicle or operate it under a bona fide rental or lease (HAR 19-104-3), and are not transferable (19-104-11). For an operational emergency an applicant may phone the district engineer for a permit and must file the written application within five days (HAR 19-104-7(c)).
- Permit conditions: violation
- Size and weight violations are fined $250 for up to 100 lb over plus $0.11 per pound beyond that, applied per axle group as well as gross; excess dimensions are fined $50 to $200 by how far over (HRS 291-37). The fine falls on the employer when the driver is an employee, and on the consignee or Hawaii shipper for sealed containers and flatracks.
The Hawaii permit office
- Name
- District engineer, Highways Division, by island (permit offices on Oahu, Maui County, Hawaii Island and Kauai)
- System
- No online permitting system is published. Applications go to the district office for the island where the move occurs (HAR 19-104-7(a)), on form DOT 4-005, by email to the district permit address.
- Phone
- Oahu (808) 831-6700 ext. 107; Maui County (808) 873-3535; Hawaii Island (808) 933-8866; Kauai (808) 241-3000
- Oahu DOT.HWYO.Permits@hawaii.gov; Maui County DOT.HWYM.Permits@hawaii.gov; Hawaii Island DOT.HWY-H_Permits@hawaii.gov; Kauai DOT.HWYK.Permits@hawaii.gov
- Hours
- Permits are issued only during regular working hours, Monday through Friday, holidays excluded (HAR 19-104-10(d)).
- Notes
- Phones and email addresses are as listed on HDOT's Oversized and Overweight Vehicles page. The footer of form DOT 4-005 (rev. 05/20) prints the Kauai number as 241-3100 instead of the page's 241-3000; the page is used here. Review time varies, and excessive loads may need further departmental review taking at least three weeks; otherwise applications are generally processed within two working days (HAR 19-104-8(a)). A certificate of insurance must be on file.
Legal limits without a permit
Hawaii sets its own statutory limits on width, height, length and weight, and the width allowance is wider than the mainland figure. Axle and wheel limits follow the statute and a bridge formula for longer axle groups, with an overall gross cap.
The old permit rule still prints some outdated figures. Where it disagrees with the statute, the statute governs, and the limits table shows the statutory numbers.
Where and how to apply
Apply to the district office for the island where the move happens: Oahu, Maui County, Hawaii Island or Kauai. Email form DOT 4-005 to that office's permit address. Overweight applications need sketches of wheel arrangement and load distribution, and a certificate of insurance must be on file.
Permits issue during working hours on weekdays. For an operational emergency you can phone the district engineer and file the written application within days.
Permit types and fees
Hawaii prices permits in tiers: a single trip or continuous permit for moderate loads, and a higher fee once a load passes the overweight multiple or reaches the wide-load line. The continuous permit lasts up to a year on a set route and is limited to loads under a set width and length.
Right now HDOT is waiving all oversize and overweight permit application fees until further notice. The fee table shows both the statutory schedule and the waiver row, so you can see which applies when you file.
Escorts and travel rules
An escort vehicle is required past a set width, and at the widest loads HDOT can require an escort, flagman or police, with a speed cap and a side clearance check along the route. Long projections also need an escort. Escort vehicles must meet HDOT's light, radio and size standards and keep set distances by speed.
Hours are set on each permit, and the standard form bars weekend and holiday moves unless the district engineer allows them. No move goes ahead in poor visibility or high wind.
Insurance for permit holders
HDOT's permit rule has its own insurance certificate, naming the State as additional insured, with its own minimums. That certificate is separate from the PUC's motor carrier insurance and applies to private carriers too.
Heavy loads and penalties
Hawaii's rules use no superload term. Overweight permits stop at set axle limits, and anything heavier goes to engineering review, as do house moves and unusual objects. Running over the limits without a permit draws fines that grow with the pounds over, plus dimension fines scaled by how far over, charged to the employer when the operator is an employee.
How to read this page
A value reading "Not confirmed" means we could not verify the figure on an official agency page at review time, so it stays open rather than guessed. Superload moves above the standard permit thresholds get individual review by the state; contact the permit office named on this page. For the rest of the Hawaii permit stack, see Hawaii trucking permits.