By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Aug 5, 2026
Louisiana runs oversize and overweight permitting out of one office, the DOTD Truck Permit Office in Baton Rouge, through the LaGeaux permit system. Two things make the state unusual. First, the legal limits are published twice, once for Interstate highways and once for everything else: 14 feet of height and 83,400 pounds of gross weight for a combination with a tridum or larger axle group on the Interstate, against 13 feet 6 inches and 88,000 pounds off it, with every legal axle limit 2,000 to 3,000 pounds higher on non-Interstate roads. Second, the overweight permit price is a statutory matrix, not a flat fee: La. R.S. 32:387(H) prices an overweight single trip by how far the load travels inside Louisiana as well as by how heavy it is, across three separate schedules chosen by axle count. An oversize but not overweight move, by contrast, is a flat $10.00 per trip or per operating day.
Who issues what in Louisiana
The permit pages
Louisiana-specific requirements
Louisiana splits motor carrier compliance across four agencies and four systems, and it is one of the few states that asks a general freight trucking company for no operating authority at all. The Public Service Commission certificates only five classes of intrastate carrier: household goods, waste, saltwater used in oil well exploration and production, passengers, and non-consensual towing. Everything else a Louisiana carrier deals with is registration and permits. The Department of Transportation and Development runs oversize and overweight permits through LaGeaux, the Department of Revenue runs IFTA through LaTAP, and the Office of Motor Vehicles runs apportioned registration through LA Trucks Online. The state's two real complications are its double set of legal limits, Interstate against non-Interstate, and an overweight permit price that scales with the distance travelled inside Louisiana as well as with the weight.
No intrastate operating authority for general freight
A company hauling general freight, machinery, building materials, produce or containers point to point inside Louisiana needs no state operating authority, no state carrier number, and pays no state authority fee. La. R.S. 45:162(5)(a) defines a common carrier by motor vehicle only as a carrier of household goods, passengers or waste, and La. R.S. 45:162(12) adds tow trucks. The definition is the deregulation: La. R.S. 45:162(5)(d) declares that certificates of public convenience and necessity issued before January 1, 1995 and subject to the preemption in Section 601 of the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 are null and void with no continuing value.
Five certificated classes, and waste is the only one with a hearing
The Commission certificates household goods movers, waste carriers, saltwater carriers serving oil well exploration and production, passenger carriers, and non-consensual wrecker and towing services. Waste is the outlier: La. R.S. 45:164(B) makes a waste applicant prove fitness before an administrative law judge or hearing officer on five statutory factors covering insurance, financial ability, other regulatory authorizations, equipment and manpower, and a safety programme. La. R.S. 45:164(C) expressly exempts the other four classes from that hearing.
A quarterly inspection and supervision fee on gross receipts, collected by Revenue
Every Commission-regulated intrastate motor carrier pays a quarterly fee on the gross receipts it earns from the activities the Commission controls, on top of every other tax and fee. La. R.S. 45:1177(A)(2) sets it on a declining scale starting at $5.01 per $1,000 on the first $100,000 of gross receipts, $4.23 per $1,000 to $250,000, $3.45 to $500,000, $2.68 to $750,000, $2.29 to $1,000,000, $1.90 to $2,000,000, $1.51 to $5,000,000, $1.13 to $10,000,000, $0.97 to $25,000,000 and $0.82 to $100,000,000, with a floor of $20.00 a quarter. The payment schedule is unusual: first-quarter receipts are due by June 30, second quarter by September 30, third quarter by December 31, and fourth quarter by March 31 of the following year. The Department of Revenue collects it.
Four agencies and four separate portals
A Louisiana carrier that does everything deals with four state bodies and four logins: the Public Service Commission for any certificated authority, the Department of Transportation and Development's Truck Permit Office through LaGeaux for oversize and overweight permits, the Department of Revenue through LaTAP for IFTA, and the Office of Motor Vehicles through LA Trucks Online for apportioned registration and trip permits. Nothing is consolidated, and the Commission does not run an online filing portal at all: its applications are notarized paper filings delivered to the Galvez Building in Baton Rouge.
Two sets of legal limits, Interstate and non-Interstate
Louisiana publishes every weight and height limit twice. Legal height is 14 feet 0 inches on Interstate highways and 13 feet 6 inches on non-Interstate highways. Legal axle weights are 2,000 pounds higher for single axles and 3,000 pounds higher for tandem, tridum, quadrum and quint axles off the Interstate: 22,000, 37,000, 45,000, 53,000 and 61,000 pounds, against 20,000, 34,000, 42,000, 50,000 and 58,000 on it. Gross weight runs the other way for a combination with a tridum or larger axle group, which may reach 88,000 pounds on a state-maintained non-Interstate highway but only 83,400 pounds on the Interstate. Legal width is 102 inches everywhere.
Overweight permits are priced by distance as well as weight
La. R.S. 32:387(H)(2) prices an overweight single-trip permit from a matrix with five distance bands, 0 to 50 miles, 51 to 100, 101 to 150, 151 to 200, and over 200 miles, crossed with a weight band, and there are three separate schedules chosen by axle count. The same 100,000 pound five-axle load costs $45.00 for a 50 mile move and $150.00 for a 250 mile move. Above 254,000 pounds the permit leaves the table entirely and is priced at $15.00 plus $0.75 per ton-mile of weight over 80,000 pounds, plus a structural evaluation fee of $187.50, $750.00 or $1,275.00 depending on bridge type. An oversize but not overweight move is a flat $10.00 per trip or per operating day.
Every figure in the permit fee table was raised by half in 2019
Act 301 of the 2019 Regular Session, House Bill 217, amended La. R.S. 32:387(H)(2)(a), (b), (c)(i) and (iv) and lifted each amount by 50 percent: the entry overweight fee went from $20.00 to $30.00, the over-60,000-pound formula from $10.00 plus $0.07 per ton-mile to $15.00 plus $0.10, the over-254,000-pound formula from $10.00 plus $0.50 per ton-mile to $15.00 plus $0.75, and the three structural evaluation fees from $125.00, $500.00 and $850.00 to $187.50, $750.00 and $1,275.00. Any third-party permit page still quoting the older numbers is quoting pre-2019 law.
New annual heavy equipment permits need a registered route before every move
From the evening of Tuesday September 2, 2025, every new annual Oversize/Overweight heavy equipment permit requires a route registered and approved before each move. The route is registered through the LaGeaux account or by calling the Truck Permit Office, and routes automate when there are no restrictions. The annual permit itself is $2,500.00, issued to the pulling unit, non-transferable, non-refundable, and expires one year from the start date.
The 48-hour trip permit is $50.00 and the state will not sell it to you
A Louisiana trip permit runs 48 continuous hours, costs $50.00, and covers both interstate and intrastate movement, but the Office of Motor Vehicles does not sell it directly. It is bought before entering the state from one of the wire service companies listed on the OMV trip permits page. Louisiana holds a reciprocal agreement with Hawaii only, under which Hawaii-registered vehicles may run interstate but not intrastate in Louisiana; vehicles registered in Alaska, Mexico, the Northwest Territories and Yukon must buy the trip permit.
Escort companies register with the state and carry $500,000 three ways
La. R.S. 32:387.1(B) requires every company operating an escort service in Louisiana, including one domiciled in another state, to register annually with the secretary, name a Louisiana-resident agent for service of process, and prove general liability, motor vehicle liability and workers compensation coverage of at least $500,000 each. The permit fee is set by rule at not less than ten dollars, and DOTD charges $10.00 a year with every escort permit expiring on December 31 regardless of start date. Violating the registration requirement is a $100 fine per offense.
State Police escorts start at 16 feet wide and 125 feet long
Louisiana splits escorts between private and police by dimension. A private escort covers over 12 feet up to 16 feet wide and over 90 feet up to 125 feet long. Above 16 feet wide or 125 feet long the escort must be State Police, arranged through the nearest Troop, and above 18 feet wide the move needs front and rear State Police escorts. La. R.S. 32:387(B)(4) lets the secretary charge for State Police escort vehicles based on escort mileage with a minimum charge of $25.00. Height is handled separately again: a pole truck with a height indicator over 15 feet 10 inches, a pole truck equipped to lift utility lines over 16 feet 8 inches, and a bucket truck over 18 feet.
Twelve-foot-wide loads are curfewed on five Interstate corridors
Loads over 12 feet wide may not use the Interstate on weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in named stretches at Shreveport, Monroe, Lake Charles, Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Separately, no permit load may cross or come within two miles of any Mississippi River bridge in New Orleans from 6:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, and loads with projections, or over 8 feet 6 inches wide, 14 feet 4 inches high, 70 feet long or 120,000 pounds gross, are barred from the US 190 Mississippi River bridge at Baton Rouge in the same windows.
About thirty named annual and special permits, most of them agricultural or industrial
Beyond the general $2,500.00 annual Oversize/Overweight permit and the $500.00 Oversize Only permit, Louisiana sells a long tail of commodity permits reflecting its economy: Agronomic and Horticulture at $100.00 with a sugar cane grace period into January, Bagged Rice at $500.00 within 60 miles of the Port of Lake Charles, Containerized Cargo in four flavours from $50.00 to $2,300.00, Cotton Module at $50.00, Earthen Materials for levee projects at $1,000.00, Harvest Season at $10.00, Ready-Mix Concrete Truck at $800.00 or $400.00 by axle configuration, Refuse at $1,000.00, Solid Waste at $50.00, Timber Cutting and Logging Equipment and Timber Harvest Season at $100.00 each, and a Waste Vehicle permit at $10.00 limited to trucks in actual use in Louisiana by January 1, 1977.
Louisiana does not force intrastate carriers onto a USDOT number
FMCSA publishes the list of states that require their intrastate commercial motor vehicle registrants to obtain a USDOT number, and Louisiana is not on it. Neighbouring Texas, Mississippi and Arkansas are also absent; Alabama is on the list. A Louisiana carrier still needs a USDOT number the moment it wants apportioned plates, because Louisiana is a PRISM state and every cab card barcode carries one.
The truck plate class changes the price of the same truck
La. R.S. 47:462(A) sorts trucks into five registration classes and prices them very differently by the hundredweight. From 24,000 pounds up, a Class 1 general freight truck pays $0.60 then $0.63 then $0.64 per 100 pounds, a forest products truck pays $0.28, a gravel truck $0.60, a city use truck $0.30, and a farm truck pays a flat schedule that tops out at $40.00 for 66,000 to 88,000 pounds. A Class 4 city use plate is limited to the domicile municipality and thirteen miles of contiguous territory, and the truck may leave that zone on state highways only if it carries no cargo at all.
A permanent trailer plate for $70.00, once
La. R.S. 47:462(B)(1) prices a semitrailer or trailer plate at $10.00 a year, or $40.00 for four years, or a one-time $70.00 permanent registration and licence plate that stays valid for as long as the owner holds an interest in that trailer. The permanent plate is never transferable and must be returned with no refund when the interest ends.
IFTA entry costs $37.00 and renewal costs $2.00
Louisiana charges a one-time $35.00 IFTA licence fee and $1.00 per decal, with two decals per qualified vehicle, so a single-truck carrier enters for $37.00. The renewal licence itself is free and the only recurring charge is $2.00 per vehicle for the decal set. A closed account can be reactivated without the $35.00 if it has been closed under a year, the corporate structure has not changed, and the licence was never revoked. Louisiana joined IFTA on January 1, 1994.
A household goods mover must keep a staffed Louisiana office and advertise its certificate number
La. R.S. 45:164(E)(2) requires any carrier moving household goods intrastate in Louisiana, whether domiciled in the state or not, to maintain a permanent establishment there: a particular building staffed during regular business hours by permanent employees managing the moving business, and out-of-state carriers must register that address with the Secretary of State and the Commission. Losing it suspends the right to do business immediately. Commission general orders add that the certificate number, legal or registered name and physical address must appear in all advertising and on every invoice, bid and written estimate, and that a written estimate must be given before any moving service unless the customer signs a waiver first.
A UCR filing removes the Commission's per-vehicle stamp fee
The Commission's Form T-44 states that a carrier registered under the Unified Carrier Registration Agreement with its base state for the renewal year, and claiming all its vehicles under UCR, does not need an intrastate identification stamp and cab card for that year. The carrier still returns the completed T-44 with a copy of the UCR receipt so the Commission can verify the fees were paid.
Rail and water must be used above 232,000 pounds
DOTD's published position is that railroads and navigable waterways are adequate for combinations over 232,000 pounds on non-designated highways or 254,000 pounds on any highway, so those facilities must be used except for the haul from origin to the nearest rail or water and from rail or water to destination. A super-load applicant that wants a highway route past those weights has to submit written proof, from the facility's own authorities, of the physical or regulatory impediment that stops the parallel waterway or railway carrying the load. Requests go in four to six weeks ahead, and above 900,000 pounds an independent engineering firm may have to run the analysis.
Special fuels are taxed per gallon and non-IFTA intrastate trucks carry invoices
Louisiana taxes gasoline, diesel and special fuels other than compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas at a flat rate per gallon set by the Department of Revenue. The rate is not repeated here: it is carried for Louisiana in the national IFTA rate matrix and renders from the rate store on the IFTA rate pages, so a quarterly rate change cannot strand a copy in this note. A vehicle licensed and domiciled in Louisiana that uses taxable special fuels must be licensed for special fuels with the Department of Revenue, carry current special fuels invoices at all times if it is not an IFTA licensee, keep a working odometer, speedometer or hub meter, and display the company name and address, or company name and USDOT number, on both cab doors in letters at least two inches high and legible at 25 feet in daylight. Vehicles owned and operated by businesses domiciled in Louisiana and used exclusively for commercial purposes inside the state are exempt from the invoice requirement.
More Louisiana rules that catch carriers out
- State carrier number: note
- Louisiana markets nothing like a CA number or a TxDMV number. A carrier the Commission certificates gets an LPSC certificate number and an annual intrastate identification stamp on an intrastate cab card for each vehicle, and a wrecker company additionally gets a wrecker licence whose number must be displayed on both sides of every wrecking vehicle it operates under La. R.S. 45:180.1(D). None of that reaches a general freight carrier, which holds no Commission authority. Cross-reference the state intrastate authority page (B1).
- Weight distance tax: note
- Louisiana levies no weight-distance or weight-mile tax. Only New York, Kentucky, New Mexico and Oregon do, so no the state weight-distance tax page exists for Louisiana. A Louisiana carrier's mileage-based obligations are the quarterly IFTA return through the Department of Revenue and apportioned IRP registration through the Office of Motor Vehicles. The one place distance does drive a Louisiana bill is the oversize and overweight permit: La. R.S. 32:387(H)(2) prices an overweight single trip by the miles travelled inside Louisiana as well as by the weight, which is a permit fee rather than a tax.
- ELD intrastate adoption: adopting agency
- Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, Office of State Police
- ELD intrastate adoption: summary: text
- Louisiana adopts 49 CFR Part 395 whole and changes nothing inside it, then moves the line that decides who Part 395 binds. LAC 33:V.10303 adopts the federal motor carrier safety and hazardous materials regulations revised as of January 1, 2021, as now in effect or as hereafter amended, and the enumerated list names Part 395, Hours of Service of Drivers. LAC 33:V.10305.A applies the adopted regulations to everyone the federal rules already reach, to anyone transporting hazardous materials within the state, and to vehicles designed or used to transport 16 or more people including the driver. Subsection B is the variance: the adopted regulations reach carriers, drivers, persons or vehicles not subject to the federal regulations only when the operated vehicle has a single or combined gross vehicle weight or gross vehicle weight rating greater than 26,000 pounds and is used in commerce or industry. The federal commercial motor vehicle definition starts at 10,001 pounds and is written for interstate commerce, so a purely intrastate Louisiana truck at or below 26,000 pounds falls outside the adopted Part 395 and therefore outside the electronic logging device requirement at 49 CFR 395.8, unless one of the Subsection A categories catches it. Above 26,000 pounds the federal clock and the federal device rule apply with no state softening: Louisiana takes none of the hours-of-service variance 49 CFR 350.305(d) offers, so the intrastate limits are the federal 11, 14 and 60 or 70.
- ELD intrastate adoption: adopted parts: value
- The following federal motor carrier safety regulations and hazardous materials regulations promulgated by the United States Department of Transportation, revised as of January 1, 2021, and contained in the following parts of 49 CFR as now in effect or as hereafter amended, are made a part of this Chapter. The hazardous materials list is Parts 107, 171, 172, 173, 177, 178 and 180. The motor carrier safety list is Parts 355, 360, 365, 367, 373, 374, 375, 376, 379, 382, 383, 384, 385, 386, 387, 388, 389, 390, 391, 392, 393, 395, 396 and 397. Part 395 appears in that list under its federal title, Hours of Service of Drivers.
- ELD intrastate adoption: rolling amendment clause: value
- The adoption clause reaches the listed parts of 49 CFR as now in effect or as hereafter amended. Federal amendments therefore land on the Louisiana carriers the chapter governs on the federal schedule, with no separate state rulemaking in between. That phrase is how subpart B of Part 395, the electronic logging device subpart added by the December 2015 federal final rule, reaches intrastate Louisiana operations that meet the Section 10305 applicability test, even though the applicability section itself was last amended in June 2012.
- ELD intrastate adoption: intrastate applicability threshold: basis
- single or combined gross vehicle weight or gross vehicle weight rating
- ELD intrastate adoption: intrastate applicability threshold: value
- For the purpose of this Chapter, the federal motor carrier safety regulations, as adopted or amended herein, shall also govern all carriers, drivers, persons or vehicles not subject to the federal regulations, if the operated vehicle has a single or combined gross vehicle weight or gross vehicle weight rating, greater than 26,000 pounds and is used in commerce or industry. Greater than 26,000 pounds means the chapter starts at 26,001 pounds, which is exactly the ceiling 49 CFR 350.305(a)(1) allows a state to exempt up to.
- ELD intrastate adoption: always covered regardless of weight: value
- Subsection A applies the adopted regulations to all carriers, drivers, persons or vehicles to which the federal regulations apply, engaged in the transportation of hazardous materials within this state, or designed or used to transport 16 or more people, including the driver. The second and third categories carry no weight qualifier, so they reach an intrastate vehicle below 26,000 pounds. They also track the two carve-outs 49 CFR 350.305(a)(2) forbids a state to exempt, except that Louisiana's hazardous materials category is written more broadly than the federal placarding test.
- ELD intrastate adoption: federal baseline threshold: value
- The federal definition of commercial motor vehicle means any self-propelled or towed motor vehicle used on a highway in interstate commerce to transport passengers or property when the vehicle has a gross vehicle weight rating or gross combination weight rating, or gross vehicle weight or gross combination weight, of 4,536 kg (10,001 pounds) or more, whichever is greater; or is designed or used to transport more than 8 passengers including the driver for compensation; or is designed or used to transport more than 15 passengers including the driver and is not used to transport passengers for compensation; or is used in transporting placardable hazardous materials. The definition is scoped to interstate commerce, which is why a state adoption is needed to reach intrastate operations at all.
- ELD intrastate adoption: federal exemption taken: value
- Except as otherwise provided in this section, a State may exempt a CMV from all or part of its laws or regulations applicable to intrastate commerce, if the gross vehicle weight rating, gross combination weight rating, gross vehicle weight, or gross combination weight does not equal or exceed 11,801 kilograms (26,001 pounds). A State may not take that exemption for a vehicle that transports hazardous materials requiring a placard or is designed or used to transport 16 or more people, including the driver. Louisiana takes this exemption to its full extent: LAC 33:V.10305.B stops at 26,000 pounds and Subsection A preserves both forbidden carve-outs.
- ELD intrastate adoption: hours of service variance: value
- Louisiana takes none of the intrastate hours-of-service variance 49 CFR 350.305(d) offers. That paragraph would let a state allow a 12-hour driving limit inside a 16-hour on-duty ceiling, weekly prohibitions at 70 hours in 7 consecutive days or 80 hours in 8 consecutive days, and a 150-air-mile radius. The complete Louisiana modification list at LAC 33:V.10305.C is the 10,000-pound numeric substitution, the 391.11(b)(1) minimum age rewrite, the pre-1988 and pre-1992 driver-qualification grandfathers, the agency-name substitution, and the state-form substitution. Nothing on that list touches Part 395, and Sections 395.1, 395.3 and 395.8 contain no weight figure for the numeric substitution to reach. An intrastate Louisiana driver the chapter governs therefore runs the federal 11-hour driving limit, 14-hour window and 60-hour or 70-hour weekly cycle unchanged.
- ELD intrastate adoption: record of duty status: value
- Section 395.8 is adopted with Part 395 and is not on the state's modification list, so it applies to the Louisiana operations the chapter governs exactly as written. Paragraph (a)(1)(i) requires a motor carrier operating commercial motor vehicles to install and require each of its drivers to use an ELD to record the driver's duty status in accordance with subpart B of the part, no later than December 18, 2017. The four manual record-of-duty-status cases in paragraph (a)(1)(ii)(A) are the only routes to paper inside the section, and they are federal: a driver completing a record of duty status on not more than 8 days within any 30-day period, two driveaway-towaway situations, and a vehicle manufactured before model year 2000. Louisiana adds none and subtracts none.
- ELD intrastate adoption: short haul exception: value
- Section 395.1 is adopted unmodified too, so the short-haul exceptions run at their federal text for the Louisiana operations the chapter governs. The 150 air-mile radius exception at 395.1(e)(1) releases a driver from 395.8 and 395.11 when the driver operates within 150 air miles (172.6 statute miles) of the normal work reporting location, returns and is released from work within 14 consecutive hours, has at least 10 consecutive hours off duty separating each 14 hours on duty for a property-carrying vehicle, and the carrier keeps 6 months of time records.
- ELD intrastate adoption: numeric substitution: value
- For the adopted regulations governing all carriers, drivers or vehicles as specified in Subsection B, substitute 26,000 pounds for all references made to 10,000 pounds. The substitution is scoped to the Subsection B population and is a conforming edit, not the applicability gate: the current federal commercial motor vehicle definition at 49 CFR 390.5 reads 10,001 pounds rather than 10,000 pounds, and Sections 395.1, 395.3 and 395.8 carry no weight figure at all. Subsection B is the operative line for who the adopted Part 395 binds.
- ELD intrastate adoption: commerce test: value
- Interstate commerce means trade, traffic, or transportation in the United States between a place in a State and a place outside of such State, between two places in a State through another State or a place outside of the United States, or between two places in a State as part of trade, traffic, or transportation originating or terminating outside the State or the United States. Intrastate commerce is any trade, traffic, or transportation in any State which is not described in the term interstate commerce. A load moving between two Louisiana addresses can therefore be an interstate run, in which case the federal rules reach it directly through LAC 33:V.10305.A.1 at the federal 10,001-pound line rather than the state's 26,000-pound line.
- ELD intrastate adoption: enforcement: value
- Through contract between the Department of Public Safety and Corrections and the United States Department of Transportation, the state has agreed to adopt and assume responsibility for enforcing certain federal regulations as required by 49 CFR 350.207. Only the Office of State Police may enforce the regulations adopted or enacted under this Chapter, and any term used in the rules carries its commonly accepted meaning except where defined in R.S. 32:1502 or 49 CFR.
- ELD intrastate adoption: notes
- Authored 2026-08-05 by downloading the Office of the State Register's official LAC Title 33 Part V compilation and reading Chapter 103 in full, then cross-checking Sections 10303 and 10305 against the Legal Information Institute republication, which matched word for word including the historical notes. The two dates matter separately: the adoption section (10303) was last amended LR 47:489 (April 2021), which is the federal revision vintage the chapter carries, while the applicability section (10305) was last amended LR 38:1417 (June 2012), three and a half years before the federal electronic logging device final rule published. Louisiana has not revisited its 26,000-pound intrastate line since. Chapter 103 sits inside LAC Title 33 (Environmental Quality) rather than a public safety title because the Office of State Police promulgated it under R.S. 32:1501 et seq. alongside the hazardous materials rules; the chapter heading, Motor Carrier Safety and Hazardous Materials, and the adopted parts list confirm it is the general motor carrier safety adoption and not a hazardous-materials-only rule.
ELD intrastate adoption: driver qualification modifications
| Name | Value | Regulation |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum age | Part 391.11(b)(1) shall read, is at least 21 years old, or is at least 18 years old and lawfully possesses an appropriately classified driver's license secured from the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections. | LAC 33:V.10305.C.2, modifying 49 CFR 391.11(b)(1) |
| Pre-1988 driver-qualification grandfather | If a driver has been regularly employed by a motor carrier for a continuous period of no less than three years immediately prior to January 20, 1988, such driver is exempt from complying with Parts 391.21, 391.23, and 391.33. | LAC 33:V.10305.C.3.a |
| Pre-1992 medical grandfather and the certificate inscription | If a driver has been employed as a commercial motor vehicle operator for a minimum of 24 months prior to March 31, 1992, such driver is exempt from complying with Parts 391.41(b)(1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (10), and (11). Such a driver may remain qualified only as long as an examining physician determines, during the biennial medical examination required in 49 CFR Part 391.45, that the existing condition has not significantly worsened and no other disqualifying condition has manifested. The medical examiner's certificate must display upon its face the inscription medically unqualified outside louisiana. | LAC 33:V.10305.C.3.b and C.3.c |
The permit office and LaGeaux
The Truck Permit Office sits inside the Department of Transportation and Development and works through LaGeaux, the state permitting system. It handles applications, routing and the operating conditions attached to each permit, and it runs an emergency on-call line outside business hours.
Two procedural rules catch carriers out. Weigh station personnel do not issue permits, so the permit has to exist before the vehicle moves or before it enters the state, and the driver or escort driver carries it in written or electronic form and produces it on demand. Since late 2024 the office no longer mails invoices; reminders go to the billing email on the account, and special annual permit applications are no longer accepted by fax or email.
The permit types Louisiana issues
Single trip permits cover one indivisible load over the legal limits. An oversize but not overweight move carries a flat charge per trip or per operating day, while an overweight move is priced from a statutory matrix that reads both the weight and the miles traveled inside Louisiana. Oversize dimensions ride free on an overweight permit as long as they are specified on it.
The general annual permit covers a year of moves for indivisible heavy-duty equipment, issued to the pulling unit of a truck and trailer combination. Alongside it Louisiana sells about thirty narrower annual, semi-annual and monthly permits that read like a map of the state economy: agronomic and horticultural crops with a sugar cane grace period, bagged rice for export near the Port of Lake Charles, containerized cargo in four flavors, cotton modules, earthen materials for levee projects, forest products, ready-mix concrete trucks, refuse and solid waste, timber harvest, house movers equipment and oilfield special equipment.
Our Louisiana oversize and overweight page carries the limits, the pricing matrix, escort thresholds and the super heavy process.
Insurance on file before any permit issues
Since late 2019 the Truck Permit Office requires a certificate of insurance on file before it issues any permit. Trucks and trailers need automobile liability coverage at or above a published limit; off-road units need general liability only. The certificate shows the effective date, expiration date, property damage coverage and an insurance contact, and the customer or their permit service uploads it as a PDF under the management tab in LaGeaux.
The office no longer needs to be named as a certificate holder, and it will not accept certificates by mail, fax or email.
Escort vehicles carry their own permit
Louisiana permits the escort as well as the load. Every private escort vehicle holds a state escort vehicle permit that expires at the end of the calendar year no matter when it started. The statute goes further and requires every escort service company operating in Louisiana, including one domiciled in another state, to register annually, name a Louisiana resident agent for service of process, and prove general liability, motor vehicle liability and workers compensation coverage at a published minimum. Operating unregistered draws a fine per offense.
Equipment rules are detailed and enforced: amber warning lighting, roof-mast flags, door signs, mirrors, radio contact with the load, a dry chemical extinguisher, flares and hand flags, plus the oversize load signs and flags the load itself needs. Closed vans, buses, campers, motor homes and motor driven cycles may not serve as escort vehicles, and an escort actively working a load may not tow anything.
Compare beyond Louisiana
Running multi-state loads? The trucking permits by state table shows which permit families and issuing offices apply in every jurisdiction, the oversize permit costs by state table compares limits and fees across all 51 jurisdictions, and the permit cost estimator prices a specific load per state.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I apply for Louisiana truck permits?
- Through LaGeaux, the permitting system the Department of Transportation and Development Truck Permit Office runs from Baton Rouge. It carries the application, the route and the operating conditions. Weigh stations do not issue permits, so the credential has to be in hand before the move.
Does Louisiana offer an annual oversize permit?
- Yes, and more than one. A general annual permit covers a year of moves for indivisible heavy-duty equipment on the pulling unit, and a separate annual permit covers oversize dimensions within legal weight. Both sit alongside about thirty commodity permits with their own limits and terms.
Are there commodity-specific permits in Louisiana?
- Yes. The list includes agronomic and horticultural crops, bagged rice, concrete raw materials, containerized cargo, cotton modules, earthen materials, forest management equipment, forest products, harvest season loads, ready-mix concrete trucks, refuse and solid waste, single unit dump trucks, steering axles, timber cutting equipment and timber harvest loads.
Do I need insurance on file before Louisiana will issue a permit?
- Yes. The Truck Permit Office wants a certificate of insurance on file first: automobile liability at or above a published limit for trucks and trailers, general liability for off-road units, and higher three-way coverage for escort service companies. The certificate uploads as a PDF in LaGeaux and is not accepted by mail, fax or email.
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.