By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Aug 9, 2026
Washington oversize and overweight permits come from the WSDOT Commercial Vehicle Services office, and most routine ones are self-issued online around the clock. A single trip dimensional permit is $10; an overweight permit is priced per mile against the pounds of excess weight, with a $14 minimum. The state legal envelope is 8 feet 6 inches wide, 14 feet high, a 53 foot semitrailer or 40 foot single unit, 75 feet overall for a truck and trailer, and a weight table that runs all the way to 105,500 pounds, so a load that would be overweight in most states can still be legal here.
Who issues what in Washington
The permit pages
Washington-specific requirements
Washington splits carrier compliance across three agencies and one of them is a utility regulator. The Utilities and Transportation Commission still licenses intrastate freight under a 1935 motor freight carrier statute, so a Washington carrier hauling property for pay inside the state needs a commission permit no matter what the truck weighs. WSDOT Commercial Vehicle Services runs oversize and overweight permitting, with fees fixed in statute and overweight priced per mile. The Department of Licensing runs IFTA and IRP out of a single Prorate and Fuel Tax Services unit. The Washington State Patrol enforces commercial vehicle safety and is the agency behind the state DOT number requirement.
Intrastate freight is still licensed, by a utility commission
Most of the west deregulated intrastate general freight. Washington did not. RCW 81.80.070 still requires a common carrier or contract carrier permit from the Utilities and Transportation Commission before anyone transports property for compensation inside the state, and RCW 81.80.020 says the legislature intends regulation to the fullest extent 49 U.S.C. 14501 allows. The permit is granted on fitness rather than on a public convenience and necessity contest, which is why a new carrier can be permitted in about a day when the application is complete.
No weight threshold on the intrastate permit
There is no 10,001 or 26,001 pound line to hide under. RCW 81.80.070 turns on transporting property for compensation, so a pickup and trailer hauling for hire between two Washington cities needs the same permit as a tractor trailer. The exemptions in RCW 81.80.040 are drawn by geography, commodity and operation instead, and the only weight-shaped one is a vehicle under 8,000 pounds carrying nothing but legal documents at an attorney's direction.
Washington sets its own DOT number line at 16,001 pounds
Even if FMCSA's website says a carrier does not need a USDOT number, Washington law does. The commission states that a common carrier needs one when it operates vehicles of 16,001 pounds gross vehicle weight or more, or hauls hazardous materials at any weight, and that household goods carriers, solid waste carriers and every bus class need one regardless of weight. RCW 46.32.080 is the statute and the Washington State Patrol, on (360) 596-3812, is the agency behind it.
Legal gross weight runs to 105,500 pounds
The RCW 46.44.041 weight table does not stop at 80,000 pounds. Its largest figure is 105,500 pounds, reached by long many-axle groups at 86 feet or more between the first and last axles, and 80,000 pounds appears at five axles at 51 feet. Gross weight is still governed by the lesser of three overlapping criteria, tire size, axle weight and the table, with no single axle over 20,000 pounds. The consequence for a carrier moving between Washington and a neighbouring state is that a load that is legal here can be overweight the moment it crosses the line.
Overweight permits are priced per mile, not per trip
Washington does not sell a flat overweight permit. RCW 46.44.0941 sets a cost per mile against the pounds of excess weight over the legal table, from 7 cents a mile in the first band to $4.25 a mile at 100,000 pounds of excess, plus 50 cents for every additional 5,000 pound increment, with a $14 minimum. A dimensional single trip permit is a flat $10 by contrast, and the whole fee schedule is fixed in statute rather than set by WSDOT.
Pilot and escort operators have to be certified in Washington
Washington is one of the states that certifies escort operators rather than just regulating the vehicle. An operator with a Washington driver licence must hold a Washington pilot escort vehicle operator certificate card and carry it on their person while working. Certification takes an eight hour initial course from a WSDOT-approved provider, or a four hour recertification course, plus a written test passed at 80 percent, and cards renew every three years. An out-of-state operator may work under a certification from a jurisdiction WSDOT has approved.
Commuter curfews start at nine feet wide
Washington's oversize commuter curfews bite earlier than most states' do. On SR 2 between I-5 and SR 204, and on I-5 between SR 599 and SR 523, a load only nine feet wide is barred during the morning and afternoon commute windows. Ten feet is the common trigger on I-405, I-90, SR 167, SR 18 and the Tacoma, Olympia, Vancouver and Kelso corridors; Spokane's I-90 restriction starts at 11 feet 2 inches. The curfews run Monday through Friday, and a vehicle that is over width only and stays inside the listed width is excepted.
Three heavy haul industrial corridors, each with its own ceiling
RCW 46.44.0915 designates SR 509 from milepost 0.25 to 5.7 near the Port of Tacoma, US 97 from the Canadian border to milepost 331.12 at the Oroville railhead with a ceiling of 139,994 pounds, and SR 128 and SR 193 from the Idaho border to the Port of Wilma with a ceiling of 129,000 pounds. Outside the two named corridors the ceiling is 105,500 pounds gross. The permit is $100 a month or $1,000 a year, and inside a heavy haul corridor a sealed international container is treated as nondivisible.
Freight brokers need a state permit and a $5,000 bond
Washington regulates intrastate brokering at the state level, which most states leave to FMCSA. RCW 81.80.010(3) folds brokers and forwarders into the common carrier and contract carrier definitions, they apply to the commission for their own permit, and RCW 81.80.430(1) requires a surety bond or deposit of at least $5,000 conditioned on paying shippers, consignees and carriers the money of theirs that passes through the broker's hands. One person cannot be both a broker and a forwarder.
An annual regulatory fee on gross intrastate revenue
The $275 application fee is not the last money the commission asks for. Every common carrier files an annual report by May 1 stating its gross operating revenue from Washington intrastate operations in the prior calendar year, and pays a regulatory fee of 0.0025 times that figure. RCW 81.80.321 caps the rate, lets the commission lower it by general order when the motor carrier account is over-funded, and adds a 2 percent late fee plus 1 percent per month interest on a delinquent payment. Household goods carriers pay the same 0.0025 on household goods revenue.
The IFTA licence is free and the decals are the bill
Washington charges nothing for the IFTA licence itself. What a carrier pays is $10 for each set of two decals, one set per qualified vehicle per calendar year, ordered every year through License Express or on the paper decal application. Reinstating a revoked licence is $100 per licence. IFTA and IRP sit in the same Department of Licensing unit with the same two counters, in Olympia and Vancouver.
Milk moves in 85 foot doubles at 129,000 pounds
Washington writes a dairy exception into the permit statute. A continuous operation permit for two trailing units hauling fluid or liquid nondivisible milk, together over 61 feet and up to 85 feet long, costs $300 a year, and WSDOT prices the milk double product at up to 129,000 pounds. The equivalent non-milk double permit tops out at 68 feet for $100 a year.
Log tolerance permits all expire on March 31
The log tolerance permit, which lets a three axle log truck pulling a two axle pole trailer exceed the federal bridge formula, has a fixed expiry rather than a rolling year. Every permit ends March 31 and the price is prorated by the quarter it is bought in: $50 from April 1, $37.50 from July 1, $25 from October 1, and $12.50 from January 1.
Off-road miles are reported and taxed
Washington makes IFTA licensees report off-road miles for diesel vehicles, typically logging or farm road miles on roads closed to the public, and those miles attract Washington sales tax. Holding an IFTA account does not exempt a carrier from it. Column C of the Washington return carries both on-road and off-road miles while column D carries highway miles only, which is a distinction that trips up carriers used to filing elsewhere.
More Washington 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. Washington does not market the number the way California markets the CA number, but it is a real credential: RCW 81.80.305(3)(a) requires the permittee's name or business name and the permit number on the driver and passenger doors of every power unit, in letters no less than three inches high, in a contrasting colour. A carrier holding both intrastate and interstate authority may display the federal marking instead. Motor freight carrier permit numbers in the commission's own company register carry a CC prefix, for example CC063822.
- Weight distance tax: note
- Washington levies no weight-distance or weight-mile tax, which is why this state carries no the state weight-distance tax page. The Department of Licensing's own list of prorate and fuel tax laws and rules runs to the Fuel Tax Act, the aircraft fuel tax, the fuel tax rules, the multistate motor fuel tax agreement and proportional registration, with nothing resembling a mileage tax; and the department's IFTA membership packet describes the weight distance tax as an Oregon requirement that differs from other jurisdictions. A Washington carrier's distance-based obligations are the quarterly IFTA return and apportioned IRP registration, both administered by Prorate and Fuel Tax Services. Distance does drive one Washington bill, but it is a permit fee rather than a tax: RCW 46.44.0941 prices an overweight special permit per mile against the pounds of excess weight.
- ELD intrastate adoption: regulation
- WAC 446-65-010, adopted by the Washington State Patrol under RCW 46.32.020 and RCW 46.48.170
- ELD intrastate adoption: current text amendment
- WSR 26-12-032, filed May 27, 2026, effective June 27, 2026
- ELD intrastate adoption: summary: text
- Washington's intrastate hours rule belongs to the Washington State Patrol, not to the Utilities and Transportation Commission that licenses intrastate freight. WAC 446-65-010 adopts a long list of Title 49 CFR parts as they exist on April 25, 2025, for motor carriers used in intrastate or interstate commerce, so 49 CFR 395.8 and the electronic logging device requirement reach a Washington intrastate carrier on the same terms they reach an interstate one. The section then carves one class out of Part 395 by commodity and operation rather than by weight: a company with drivers of a commercial motor vehicle of any size hauling logs from the point of production, or driving in dump truck operations in intrastate commerce, runs instead on a conditional state clock of 100 air miles, 12 driving hours after at least 10 hours off duty, a 14-hour window on at least five days of any seven and 16 hours on no more than two, 80 on-duty hours in seven consecutive days or 90 in eight, a 24-hour restart, and a 12-month carrier time record. A second and separate variance in the same section switches off 49 CFR Part 391 subparts D and E, the road test and the physical qualification standards, for intrastate carriers running vehicles rated between 10,001 and 26,000 pounds that carry no placardable hazardous materials.
- ELD intrastate adoption: adopted parts: value
- The Washington state patrol adopts the following parts of Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations, as they exist on April 25, 2025, for motor carriers used in intrastate or interstate commerce in their entirety: Parts 40, 325, 350, 355, 365, 367, 372, 373, 376, 379, 380, 381, 382, 383, 385, 387, 390, 391, 392, 393, 395, 396 and 397. Part 395, hours of service of drivers, is on the list, and the list carries no carve-out for subpart B, where the electronic logging device specifications sit. Two entries on the list carry a proviso written into the adoption itself, and they are Part 391 and Part 395.
- ELD intrastate adoption: federal edition adopted: value
- The incorporation is fixed-date on its face rather than rolling: the parts are adopted as they exist on April 25, 2025. The section's own filing history shows the state patrol re-filing it to move that date, at WSR 26-12-032, WSR 25-19-049, WSR 23-17-158, WSR 21-22-087, WSR 21-08-002 and WSR 18-06-029. A federal amendment published after the stated date reaches a Washington intrastate carrier through the next filing rather than on the federal effective date.
- ELD intrastate adoption: interstate reach: value
- WAC 446-65-010(1) adopts the listed parts for motor carriers used in intrastate or interstate commerce, so the state patrol enforces the same federal parts against both. The two provisos are the only places the section separates them, and both are written for intrastate operation only. An interstate log truck or dump truck gets no relief from Part 395 in Washington.
- ELD intrastate adoption: record of duty status: value
- Part 395 is adopted in its entirety except for the log and dump truck class, so 49 CFR 395.8 applies to a Washington intrastate driver 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 part 395, no later than December 18, 2017. The four manual record-of-duty-status cases in paragraph (a)(1)(ii) are federal, and WAC 446-65-010 adds none of its own.
- ELD intrastate adoption: log and dump truck carve out: value
- Part 395 Hours of service of drivers: Except if a company has drivers of commercial motor vehicle of any size, hauling logs from the point of production or driving in dump truck operations in intrastate commerce provided that: (i) The driver must: (A) Operate within a 100 air-mile radius of the location where the driver reports to work and the driver must return to the work reporting location at the end of each duty tour; (B) Have at least 10 consecutive hours off duty separating each on-duty period; (C) Not drive: More than 12 hours following at least 10 hours off duty; or After the 14th hour after coming on duty on at least five days of any period of seven consecutive days; and After the 16th hour after coming on duty on no more than two days of any period of seven consecutive days; and After having been on duty for 80 hours in seven consecutive days if the employing motor carrier does not operate commercial motor vehicle every day of the week; or After having been on duty for 90 hours in eight consecutive days if the employing motor carrier operates commercial motor vehicle every day of the week; in any period of seven or eight consecutive days may end with the beginning of any off-duty period of 24 or more consecutive hours. (ii) The motor carrier that employs the driver must maintain and retain for a period of 12 months accurate and true time recordings showing: (A) The time the driver reports for duty each day; (B) The total number of hours the driver is on duty each day; (C) The total number of hours the driver drives each day; (D) The time the driver is released from duty each day; and (E) The total time the driver is driving and on duty for the preceding seven days.
- ELD intrastate adoption: log and dump truck carve out: ELD consequence
- Nothing in WAC 446-65-010 names the electronic logging device. The carve-out works by not adopting Part 395 for the named class and substituting a carrier time record, which is the same mechanism 49 CFR 395.1(e) uses to release a short-haul driver from 49 CFR 395.8 and 395.11. On that reading a qualifying Washington intrastate log or dump truck driver records duty time on the carrier's time record rather than on a device. The section does not say so in those words, so a carrier should confirm the reading with the Washington State Patrol Commercial Vehicle Division before taking a truck off a device.
- ELD intrastate adoption: hours of service variance: regulation
- WAC 446-65-010(1)(u), the proviso written into the state patrol's adoption of 49 CFR Part 395
- ELD intrastate adoption: driver qualification exemption: value
- 49 C.F.R. 391 subpart D (Tests), and E (Physical Qualifications and Examinations) do not apply to motor carriers operating vehicles with gross vehicle weight rating between 10,001 lbs. and 26,000 lbs. operating intrastate, and not used to transport hazardous materials in a quantity requiring placarding, and that 49 C.F.R. Sec. 391.11 (b)(1) (minimum age requirement) does not apply to drivers 18 through 20 years of age operating solely in intrastate commerce under these same conditions.
- ELD intrastate adoption: driver qualification exemption: subpart titles
- 49 CFR Part 391 is titled Qualifications of Drivers and Longer Combination Vehicle (LCV) Driver Instructors. Its subpart D is titled Tests and carries the road test; its subpart E is titled Physical Qualifications and Examinations and carries the medical certificate. 49 CFR 391.11(b)(1) is the paragraph that makes 21 the minimum age.
- ELD intrastate adoption: driver qualification exemption: authority
- 49 CFR 350.305(a)(1) and 49 CFR 350.305(e)
- ELD intrastate adoption: medical review path: value
- Where the physical qualification standards do apply, WAC 446-65-020 adds a Washington step. If the medical examiner or physician finds any physical condition listed in Title 49 C.F.R. 391.41 (b)(1) through (13) that is likely to interfere with the driver's ability to operate or control a motor vehicle safely, it is the driver's responsibility to immediately forward a copy of the driver's medical examination to the Department of Licensing, Responsibility Division, Medical Section in Olympia, which reviews and evaluates the driver's physical qualifications and sends a notice of determination. A department of licensing clearance notification is sufficient cause for the medical examiner to issue a medical examiner's certificate, and a driver who does not furnish the examination gets no clearance action at all.
- ELD intrastate adoption: applicability: value
- WAC 446-65-005 adopts the chapter's rules for commercial motor vehicles as defined by chapter 46.32 RCW, and RCW 46.32.005 draws that definition at a gross vehicle weight rating or gross combination weight rating or gross weight or gross combination weight of 4,536 kilograms or more (10,001 pounds or more), or a vehicle designed or used to transport more than eight passengers including the driver for compensation, or more than fifteen passengers including the driver and not for compensation, or a vehicle used in transporting placardable hazardous materials. A recreational vehicle used for noncommercial purposes is not a commercial motor vehicle, and the statute says that includes a vehicle towing a horse trailer for a noncommercial purpose.
- ELD intrastate adoption: agricultural season: value
- WAC 446-65-010(2) says that as provided in Part 395, exemption for agricultural transporters, the harvest dates are defined in RCW 46.32.130. That statute sets the planting and harvesting seasons, for the purposes of 49 C.F.R. Sec. 395.2 (2018) and 49 C.F.R. Sec. 395.1 (2018) relating to the exemption for agricultural transporters, at January 1st through December 31st of each year. The federal agricultural exception therefore runs the whole year in Washington.
- ELD intrastate adoption: short haul reference: value
- 49 CFR 395.1 is adopted with no Washington proviso, so the 150 air-mile short-haul exception releases a Washington intrastate driver from 49 CFR 395.8 and 395.11 on the federal terms: within a 150 air-mile radius (172.6 statute miles) of the normal work reporting location, returned to it and released from work within 14 consecutive hours, with at least 10 consecutive hours off duty separating each 14 hours on duty, and 6 months of accurate and true carrier time records.
- ELD intrastate adoption: commerce test: value
- Both provisos are written for intrastate commerce, and 49 CFR 390.5, which WAC 446-65-010 adopts, supplies the test. Interstate commerce includes trade, traffic, or transportation 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 a State which the interstate definition does not describe. Two Washington addresses are not enough on their own. A load moving between them as part of transportation that originated or terminates outside Washington is interstate, and neither Washington proviso reaches it.
- ELD intrastate adoption: enforcing agency: value
- The Washington State Patrol writes and enforces this chapter. WAC 446-65-005 says the state patrol adopts the rules by authority of RCW 46.32.020, which lets the chief adopt reasonable rules on drivers' qualifications, hours of service and inspections, and RCW 46.32.080 puts commercial motor vehicle safety enforcement with the state patrol. Questions about how either proviso is enforced go to the Commercial Vehicle Division headquarters in Olympia on (360) 596-3800, not to the Utilities and Transportation Commission that issues the intrastate freight permit.
- ELD intrastate adoption: notes
- Authored 2026-08-09 by reading WAC 446-65-005, WAC 446-65-010 and WAC 446-65-020 and RCW 46.32.005, RCW 46.32.020 and RCW 46.32.130 in full at app.leg.wa.gov, the Washington State Legislature's own publisher of the RCW and the WAC, and 49 CFR 350.305, 390.5, 391.11, 395.1, 395.3 and 395.8 in full through the eCFR versioner API for the August 6, 2026 issue of Title 49. Four things the rollout brief left short are recorded above. First, the log and dump truck carve-out is longer than a 100 air-mile radius and a 12-hour driving limit: it also carries a 14-hour window on at least five days of any seven and 16 hours on no more than two, weekly limits of 80 hours in seven consecutive days and 90 in eight, a 24-hour restart, and a 12-month carrier time record that has to show the hours driven each day. Second, the carve-out is conditional rather than a blanket exemption, so a driver who breaks any one condition is back under Part 395 in full for that operation. Third, the weekly figures are not the ones 49 CFR 350.305(d)(2) enumerates; FMCSA's compatibility determination for Washington could not be read this pass because fmcsa.dot.gov refuses automated requests, so the difference is recorded as a difference between two texts with no assertion about how they reconcile. Fourth, WAC 446-65-010 nowhere uses the words electronic logging device: the ELD consequence of the carve-out follows from Part 395 not being adopted for the named class, and eld_consequence above says exactly that rather than asserting an exemption the rule does not spell out.
ELD intrastate adoption: hours of service variance: items
| Name | Intrastate | Federal interstate | Regulation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Off duty before driving | Have at least 10 consecutive hours off duty separating each on-duty period. | A driver may not drive without first taking 10 consecutive hours off duty. | WAC 446-65-010(1)(u)(i)(B), against 49 CFR 395.3(a)(1) |
| Driving time | The driver must not drive more than 12 hours following at least 10 hours off duty. | A driver may drive a total of 11 hours during the period specified in paragraph (a)(2) of this section. | WAC 446-65-010(1)(u)(i)(C), against 49 CFR 395.3(a)(3)(i) |
| Driving window | The driver must not drive after the 14th hour after coming on duty on at least five days of any period of seven consecutive days, and must not drive after the 16th hour after coming on duty on no more than two days of any period of seven consecutive days. | A driver may not drive after a period of 14 consecutive hours after coming on-duty following 10 consecutive hours off-duty. | WAC 446-65-010(1)(u)(i)(C), against 49 CFR 395.3(a)(2) |
| Weekly on-duty limit | The driver must not drive after having been on duty for 80 hours in seven consecutive days if the employing motor carrier does not operate commercial motor vehicle every day of the week, or after having been on duty for 90 hours in eight consecutive days if the employing motor carrier operates commercial motor vehicle every day of the week. | No driving after having been on duty 60 hours in any period of 7 consecutive days if the employing motor carrier does not operate commercial motor vehicles every day of the week, or 70 hours in any period of 8 consecutive days if it does. | WAC 446-65-010(1)(u)(i)(C), against 49 CFR 395.3(b) |
| Restart | Any period of seven or eight consecutive days may end with the beginning of any off-duty period of 24 or more consecutive hours. | Any period of 7 consecutive days may end with the beginning of an off-duty period of 34 or more consecutive hours, and so may any period of 8 consecutive days. | WAC 446-65-010(1)(u)(i)(C), against 49 CFR 395.3(c) |
| Operating radius | The driver must operate within a 100 air-mile radius of the location where the driver reports to work, and must return to the work reporting location at the end of each duty tour. | Part 395 sets no radius on an interstate driver. The 150 air-mile radius (172.6 statute miles) in 49 CFR 395.1(e)(1)(i) is a condition of an exception from 49 CFR 395.8 and 395.11, not a limit on where a driver may go. | WAC 446-65-010(1)(u)(i)(A), against 49 CFR 395.1(e)(1)(i) |
| 30-minute rest break | The conditions listed in WAC 446-65-010(1)(u) contain no rest-break requirement. | Except for drivers who qualify for either of the short-haul exceptions in 49 CFR 395.1(e)(1) or (2), driving is not permitted if more than 8 hours of driving time have passed without at least a consecutive 30-minute interruption in driving status. | WAC 446-65-010(1)(u), against 49 CFR 395.3(a)(3)(ii) |
| Duty record | The motor carrier that employs the driver must maintain and retain for a period of 12 months accurate and true time recordings showing the time the driver reports for duty each day, the total number of hours the driver is on duty each day, the total number of hours the driver drives each day, the time the driver is released from duty each day, and the total time the driver is driving and on duty for the preceding seven days. | A motor carrier operating commercial motor vehicles must install and require each of its drivers to use an ELD to record the driver's duty status in accordance with subpart B of part 395, no later than December 18, 2017. | WAC 446-65-010(1)(u)(ii), against 49 CFR 395.8(a)(1)(i) |
The permit office and the self-issue system
Commercial Vehicle Services sits inside WSDOT and runs the permit program that issues most oversize and overweight permits, open every day of the week at any hour. There are three ways in: self-issue online, buy through a private permit agent, or visit a WSDOT permit office. Permits are not sold at the ports of entry, and district counters take cash or check rather than cards, so call before making the trip.
A WSDOT permit authorises nothing on county roads or city streets. Use of those roadways is subject to approval by the jurisdiction that maintains them, which matters on the last mile of most heavy moves.
The permit types Washington issues
A single trip permit covers one overlegal load. Washington prices the dimensional version flat and the overweight version by the mile against the pounds of excess weight, which is unusual, and it is why an overweight quote changes with route length.
Washington sells no single blanket annual envelope permit. It sells a menu of continuous operation permits, each tied to a configuration or a commodity: longer single trailers, longer doubles, milk doubles, three and four axle fixed load vehicles, dimensional nondivisible loads, manufactured housing, tarping systems, empty apple bins and rancher hay, log tolerance, tow trucks by class, collection trucks, and the heavy haul corridors. Dimensional continuous permits may run for consecutive months up to a year.
Our Washington oversize and overweight page carries the fee schedules, escort thresholds and the superload process.
Commodity permits worth knowing about
Washington writes several commodity exceptions into its permit rules, and a carrier in the right line of work saves money by buying the right one. Log tolerance permits let a three axle log truck pulling a two axle pole trailer exceed the federal bridge formula, and all of them expire March 31 with the price prorated by the quarter of purchase. Empty apple bin and rancher hay permits allow extra height and can lift the front height pole escort that would otherwise apply. Farm implements are legal at a generous width with no permit at all, and wider still with one, at a farmer rate and a dealer rate.
The milk double is the outlier: two trailing units hauling fluid milk run longer and heavier than any other double Washington permits.
Curfews, holidays and local restrictions
Commuter curfews run Monday through Friday on named urban corridors, and they bite at narrower widths than most states use. Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Vancouver, Kelso and Spokane each have their own corridors and windows, and WSDOT publishes the current list online and as an addendum to the permit. A vehicle that is over width only and stays inside the listed width is excepted.
Overdimensional loads, and overweight vehicles that cannot hold the speed of surrounding traffic, are barred on New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, and from noon on the day before each of those. Movement also stops when visibility drops or when the road is hazardous, and permitted moves are prohibited where traction advisory signs are posted.
Compare beyond Washington
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 Washington truck permits?
- Through WSDOT Commercial Vehicle Services. Most oversize and overweight permits are self-issued online at any hour, and a carrier can also buy through a private permit agent or at a WSDOT permit office. The ports of entry do not sell them.
Does Washington offer an annual oversize permit?
- Not as a single blanket envelope. Washington sells a menu of continuous operation permits, each tied to a configuration or a commodity, and dimensional ones may be issued for consecutive months up to a year. Pick the product that matches your equipment rather than hunting for one catch-all permit.
Does a WSDOT permit cover city streets and county roads?
- No. A WSDOT permit reaches state highways. Use of county roads and city streets is subject to approval by the jurisdiction that maintains them, so a move that ends on a city street needs a second conversation before it is booked.
When can permitted loads not move in Washington?
- On seven named holidays and from noon on the day before each, and during weekday commuter windows on the urban corridors WSDOT lists. Movement also stops when visibility falls below the published distance, or when snow, ice, mudslide, wind or flooding makes the road hazardous.
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.