The Utah answer
Legal limits
First escort trigger
- Width
- 12' or morerev. · read · lowest across road classes
- Height
- over 16'rev. · read · lowest across road classes
- Length
- over 105'rev. · read · lowest across road classes
- Rear overhang
- over 20'rev. · read · lowest across road classes
- Gross weight
- No trigger published
What the paper costs
- Single-trip base
- $0 · caveat ↓rev. · read
- Transaction / card
- None published · caveat ↓rev. · read
- How overweight is priced
- Priced by the milerev. · read
- Superload above
- The state publishes none
The short version: a Utah single-trip permit starts at $0 before bands, overweight and the transaction charge; an escort is first required at 12' or more wide; and the load becomes a superload at a gross weight the state does not publish. Everything below carries the Utah document it came from, that document's own revision date, and the date we read it.
1. Where the load goes next
The jurisdictions this one borders, each chip carrying the fact that decides whether that crossing is the expensive one — so the row is itself a small comparison. A multi-state lane is the actual job, and from here it is one click per state rather than a return to an alphabetical index.
2. Utah legal limits
Anything over one of these needs a permit. Every value links to the document that sets it.
| Measure | Legal limit |
|---|---|
| Width | 8'6"rev. · read R909-2-4(1)(b): "width: eight feet six inches". Corroborates the statute from the freshest primary operational document in this corpus. |
| Height | 14'rev. · read R909-2-4(1)(a): "height: 14 feet". |
| Semitrailer length | 53'rev. · read R909-2-4 Table 1: "Semitrailer 53' Measured from bumper to bumper." The full table also sets a truck tractor and a straight truck at 45 ft, a full trailer at 53 ft, doubles and triples at 61 ft measured trailer-front to trailer-rear with the tractor excluded, a truck and one or two trailers at 65 ft, a stringer steered combination at 80 ft, a saddle mount at 97 ft and a drawbar at 15 ft. |
| Overall length | None published |
| Kingpin to rear axle | None published |
| Front overhang | 3'rev. · read R909-2-4 Table 1: "Front overhang 3' *** Measured from the front of the power unit." |
| Rear overhang | 6'rev. · read R909-2-4 Table 1: "Rear overhang 6' Measured from the rear of the bed or body of the vehicle." |
| Gross weight | 80,000 lbrev. · read R909-2-5 Table 2: "Gross Vehicle Weight 80,000 pounds". |
| Single axle | 20,000 lbrev. · read R909-2-5 Table 2: "Single Axle 20,000 pounds". |
| Tandem axle | 34,000 lbrev. · read R909-2-5 Table 2: "Tandem Axle 34,000 pounds". |
3. The Utah escort ladder
Not one number per dimension — the whole staircase. Each row is a condition the state actually publishes, what it requires when that condition holds, and the clause it comes from. Where a rule requires escorts and the source states no number, the row says that in the source's own words rather than reporting no requirement.
| When | What is required | Source |
|---|---|---|
| the road is “secondary highway” and none of: the move travels in darkness and width over 12' or overall length over 105' or front overhang over 20' or rear overhang over 20' | 1 certified escort |
"Effective Date: 03/16/2026"; "Date of Last C…rev. · read |
| the road is “freeway” and the move travels in darkness and width from 12' to 14' | 1 certified escort |
"Effective Date: 03/16/2026"; "Date of Last C…rev. · read |
| the road is “secondary highway” and the move travels in darkness and not (width over 12') | 1 certified escort |
"Effective Date: 03/16/2026"; "Date of Last C…rev. · read |
| the road is “freeway” and none of: the move travels in darkness and width over 14' or overall length over 120' or front overhang over 20' or rear overhang over 20' | 1 certified escort |
"Effective Date: 03/16/2026"; "Date of Last C…rev. · read |
| the road is “secondary highway” and none of: the move travels in darkness and width over 14' or overall length over 120' or height over 16' | 2 certified escorts |
"Effective Date: 03/16/2026"; "Date of Last C…rev. · read |
| the road is “freeway” and none of: the move travels in darkness and width over 16' or height over 16' | 2 certified escorts |
"Effective Date: 03/16/2026"; "Date of Last C…rev. · read |
| the road is “secondary highway” and none of: the move travels in darkness and width over 17' or overall length over 175' or height over 17'6" | 2 certified escorts1 police escort in front1 police escort behind |
"Effective Date: 03/16/2026"; "Date of Last C…rev. · read |
| the road is “freeway” and none of: the move travels in darkness and width over 20' or overall length over 175' or height over 17'6" | 2 certified escorts1 police escort in front1 police escort behind |
"Effective Date: 03/16/2026"; "Date of Last C…rev. · read |
| front overhang over 20' | 1 certified escort1 in front |
"Effective Date: 03/16/2026"; "Date of Last C…rev. · read |
| rear overhang over 20' | 1 certified escort1 behind |
"Effective Date: 03/16/2026"; "Date of Last C…rev. · read |
The first trigger in each dimension
| Measurement | First escort trigger | First police escort trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Width | 12' or morerev. · read · varies by road class | over 17'rev. · read · varies by road class |
| Height | over 16'rev. · read · varies by road class | over 17'6"rev. · read · varies by road class |
| Length | over 105'rev. · read · varies by road class | over 175'rev. · read · varies by road class |
| Rear overhang | over 20'rev. · read · varies by road class | None published |
| Gross weight | None published | None published |
The same rules restated in plain sentences20 rules
- Daylight, freeway: over 14 ft wide, 120 ft long or 20 ft of overhang — one pilot escort — "Effective Date: 03/16/2026"; "Date of Last Change: March 16, 2026"; "Notice of Continuation: April 30, 2024". Table 3 (escorts) was reconstructed from the official HTML's absolute pixel offsets — see the module header. rev. · read
- Daylight, secondary highway: over 12 ft wide, 105 ft long or 20 ft of overhang — one pilot escort — "Effective Date: 03/16/2026"; "Date of Last Change: March 16, 2026"; "Notice of Continuation: April 30, 2024". Table 3 (escorts) was reconstructed from the official HTML's absolute pixel offsets — see the module header. rev. · read
- Daylight, freeway: over 16 ft wide or 16 ft high — two pilot escorts — "Effective Date: 03/16/2026"; "Date of Last Change: March 16, 2026"; "Notice of Continuation: April 30, 2024". Table 3 (escorts) was reconstructed from the official HTML's absolute pixel offsets — see the module header. rev. · read
- Daylight, secondary highway: over 14 ft wide, 120 ft long or 16 ft high — two pilot escorts — "Effective Date: 03/16/2026"; "Date of Last Change: March 16, 2026"; "Notice of Continuation: April 30, 2024". Table 3 (escorts) was reconstructed from the official HTML's absolute pixel offsets — see the module header. rev. · read
- Daylight, freeway: over 20 ft wide, 175 ft long or 17 ft 6 in high — two pilot escorts and at least two police escorts — "Effective Date: 03/16/2026"; "Date of Last Change: March 16, 2026"; "Notice of Continuation: April 30, 2024". Table 3 (escorts) was reconstructed from the official HTML's absolute pixel offsets — see the module header. rev. · read
- Daylight, secondary highway: over 17 ft wide, 175 ft long or 17 ft 6 in high — two pilot escorts and at least two police escorts — "Effective Date: 03/16/2026"; "Date of Last Change: March 16, 2026"; "Notice of Continuation: April 30, 2024". Table 3 (escorts) was reconstructed from the official HTML's absolute pixel offsets — see the module header. rev. · read
- Non-daylight, freeway: 12 ft to 14 ft wide — one pilot escort — "Effective Date: 03/16/2026"; "Date of Last Change: March 16, 2026"; "Notice of Continuation: April 30, 2024". Table 3 (escorts) was reconstructed from the official HTML's absolute pixel offsets — see the module header. rev. · read
- Non-daylight, secondary highway: up to 12 ft wide — one pilot escort — "Effective Date: 03/16/2026"; "Date of Last Change: March 16, 2026"; "Notice of Continuation: April 30, 2024". Table 3 (escorts) was reconstructed from the official HTML's absolute pixel offsets — see the module header. rev. · read
- Non-daylight, freeway: over 14 ft wide, 105 ft long, 14 ft 6 in high or 10 ft of overhang — not authorized — "Effective Date: 03/16/2026"; "Date of Last Change: March 16, 2026"; "Notice of Continuation: April 30, 2024". Table 3 (escorts) was reconstructed from the official HTML's absolute pixel offsets — see the module header. rev. · read
- Non-daylight, secondary highway: over 12 ft wide, 105 ft long, 14 ft 6 in high or 10 ft of overhang — not authorized — "Effective Date: 03/16/2026"; "Date of Last Change: March 16, 2026"; "Notice of Continuation: April 30, 2024". Table 3 (escorts) was reconstructed from the official HTML's absolute pixel offsets — see the module header. rev. · read
- Front overhang over 20 ft — the pilot escort rides in front — "Effective Date: 03/16/2026"; "Date of Last Change: March 16, 2026"; "Notice of Continuation: April 30, 2024". Table 3 (escorts) was reconstructed from the official HTML's absolute pixel offsets — see the module header. rev. · read
- Rear overhang over 20 ft — the pilot escort rides behind — "Effective Date: 03/16/2026"; "Date of Last Change: March 16, 2026"; "Notice of Continuation: April 30, 2024". Table 3 (escorts) was reconstructed from the official HTML's absolute pixel offsets — see the module header. rev. · read
- Table 3 applies only to non-divisible loads — "Effective Date: 03/16/2026"; "Date of Last Change: March 16, 2026"; "Notice of Continuation: April 30, 2024". Table 3 (escorts) was reconstructed from the official HTML's absolute pixel offsets — see the module header. rev. · read
- Police escort — trigger published, count set by the Highway Patrol, rate published nowhere — UDOT — Oversize Non-Divisible Load Provisions undated document · read
- Overweight at or under 125,000 lb — § 72-7-406(6) and (7) both claim the load — "Amended by Chapter 457, 2024 General Session"; the page prints no effective-date banner, so the amendment session is the finest date available. THE ONLY SOURCE FOR ANY UTAH FEE — R909-2 publishes none. rev. · read
- Height between 14 ft and 14 ft 6 in — statute and rule disagree about the multi-trip ceiling — "Amended by Chapter 457, 2024 General Session"; the page prints no effective-date banner, so the amendment session is the finest date available. THE ONLY SOURCE FOR ANY UTAH FEE — R909-2 publishes none. rev. · read
- Over 17 ft wide, 17 ft 6 in high or 300,000 lb — manual processing, up to 14 days — undated; the only date on the page is a "Copyright © 2026 State of Utah" footer, which is a render stamp undated document · read
- Dual-lane trailers over 10 ft wide — a Structures Division clearance, minimum 14 business days, every trip — undated; the only date on the page is a "Copyright © 2026 State of Utah" footer, which is a render stamp undated document · read
- Over 18 ft high — a route survey MAY be required — UDOT — Oversize Non-Divisible Load Provisions undated document · read
- Curfew, holiday and weather restrictions — the rule joins its three dimension tests with "and" — "Effective Date: 03/16/2026"; "Date of Last Change: March 16, 2026"; "Notice of Continuation: April 30, 2024". Table 3 (escorts) was reconstructed from the official HTML's absolute pixel offsets — see the module header. rev. · read
4. Utah single-trip permit fees
| Charge | Amount |
|---|---|
| Single-trip base | $0rev. · read § 72-7-406 prices three single-trip products — $30 oversize, $60 oversize-and-overweight to 125,000 lb, and the (7) formula above it — and adds nothing to any of them. R909-2 publishes no fee at all. § 72-7-406(4) does make the permit invalid unless the vehicle is "properly registered for the weight authorized by the permit" or "registered for a gross laden weight of 78,001 pounds or over, if the gross laden weight authorized by the permit exceeds 80,000 pounds", but unlike Kansas Utah sells no temporary registration alongside the permit — the registration is a precondition, not an add-on, so Utah's headline fee is much closer to the carrier's real cost. |
| Transaction / card | None publishedrev. · read AN AFFIRMATIVE ABSENCE, not a gap. § 72-7-406 contains no service, processing or percentage fee, R909-2 contains none, and UDOT's provisions page describes only that "permits may be purchased online with a major credit card" without naming a surcharge. Contrast Texas, where Transp. Code § 623.076(b-1) authorises $0.25 plus 2.25%. The order of operations for Utah is therefore trivial: the § 72-7-406(7) rounding rules are the only arithmetic and nothing is applied on top. TWO SMALL UNKNOWNS ARE RECORDED AND NOT FILLED IN: R909-2-9(1) allows a permit to be transferred "up to two times per permit FOR A FEE" and never names the amount, and § 72-7-406 authorises no transfer fee at all; and UDOT's undated page states a refund rule in three words — "ALL SALES ARE FINAL" — with no statutory or regulatory backing found. |
| Route analysis review | Not yet covered |
| Route with no bridges | Not yet covered |
Dimension bands
| Band | Fee |
|---|---|
| single trip oversize permit, 96 continuous hours — § 72-7-406(5)(b) | $30rev. · read § 72-7-406(5)(b): "The fee is $30 for a single trip oversize permit under this Subsection (5). This permit is valid for not more than 96 continuous hours." FLAT — no weight term, no mileage term, no dimensional band. "96 continuous hours" is four days measured in hours from issue and does not stop for a weekend. The semiannual product is $75/180 days and the annual $90/365 days, so a Utah annual oversize permit pays for itself in four trips. |
5. How Utah prices overweight
Priced by the mile. § 72-7-406(7)(b)(i) prices the single-trip overweight permit at "$.012 per mile for each 1,000 pounds above 80,000 pounds subject to the rounding described in Subsection (7)(c)", floored at $80 and capped at $540. Below 125,001 lb the charge is § 72-7-406(6)(b)'s flat $60, held as a weight-banded rate of zero per mile with a minimum and maximum of $60.
The distance charge, with its rounding
Rounding is not a detail here: the same rate over the same miles can differ by a whole increment depending on which pounds are rounded and in which direction, so the rule is printed with the source's own words rather than applied silently.
| Gross weight | Axles | Rate and rounding | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 80,001 lb – 125,000 lb | any | $0 per mileminimum $60maximum $60 |
"Amended by Chapter 457, 2024 General Session…rev. · read |
| 125,001 lb and up | any | $0.01 per mile for each 1,000 lb above 80,000 lba part increment is charged in full ("or fraction thereof")miles are rounded up to a multiple of 50the excess over the base weight is rounded up to the nearest 25,000. Published as: “§ 72-7-406(7)(c)(ii): "The pounds used to calculate the fee under this Subsection (7) shall be rounded up to the nearest 25,000 pound increment."”minimum $80maximum $540the charged quantity is rounded nearest to the nearest 10. Published as: “§ 72-7-406(7)(c)(iii): "The department shall round the dollar amount used to calculate the fee under this Subsection (7) to the nearest $10 increment."” |
"Amended by Chapter 457, 2024 General Session…rev. · read |
| 125,001 lb and up | any | $0.01 per mile for each 1,000 lb above 80,000 lba part increment is charged in full ("or fraction thereof")miles are rounded up to a multiple of 50the gross weight is rounded up to the nearest 25,000. Published as: “§ 72-7-406(7)(c)(ii): "The pounds used to calculate the fee under this Subsection (7) shall be rounded up to the nearest 25,000 pound increment."”minimum $80maximum $540the charged quantity is rounded nearest to the nearest 10. Published as: “§ 72-7-406(7)(c)(iii): "The department shall round the dollar amount used to calculate the fee under this Subsection (7) to the nearest $10 increment."” |
"Amended by Chapter 457, 2024 General Session…rev. · read |
6. Utah seasonal posting windows
A permit priced against an unposted-road assumption in March is simply wrong, and wrong in the expensive direction. This is the window we watch, the basis for that window in the state's own orders or statute, and the authority that posts it.
Utah is not in the seasonal-restriction registry, so we hold no posting window for it and are not inventing one.
7. Utah's superload threshold
Above one of these, the state stops issuing over the counter and prices the move after an engineering review.
| Trigger | Threshold |
|---|---|
| Gross weight | None published |
| Width | None published |
| Height | None published |
| Length | None published |
| Short axle spacing | Not yet covered |
8. Route survey and bridge review
The dimensions at which Utah triggers a physical route inspection or an engineering review, and what the agency charges to review it.
| Measurement | Inspection / review trigger |
|---|---|
| Width | Not yet covered |
| Height | Not yet covered |
| Length | Not yet covered |
9. Police escorts
Charges exist and no schedule is published. Utah publishes a real dimensional police trigger — R909-2-14 Table 3 requires "2 pilot escorts and at least 2 police escorts" over 20 ft wide on a freeway, 17 ft on a secondary highway, 175 ft long or 17 ft 6 in high — and no rate at all. R909-2 (all thirty-three sections), Utah Code §§ 72-7-402/404/406/407, three UDOT pages and the Utah Highway Patrol site were searched. R909-2-16(4)(e) says only "the permittee will assume all costs when a certified police escort or escorts are required", and R909-2-14(1)(c) puts the COUNT outside UDOT: "The number of police escorts required is determined by the Utah Highway Patrol." The $40.00 minimum UDOT does publish is for a DEPARTMENT employee and vehicle, not for police, and is itself a floor — "or the full cost ... whichever is greater".
This is a positive finding: we searched and there is nothing to quote. It is not the same as "no police escort is ever required here".
10. When you can move it
Holiday, curfew and night-travel windows are not yet encoded for Utah. The seasonal picture — which is a different question — is in section 6 above.
Why those windows are absent rather than estimated
They are not guessed at here. What we do publish is the seasonal weight-restriction picture, with the date we last read each state's own bulletin — a curfew invented from a plausible pattern is worth less than an honest gap, because a reader cannot tell the two apart on the page.
11. Permit office
The agency behind each figure above is linked from that figure. We publish no per-state permit-office phone number.
Why there is no phone number here
We are not publishing per-state permit-office phone numbers yet, and the reason is worth stating: the two seed lists available for them are both demonstrably stale — the federal one gives two different states the same phone number — and a wrong number on a page like this costs somebody a morning. The agency behind each figure above is linked from that figure, which is the part we can stand behind today.
12. What this does not include
Named rather than gestured at, because each of these can exceed the permit itself. Every item is listed; open one for why it is excluded.
Line haul, fuel and driver time
This is a permit fee, not a freight rate.
Civilian pilot car rates
We hold no rate data, and the two commercial sites that publish market rates disagree by nearly a factor of two on the same service.
Route-survey engineering
The agency's review fee is shown where the state publishes one; the engineer's own fee is a private cost with no schedule.
Bonds and escrow
Set per move by the agency, and in at least one state the escort is billed at actual cost against it.
Utility coordination and line lifts
Arranged with each utility, priced by each utility.
Second-issuer permits
A toll, bridge or city authority inside the same state issues its own permit, and a state total that omits it is missing a whole permit.
Need a pilot car for this lane? Browse the pilot car & escort directory.
13. Every source behind this page (6)
Every document behind Utah6 sources
- UDOT — Oversize & Overweight Provisions — Utah Department of Transportation — undated; the only date on the page is a "Copyright © 2026 State of Utah" footer, which is a render stamp
undated document · read - UDOT — Oversize Non-Divisible Load Provisions — Utah Department of Transportation
undated document · read - Utah Admin. Code R909-2 — Motor carrier size, weight, and permit rules — Utah Department of Transportation — "Effective Date: 03/16/2026"; "Date of Last Change: March 16, 2026"; "Notice of Continuation: April 30, 2024". Table 3 (escorts) was reconstructed from the official HTML's absolute pixel offsets — see the module header.
rev. · read - Utah Code § 72-7-402 — Width, height, and length limitations — Utah State Legislature — page header "Effective 5/9/2017"; "Amended by Chapter 96, 2017 General Session"
rev. · read - Utah Code § 72-7-404 — Maximum weight limitations and bridge formula — Utah State Legislature — page header "Effective 5/14/2019"; "Amended by Chapter 251, 2019 General Session"
rev. · read - Utah Code § 72-7-406 — Permits for excess size and weight — Utah State Legislature — "Amended by Chapter 457, 2024 General Session"; the page prints no effective-date banner, so the amendment session is the finest date available. THE ONLY SOURCE FOR ANY UTAH FEE — R909-2 publishes none.
rev. · read
Questions
How much is an oversize permit in Utah?
The single-trip base is $0, before the dimension bands, the overweight component and the transaction charge. The base alone is rarely what is paid.
When does Utah require a pilot car?
The first width trigger is 12' or more, and it varies by road class — the figure shown is the lowest across classes.
What is a superload in Utah?
Utah publishes no gross-weight superload threshold in the documents on file — see the superload section, which shows the dimensional triggers it does publish.