By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Sep 26, 2026
The UDOT Motor Carrier Division sells oversize and overweight permits on single-trip, semiannual, and annual terms through its online Motor Carrier Services system, with every fee fixed by Utah Code 72-7-406 and the operating rules carried in Utah Administrative Rule R909-2 (effective March 16, 2026). Legal no-permit limits are 8 feet 6 inches wide, 14 feet high, and 80,000 pounds gross, with length by configuration; a $30 single-trip oversize permit runs up to 96 continuous hours, and the overweight non-divisible tiers run from $60 single trip to $540 annual at 125,000 pounds, above which a per-mile superload formula applies ($0.012 per mile for each 1,000 pounds above 80,000, minimum $80, maximum $540). Escorts, curfews, holiday stops, and weather shutdowns are all tabulated in the rule.
Who issues what in Utah
The permit pages
Utah-specific requirements
Utah runs trucking compliance through two agencies and no state authority credential at all. UDOT's Motor Carrier Division regulates intrastate safety (adopting the federal safety rules through R909-1), sells every oversize and overweight permit under R909-2, certifies pilot escort drivers, and staffs ports of entry; the Utah State Tax Commission registers vehicles through the DMV, maintains IRP apportioned registration through Motor Carrier Services, and administers IFTA plus the intrastate Special Fuel User regime. There is no state carrier number, no weight-distance tax, and no state operating authority to buy: the USDOT number UDOT requires for intrastate carriers is the identifier on every credential.
No state operating authority at all
Utah sells no intrastate operating authority. UDOT's Motor Carrier Operating Authority page walks through the federal FMCSA test (OP-1 at $300, BOC-3, insurance) and treats intrastate commerce as a trigger for the federal safety rules plus state and local requirements; the state-side credential is combined-gross-weight registration under Utah Code 41-1a-201 through the DMV.
USDOT number required for intrastate carriers
UDOT requires companies operating commercial vehicles hauling cargo or passengers in intrastate as well as interstate commerce to be registered with FMCSA and to carry a USDOT number, with the free MCS-150 updated every two years. The USDOT number is the only carrier identifier in the Utah regime.
Intrastate drivers at 18, hazmat and 16-plus passengers at 21
Utah excepts the federal interstate 21-year minimum (49 CFR 391.11(b)(1)) for intrastate drivers: wholly intrastate drivers need only be 18, except placarded hazmat or 16 or more passengers requires 21, and the intrastate commercial vehicle threshold drops to 16,001 pounds GVWR or GCWR for under-18 drivers.
Insurance minimums written into the safety rule
R909-1-4 pins intrastate private carriers at $750,000 liability and puts a $1,000,000 minimum with an MCS-90 endorsement on any quantity of the listed oil, hazardous waste, hazardous material, and hazardous substances for interstate and intrastate, for-hire and private carriers alike; licensed childcare passenger carriers owe $1,000,000 or $1,500,000 by seat count under 72-9-103(3).
96-hour everything
Utah clocks short credentials in 96-hour units: the single trip oversize and overweight permits are valid for not more than 96 continuous hours (72-7-406), the temporary registration permit for entering vehicles runs 96 hours ($25 single unit, $50 multiple units, 41-1a-301(12)(b)), and the special fuel user trip permit runs 96 hours at $25 (59-13-303).
Superload fee is a formula, not a table price
Above 125,000 pounds (or beyond the permitted axle maxima) only a single-trip permit is available and the fee is computed per mile: $0.012 per mile for each 1,000 pounds above 80,000, with an $80 floor, a $540 ceiling, miles rounded up to 50-mile increments, pounds to 25,000-pound increments, and the dollar amount to the nearest $10.
Two escort regimes by road class and clock
Utah's escort table splits four ways, daylight versus non-daylight and freeway versus secondary highway: daylight on a freeway needs one pilot over 14 feet wide while a secondary highway needs one at over 12 feet; at night the caps invert to 12 to 14 feet on freeways and up to 12 feet on secondary roads, with anything beyond not authorized at night; 2 pilots plus at least 2 police escorts arrive above 17 to 20 feet wide, 175 feet long, or 17 feet 6 inches high.
Wasatch Front rush-hour curfew
Loads over 12 feet wide, 105 feet long, or 14 feet 6 inches high may not travel Monday through Friday 6 to 9 a.m. and 3:30 to 6 p.m. on the urban corridor: I-15 south of Perry (Exit 357), Weber, Davis, and Salt Lake County highways, Utah County north of Exit 261, SR 68 north of milepost 16, I-80 across Salt Lake County, and I-84 west of milepost 94.
Wind, snow, and visibility shutdowns
Divisible combinations (LCVs, tractor-trailers over 81 feet cargo length, truck and two trailers over 92 feet) stop when wind exceeds 45 mph, any snow or ice is on the roadway, or visibility drops under 1,000 feet; non-divisible loads over 10 feet wide, 105 feet long, or with 10 feet of overhang stop on snow, ice, or visibility alone.
Pilot escort drivers must be Utah-certified
Pilot escort drivers domiciled in Utah complete a division-authorized Utah certification course (four-year certification, one four-year recertification by mail or online, 80 percent pass score), carry $750,000 combined single limit insurance, and drive vehicles meeting wheelbase, sign, light, and equipment standards; out-of-state drivers ride on their home state's credential if the course meets the minimums endorsed by the Specialized Carriers and Rigging Association, the Federal Highway Administration, and the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance. Instructor list and reciprocity: (801) 965-4892.
Special fuel user regime for intrastate-only carriers
Carriers whose qualified motor vehicles never leave Utah do not file IFTA: they carry the Special Fuel User permit, whose annual decals are free, whose permit expires December 31 and is honored to February 28, and whose 96-hour trip permit costs $25.
Special truck equipment pays half registration
Concrete pumper trucks, five-ton-plus cranes, and well boring trucks classified as special truck equipment get a 50 percent registration fee reduction and permit access above legal dimensions with an approved profile sheet on board.
Company name lettered on both sides
Utah Code 72-9-105 requires the motor carrier company name lettered on both sides of every vehicle used to transport persons or property, legible from 50 feet; farm intrastate vehicles are exempt, and 12,001 to 14,000 pound vehicles are exempt from painting their gross laden weight.
Port-of-entry bypass by CSA score
Frequent local carriers can bypass designated ports of entry with a bypass decal program gated on Safety Measurement System BASIC thresholds, expiring December 31 each year and requiring certified scale tickets in the vehicle; authorized bypass routes include Daniels, Kanab, Perry, and Monticello ports with route-specific limits.
Idaho farm-plate reciprocity
Farm-plated vehicles hauling their own equipment or product travel between Utah and Idaho without IRP registration under a bilateral reciprocity agreement.
County diesel emissions testing barely touches heavy trucks
Registration emissions testing exists only in Salt Lake, Davis, Utah, Weber, and Cache Counties, and the heavy-diesel class sits outside it almost everywhere: Davis, Cache, and Weber Counties exempt diesel vehicles over 14,001 lbs GVWR, Utah County exempts diesel over 14,001 lbs GVWR with its diesel testing window closed at model years 1998 through 2021, and Salt Lake County exempts diesel model year 2013 and older at 14,001 lbs GVWR and greater, leaving only model year 2014 and newer heavy diesel inside its biennial test. There is no state opacity program for CDL-class trucks.
Annual safety inspection for every commercial vehicle
Regardless of weight, every commercial vehicle in Utah has carried an annual safety inspection requirement since January 1, 2018.
The Utah permit system
- Apply or log in (UDOT Motor Carrier Division online permitting system (Motor Carrier Services customer login); permits are purchased online with a major credit card before operating in Utah)
- app.udot.utah.gov/public/mcs/f?p=155:1:::::
More Utah rules that catch carriers out
- State carrier number: detail
- Recorded once in the state intrastate authority page (B1) and repeated here as the cross-reference. Utah issues no branded carrier number; UDOT requires the federal USDOT number for intrastate carriers, and 72-9-105(3) only authorizes the department to assign identification numbers in conjunction with the USDOT program.
- Weight distance tax: note
- Utah levies no weight-distance or highway-use tax. Its distance-based obligations are the apportioned IRP fees administered by Motor Carrier Services at the DMV and the fuel-use taxes under IFTA or the Special Fuel User permit administered by the Tax Commission; neither the Motor Carrier registration-credentials pages nor the Motor Carrier Safety Act contain a mileage tax.
- ELD intrastate adoption: regulation
- R909-1-3(1), Utah Administrative Rule (under Utah Code 72-9-103 and 72-9-301)
- ELD intrastate adoption: summary
- Utah adopts the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations for intrastate carriers in a single incorporation: 49 CFR Parts 350 through 384, Part 385.4, Parts 387 through 399, and Part 40, as amended by the Federal Register through June 22, 2023. Because the ELD rule (49 CFR 395, including 395.8 and 395.24) predates that cutoff, electronic logging applies to Utah intrastate carriers on federal terms, with the rule's own stated exceptions. The adoption date is static, not forward-rolling, so future federal amendments are not picked up automatically.
- ELD intrastate adoption: exceptions
- R909-1-3(1) excepts 49 CFR 391.11(b)(1), the interstate 21-year age minimum, and 391.49, the Skill Performance Evaluation certificate for limb impairment, as they apply to intrastate drivers only. Instead, a driver involved wholly in intrastate commerce must be at least 18 years old, and at least 21 when transporting placarded amounts of hazardous materials or carrying 16 or more passengers including the driver (R909-1-3(4)); physical-qualification exceptions for intrastate drivers run under Driver License Division rule R708-34 (R909-1-3(3)).
- ELD intrastate adoption: class exclusion
- The adopted rules exclude passenger vehicles designed to transport 12 or fewer passengers including the driver with a manufacturer's GVWR or GCWR under 13,000 pounds, matching the intrastate commercial vehicle definition in 72-9-102(3).
- Intrastate driver age: detail
- R909-1-3(4): a driver involved wholly in intrastate commerce must be at least 18 years old, and at least 21 when transporting placarded amounts of hazardous materials or carrying 16 or more passengers including the driver. Correspondingly, 72-9-102(3)(a)(ii) pulls the intrastate commercial vehicle threshold down to a GVWR or GCWR of 16,001 or more pounds when the driver is under 18.
- Port of entry bypass: summary
- Utah runs a port-of-entry bypass permit program under R909-2-32: multi-trip carriers (two or more daily trips or a minimum of ten weekly trips near a port of entry) with clean CSA safety scores receive bypass decals per vehicle and a certificate carried in the vehicle, reapplying annually with privileges expiring December 31 of the application year.
- Port of entry bypass: eligibility
- Bypass qualification is gated by the carrier's Safety Measurement System BASIC scores against the Table 7 intervention thresholds (for example, Unsafe Driving 65 percent General, 60 percent HM, 50 percent Passenger), and carriers meeting the high-risk definition (a Crash, Fatigue, or Unsafe BASIC at or above 85 percent plus one other BASIC above threshold, or any four or more BASICs above threshold) are ineligible. Approved vehicles must have an electronically printed certified scale ticket available for inspection.
- Special truck equipment: summary
- Special truck equipment (concrete pumper trucks, cranes with lift capacity of five tons or more, and well boring trucks) is eligible for a 50 percent registration fee reduction under R909-2-31(3), and may be issued oversize or overweight permits with an approved profile sheet carried in the vehicle when axle limits or bridge or gross weights are exceeded.
- Vehicle lettering: summary
- Utah Code 72-9-105 requires a motor carrier to have the name of the motor carrier company lettered on both sides of any vehicle used for transportation of persons or property, legible from at least 50 feet and free from obstruction; an intrastate commercial vehicle primarily used by a farmer for the production of agricultural products is exempt.
- Lcv authority: summary
- Longer combination vehicles need separate LCV authority from the Motor Carrier Division before operating on Utah freeways: a truck and trailer configuration 88 to 92 feet, a truck and two trailers 92 to 95 feet, or a tractor with two or three trailers over 81 feet of cargo carrying length (R909-2-20 and the UDOT Oversize & Overweight Provisions page). Applications are filed in the online permitting system with up to four requested routes (interstates and freeways only, a maximum of one traveled mile off and on for food, fuel, and terminal or delivery access), and an LCV may not carry a non-divisible load over 8 feet 6 inches wide or 14 feet 6 inches high.
- Milk products overweight: summary
- Vehicles transporting milk products may exceed the 80,000 pound gross weight limit or the maximum bridge formula weight with an appropriate non-divisible permit; milk hauled in multiple trailers must abide by the divisible requirements and does not get the exception (R909-2-22(6)).
- Tow truck permit limits: summary
- Tow trucks may purchase a semiannual or annual non-divisible oversize permit up to 10 feet wide and 165 feet in length; loads exceeding those dimensions need a single-trip permit (R909-2-16(5)). A tow truck towing vehicles may travel outside daylight hours without a certified pilot escort if total length is 120 feet or less and total width is 10 feet or less (R909-2-14(1)(f)), and tow trucks are not required to carry gross weight registration covering the towed vehicle unless 80,000 pounds is exceeded (UDOT Utah Intrastate Registration page).
- Natural gas electric weight allowance: summary
- A vehicle fueled primarily by natural gas or powered primarily by electric battery power may exceed any vehicle weight limit, up to a maximum gross vehicle weight of 82,000 pounds, by the difference between the weight of its fuel or battery system and a comparable diesel tank and fueling system (R909-2-5(5)).
- Utility pole permits: summary
- Utility poles may be transported up to 120 feet overall including overhangs on a single-trip, semiannual, or annual permit issued to the trailer transporting them; poles over 120 feet need a single-trip non-divisible oversize permit (R909-2-29).
- Staggered IRP renewals: summary
- Utah IRP fleets renew on staggered quarter-end registration periods: Form TC-852 lists registration periods ending March 31, June 30, September 30, or December 31, while mileage reporting for the apportionment runs on the July 1 through June 30 fiscal year.
- Idaho farm reciprocity: summary
- Utah has reciprocity agreements with Idaho covering farm-plated vehicles hauling their own farm equipment or product, letting Utah-plated vehicles travel in Idaho and Idaho-plated vehicles travel into Utah without an IRP registration (UDOT IRP page).
- UCR participation: summary
- Utah carriers register under the Unified Carrier Registration through the national UCR information and payment websites, which the UDOT UCR page links directly; motor carriers, private motor carriers, leasing companies, freight forwarders, and brokers that indicated (or should have indicated) interstate commerce with FMCSA must register and pay the appropriate fee.
The permit office and the online system
The Motor Carrier Division sells permits through its online Motor Carrier Services system, paid by credit card before you operate in Utah. Customer Service handles permit requests, construction restrictions, routing assistance, and port bypass questions, with published phone lines and hours. Loads past the largest dimensions are processed only during business hours and can take up to the published review window for approval.
The permit types Utah issues
Oversize permits come in single-trip, semiannual, and annual terms, priced by statute, and the annual term is capped by dimension. Oversize and overweight permits for non-divisible loads tier by gross weight across the same terms, a parallel tier set exists for divisible loads that meet the eligibility rule, and past the heavy gross ceiling only a single trip is available, priced by the mileage formula.
Past those, the rule book carries special regimes: utility poles to a published length on the trailer's own permit, tow trucks with their own dimension caps and a night-move exception, milk products above the gross limit with a permit, and longer combination vehicles on their own authority. Our Utah oversize and overweight page carries the full fee tables, escort thresholds, and the superload process.
Curfews, holidays, and weather
The Wasatch Front carries rush-hour curfews: loads past the published dimension lines may not travel the urban corridor during the morning and evening windows on weekdays. Major holidays stop the largest loads from the afternoon before through the morning after, with a published pattern around Monday holidays.
Weather closes things down too. Long divisible combinations stop above the published wind line, and non-divisible loads past their dimension lines stop on snow, ice, or low visibility. These rules supersede anything else in the rule book, so check conditions before each move rather than trusting the permit copy.
Compare beyond Utah
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.