By Evan Reid, Founder of Haul Handbook · Updated Jul 29, 2026
Michigan legal limits (no permit needed at or under these)
- Width
- 8.5 ftMichigan splits width three ways. MCL 257.717(1) caps the total outside width of a vehicle or its load at 96 inches (8 feet). MCL 257.717(4) allows a pneumatic-tired vehicle a maximum of 102 inches (8 feet 6 inches) measured outside of one wheel and tire to the outside of the opposite wheel and tire, while still capping the body or load itself at 96 inches. MDOT's T-1 states the practical rule the same way: 96 inches on non-designated highways and 102 inches on designated highways. Exceptions: 108 inches for the load only on concrete pipe, ferrous pipe, agricultural products, or unprocessed logs, pulpwood, or wood bolts (MCL 257.717(3)); 102 inches total body width for a school bus, bus, trailer coach, trailer, semitrailer, truck camper, or motor home, with appurtenances allowed 6 inches beyond (MCL 257.717(5)); implements of husbandry of any width for normal farming operations (MCL 257.717(2)); and a snowplow blade wider than 96 inches but no more than 132 inches, without a permit, between October 1 and May 1 (MCL 257.717(10)).
- Height
- 13.5 ftMCL 257.719(1): a vehicle unloaded or with load shall not exceed a height of 13 feet 6 inches. The owner of a vehicle that strikes a lawfully established bridge or viaduct is liable for all resulting damage and injury whether or not the clearance was posted. MDOT's T-2 requires every applicant asking for a permit above 13 feet 6 inches to verify that the proposed route has been traveled to assure vertical clearance.
- Gross weight
- 80,000 lbThe 80,000-pound figure is not Michigan's general ceiling. MCL 257.722(12) applies the 80,000-pound loading maximum, the 20,000-pound single-axle and 34,000-pound tandem-axle limits, and the federal bridge formula to interstate highways and to highways the department or a local authority designates for that operation. Off those routes Michigan controls axle loads instead of gross weight under MCL 257.722(1) to (3), with a maximum of 11 axles per combination under MCL 257.719(4)(b). MDOT states the result plainly: the maximum allowable gross vehicle weight on the heaviest Michigan-weight-law truck is 164,000 pounds, achievable only with eleven properly spaced axles, most carrying 13,000 pounds each. The 11-axle cap and the resulting 164,000-pound ceiling have stood since 1967 and survive under the federal grandfather clauses.
- Length: rear_overhang
- any amount within the legal length; a 12-inch red flag by day and a red light or lantern at night are required once the overhang reaches 4 feet
- Off interstate limits
- Michigan does not publish an off-interstate gross-weight table. Off the interstate and designated-highway network, legal weight is whatever the axle-spacing schedule in MCL 257.722(1) to (3) allows across a maximum of 11 axles, subject to a wheel load of 700 pounds per inch of tire width. MDOT publishes a companion chart, Maximum Axle Loadings in Relation to Tire Sizes, converting tire width and tire count into the allowable load at 700 pounds per inch (850 pounds per inch for the empty self-propelled earth-moving equipment MDOT's T-2 allows at that rate).
Axle weight limits
Gross weight is one ceiling; each axle group carries its own limit, and a load can be legal on gross weight yet overweight on an axle. Exceeding any of these needs an overweight permit.
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Permit fees
- Single trip
- $15 (Michigan's single-trip permit fee is fixed by statute, not by a weight or distance formula. MCL 257.725(5) sets $15.00 for a vehicle or combination that exceeds the maximum size but not the maximum weight or load, and MCL 257.725(4) sets $50.00 for the state transportation department's single-trip permit otherwise, which MDOT states as $50 for a load that is over-dimension and/or over legal axle weight. A single trip permit is valid for one trip and may be issued for a five-day period on request; a return move may be included within the same five-day window for an identical configuration or an empty trailer over the reversed route. Electronically submitted single-trip permits are usually issued within 12 business hours and may be applied for up to seven business days ahead. MiTRIP assigns the fee from the exact dimensions and weights entered, and prices permitted loads against Michigan's legal allowable axle weights rather than the federal bridge weights.)
- Annual eligibility
- MDOT calls its annual permit an extended permit. Extended permits are issued on an annual basis for loads and vehicles owned by the applicant or held under a bona fide lease or rental agreement, described specifically by make, model, and serial or VIN number, in categories including construction equipment, agricultural, miscellaneous, pipe and pole, and modular or mobile home. Extended permits are not available to for-hire carriers. Annual renewal is $30.00 for each truck, trailer, and piece of equipment that is over-dimension and legal in weight, and $100.00 for each that is overweight and/or over-dimension when loaded; construction equipment annual renewal is $264.00 for each power unit. A new extended permit is prorated because extended permits expire alphabetically by company name through the year, so the first-year fee ranges from $30 to $57 for oversize and from $100 to $191 for overweight depending on the existing expiration month and the first letter of the company name; farm-to-farm-only permits pay 10 percent of the prorated overweight fee. Extended permits are usually issued 15 to 21 business days after receipt, may be applied for up to 60 days before expiration, and MDOT recommends filing a renewal at least 30 days ahead.
Single-trip permit fee schedule
A single-trip permit stacks a base fee with a weight-tiered maintenance fee, and the heaviest loads add a supervision fee.
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To price a specific load, try the oversize permit cost estimator, or compare every state on the national oversize permit table.
To see how these fees combine on real loads, walk through Michigan oversize permit cost worked examples.
Escort thresholds
What the escort itself has to be
Hitting the threshold is only half of it. The escort vehicle, its equipment, its driver's certification and where it rides are all regulated, and the carrier is the one holding the permit when they are not met.
- Ordinary permitted loads
- For oversize and overweight loads other than mobile homes and building modules, Michigan does not publish a dimension-to-escort table. MDOT's T-2 specifies what an escort vehicle must be but not when one is required, and the escort requirement instead arrives as a numbered special provision printed on the individual permit. The relevant provisions are 11 (followed by one escort vehicle), 12 (preceded by one escort vehicle, with a fixed measuring device on the front escort if the vehicle or load exceeds 14 feet 6 inches high), 13 (at least two flashing or rotating amber lights on the extreme rear of the load), 14 (police supervision of traffic required) and 21 (radio communication required between escort vehicles and the towing vehicle). Signing the permit is acceptance of the conditions listed on it. No general escort threshold is recorded here because MDOT publishes none on the pages and documents checked for this pass.
- Equipment the escort vehicle carries
- An escort vehicle must be a passenger vehicle, or a passenger car or pickup truck under the special provisions, with at least one flashing or rotating amber light on top of the cab, visible for 500 feet. An OVERSIZE LOAD sign 5 feet long by 12 inches high with 8-inch black letters on a yellow background is displayed on the roof of the escort vehicle; on a pickup the sign may be mounted in the bed provided the bottom of the sign sits higher than the roof.
- Police escort
- MDOT's special provision 14 provides for police supervision of traffic on a move, and building moves must be accompanied by a uniformed police officer, but MDOT publishes no fixed dimension that triggers a police escort.
- Escort driver certification
- MDOT lists transport escort companies as a convenience and states expressly that the State of Michigan does not regulate or certify escort services and assumes no responsibility for inadequate business practices, defective or illegal equipment, or fraud. A listing is not an endorsement.
Escort rules beyond the thresholds
Knowing when you need an escort is half of it. These are the Michigan rules on who may run one, what the vehicle has to carry, and how the move is conducted.
- General loads
- For oversize and overweight loads other than mobile homes and building modules, Michigan does not publish a dimension-to-escort table. MDOT's T-2 specifies what an escort vehicle must be but not when one is required, and the escort requirement instead arrives as a numbered special provision printed on the individual permit. The relevant provisions are 11 (followed by one escort vehicle), 12 (preceded by one escort vehicle, with a fixed measuring device on the front escort if the vehicle or load exceeds 14 feet 6 inches high), 13 (at least two flashing or rotating amber lights on the extreme rear of the load), 14 (police supervision of traffic required) and 21 (radio communication required between escort vehicles and the towing vehicle). Signing the permit is acceptance of the conditions listed on it. No general escort threshold is recorded here because MDOT publishes none on the pages and documents checked for this pass.
- Equipment
- An escort vehicle must be a passenger vehicle, or a passenger car or pickup truck under the special provisions, with at least one flashing or rotating amber light on top of the cab, visible for 500 feet. An OVERSIZE LOAD sign 5 feet long by 12 inches high with 8-inch black letters on a yellow background is displayed on the roof of the escort vehicle; on a pickup the sign may be mounted in the bed provided the bottom of the sign sits higher than the roof.
- Police escort
- MDOT's special provision 14 provides for police supervision of traffic on a move, and building moves must be accompanied by a uniformed police officer, but MDOT publishes no fixed dimension that triggers a police escort.
- State does not certify escorts
- MDOT lists transport escort companies as a convenience and states expressly that the State of Michigan does not regulate or certify escort services and assumes no responsibility for inadequate business practices, defective or illegal equipment, or fraud. A listing is not an endorsement.
Conditions attached to every permit
The standing conditions Michigan writes into the permit itself, which apply whether or not they are printed on your copy.
- Non divisible only
- Permits are issued only for vehicles or loads that cannot reasonably be divided, dismantled, reduced, or otherwise rearranged to conform to legal dimensions or weights, using the non-divisible load definition at 23 CFR 658.5. Loads must be arranged to the minimum dimensions for height, length, and width, and staggered loading is not permitted. Where a loaded object creates a single over-dimension, two or more objects may move as one load if the permit application says so, legal axle loadings are not exceeded, and no additional nonconforming dimension is created or enlarged.
- No doubles
- Permits are not issued for doubles: truck tractor and semitrailer combinations, truck and semitrailer or trailer combinations, truck tractor and two semitrailers, truck tractor with semitrailer and trailer, or more than one motor vehicle in combination on one tow bar or three saddle mounts.
- One object overweight
- An overweight permit application is not approved for a load consisting of more than one object, and no wheel load may exceed 700 pounds per inch of tire tread width, except that empty self-propelled earth-moving equipment may be approved at up to 850 pounds per inch.
- Carry requirements
- The driver carries the permit and the special provisions in the vehicle at all times, available for inspection by any police officer or MDOT agent, and must stop at all highway weight stations for permit inspection. Highways must be travelled in the sequence listed on the permit. Misrepresenting information on the application, operating beyond the size or weight shown on the permit, or altering a permit voids it immediately.
- Insurance
- Insurance coverage as required by the laws of Michigan must be in effect for any move operating under an oversize or overweight permit. MDOT publishes no separate permit-bond or permit-specific liability amount.
- Flags and signs
- An overwidth or overlength vehicle or load displays clean plain red or orange flags at least 18 inches square at each of the four corners, plus one more at the widest point on each side if any part of the load extends beyond the corner flag. Signing requirements for mobile homes and for general oversize loads are set by the numbered special provisions on the permit.
- Liability
- The permittee is responsible for damage to the highway, to persons, and to property arising from operations covered by the permit, and indemnifies the Transportation Commission and the department. A granted permit is not a guarantee of the sufficiency of a highway, its width or vertical clearance, or a structure. The permittee certifies that the route has been checked for vertical clearance and overhead obstructions before any movement; striking a structure is treated as non-compliance and terminates the permit.
Travel restrictions
- Daylight only
- Yes (MDOT T-2 section H: permits are issued for daylight hours only, Monday through Friday, with daylight defined as the period from one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset. Other time limitations may be applied in particular cases.)
- Curfews
- MDOT special provision 15 voids a permit for movement from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. in eleven counties: Genesee, Ingham, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Kent, Macomb, Muskegon, Oakland, Saginaw, Washtenaw, and Wayne. The provision applies when it is printed on the permit.
- Weekend / holiday
- Permits are not valid for movement from 12:00 noon on the day preceding until daylight of the first day after New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. When a holiday falls on a Friday or Monday the block runs from noon before the three-day weekend to daylight of the first day after it. Annual Construction Equipment permits are blocked only for Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day. MDOT publishes the dated holiday restriction calendar each year; for 2026 it shows no travel on January 1 and 2, May 23 through 25, July 4 and 5, September 5 through 7, November 26, December 25 through 27, and January 1 through 3, 2027, with movement resuming for mobile homes after noon and all others at daybreak on the released day.
- Wind / weather
- MDOT special provision 18 voids a permit for movement when wind velocity exceeds 25 mph. Permits may also be invalid on the Mackinac Bridge when the Mackinac Bridge Authority determines wind velocity exceeds 25 mph.
- Weekend movement
- Weekend movement is permitted in Michigan for loads not exceeding 10 feet in width, 14 feet in height, and 90 feet in length, all day Saturday and until 3 p.m. Sunday. Mobile and modular homes are not eligible. The applicant checks the Select Weekend Travel box on the MiTRIP single-trip application to request it.
- Speed
- Self-propelled vehicles must maintain the minimum posted speed on non-freeway routes and 45 mph on freeway routes. An annual construction-equipment permit under MCL 257.725(12)(c) may not require travel of more than 10 mph below the posted speed limit.
- Bridges
- Moves crossing the Mackinac Bridge must contact the Mackinac Bridge Authority (906-643-7600) at least 24 hours before the planned arrival and are escorted across by a Mackinac Bridge Authority vehicle, daylight hours only. Moves crossing the International Bridge (906-635-5255) are escorted by an International Bridge Administration vehicle on 24-hour notice; the Blue Water Bridge (810-984-3131) and the Ambassador Bridge (313-849-5244) each require 24-hour notice.
- Spring weight restrictions
- During the spring thaw MDOT issues no overweight permits on any MDOT-jurisdiction route except in a public emergency, issues no permits for vehicles or loads exceeding 14 feet in width, and allows no more than 11 axles. Reduced weight limits apply on seasonal routes, which are shown on the MDOT Truck Operators Map and posted with signs. MDOT sets the restriction period from frost-depth measurements, road conditions, and weather forecasts and holds it until roadbeds stabilise; local agencies may set different restrictions. The restriction hotline is 800-787-8960 (517-373-6256 for carriers in New Jersey and Canada).
- Daylight hours rule
- MDOT T-2 section H: permits are issued for daylight hours only, Monday through Friday, with daylight defined as the period from one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset. Other time limitations may be applied in particular cases.
- Weekend movement
- Weekend movement is permitted in Michigan for loads not exceeding 10 feet in width, 14 feet in height, and 90 feet in length, all day Saturday and until 3 p.m. Sunday. Mobile and modular homes are not eligible. The applicant checks the Select Weekend Travel box on the MiTRIP single-trip application to request it.
- Speed
- Self-propelled vehicles must maintain the minimum posted speed on non-freeway routes and 45 mph on freeway routes. An annual construction-equipment permit under MCL 257.725(12)(c) may not require travel of more than 10 mph below the posted speed limit.
- Bridges
- Moves crossing the Mackinac Bridge must contact the Mackinac Bridge Authority (906-643-7600) at least 24 hours before the planned arrival and are escorted across by a Mackinac Bridge Authority vehicle, daylight hours only. Moves crossing the International Bridge (906-635-5255) are escorted by an International Bridge Administration vehicle on 24-hour notice; the Blue Water Bridge (810-984-3131) and the Ambassador Bridge (313-849-5244) each require 24-hour notice.
- Spring weight restrictions
- During the spring thaw MDOT issues no overweight permits on any MDOT-jurisdiction route except in a public emergency, issues no permits for vehicles or loads exceeding 14 feet in width, and allows no more than 11 axles. Reduced weight limits apply on seasonal routes, which are shown on the MDOT Truck Operators Map and posted with signs. MDOT sets the restriction period from frost-depth measurements, road conditions, and weather forecasts and holds it until roadbeds stabilise; local agencies may set different restrictions. The restriction hotline is 800-787-8960 (517-373-6256 for carriers in New Jersey and Canada).
Superload and beyond-permit review
Loads past the standard single-trip permit thresholds get individual state review rather than an off-the-shelf permit.
MDOT calls anything past those single-trip limits a superload. Efforts must first be made to move the load by another means (rail, water, an alternate route around the state) or to dismantle it so it comes within the standard permit limits. Permits may be considered for limited movement of a superload only if all other means have been exhausted and the object cannot feasibly be reduced.
The shipper provides a complete written explanation on company letterhead, a properly completed MiTRIP application, and a Route Survey Certification (Form 2465). Documentation for special consideration or a superload must reach the Lansing Transport Permit Office at least ten working days before the tentative date of movement.
More Michigan permit rules
- Statute note
- MCL 257.716(1) makes it an offence to move a vehicle exceeding the size or weight limits of chapter VI of the Michigan Vehicle Code, and MCL 257.716(2) exempts a vehicle operated under the terms of a special permit. MCL 257.725(1) is the permit power itself: on a written application and good cause shown, a jurisdictional authority may issue a written special permit for a vehicle of a size, weight, or load exceeding the chapter maximum. MCL 257.725(13) defines jurisdictional authority as the state transportation department, a county road commission, or a local authority, which is why an MDOT permit does not cover county roads or city streets.
- Jurisdiction note: detail
- MDOT permits oversize and overweight vehicles and loads on state trunklines only. State trunklines are the I-, M-, and US-numbered routes. MDOT does not permit movement on county roads or city streets; a permit for those must be obtained from the county or city in question, and MDOT points carriers to the County Road Association of Michigan at 517-482-1189 for county routes. A permit is required for any vehicle or load beyond legal limits before it enters Michigan.
- Seasonal axle reductions: summary
- During March, April, and May each year the maximum axle load allowable on concrete pavements or pavements with a concrete base is reduced by 25 percent, and the maximum axle load on all other road types is reduced by 35 percent. The maximum wheel load falls to 525 pounds per inch of tire width on concrete and concrete-base roads and 450 pounds per inch on all other roads. MDOT's T-1 renders the reductions as a table: an 18,000-pound single axle becomes 13,500 pounds on rigid pavement and 11,700 pounds on flexible pavement, a 13,000-pound axle becomes 9,750 and 8,450 pounds, a 16,000-pound tandem axle becomes 12,000 and 10,400 pounds, and a 9,000-pound axle becomes 6,750 and 5,850 pounds. The speed limit under seasonal load limitations is 35 mph. A vehicle operating within 5 miles of a special designated highway for access to or from a point of origin or destination on a restricted route must reduce to 13,500 pounds on a single axle and 12,000 pounds per axle on a tandem on rigid routes, or 11,700 and 10,400 pounds on flexible routes. Exemptions run to vehicles hauling agricultural commodities, public utility vehicles on local roads, school buses, and propane deliveries to a residence with the tank filled to not more than 50 percent and travel at not more than 35 mph. Milk haulers may request written route exemptions from MDOT or a county road commission, with approval or denial within 30 days.
- Single trip fee note
- Michigan's single-trip permit fee is fixed by statute, not by a weight or distance formula. MCL 257.725(5) sets $15.00 for a vehicle or combination that exceeds the maximum size but not the maximum weight or load, and MCL 257.725(4) sets $50.00 for the state transportation department's single-trip permit otherwise, which MDOT states as $50 for a load that is over-dimension and/or over legal axle weight. A single trip permit is valid for one trip and may be issued for a five-day period on request; a return move may be included within the same five-day window for an identical configuration or an empty trailer over the reversed route. Electronically submitted single-trip permits are usually issued within 12 business hours and may be applied for up to seven business days ahead. MiTRIP assigns the fee from the exact dimensions and weights entered, and prices permitted loads against Michigan's legal allowable axle weights rather than the federal bridge weights.
- Annual permit eligibility
- MDOT calls its annual permit an extended permit. Extended permits are issued on an annual basis for loads and vehicles owned by the applicant or held under a bona fide lease or rental agreement, described specifically by make, model, and serial or VIN number, in categories including construction equipment, agricultural, miscellaneous, pipe and pole, and modular or mobile home. Extended permits are not available to for-hire carriers. Annual renewal is $30.00 for each truck, trailer, and piece of equipment that is over-dimension and legal in weight, and $100.00 for each that is overweight and/or over-dimension when loaded; construction equipment annual renewal is $264.00 for each power unit. A new extended permit is prorated because extended permits expire alphabetically by company name through the year, so the first-year fee ranges from $30 to $57 for oversize and from $100 to $191 for overweight depending on the existing expiration month and the first letter of the company name; farm-to-farm-only permits pay 10 percent of the prorated overweight fee. Extended permits are usually issued 15 to 21 business days after receipt, may be applied for up to 60 days before expiration, and MDOT recommends filing a renewal at least 30 days ahead.
- Annual permit details: new permit proration
- Prorated on the MDOT Oversize/Overweight Permit Fee Schedule chart: oversize $30 to $57, overweight $100 to $191, by the month the existing permit expires crossed with the first letter of the company name. Farm-to-farm-only permits use 10 percent of the prorated overweight fee.
- Annual permit details: for hire exclusion
- Extended permits are not available to for-hire carriers (MDOT T-2, section J).
- Escort notes: general loads
- For oversize and overweight loads other than mobile homes and building modules, Michigan does not publish a dimension-to-escort table. MDOT's T-2 specifies what an escort vehicle must be but not when one is required, and the escort requirement instead arrives as a numbered special provision printed on the individual permit. The relevant provisions are 11 (followed by one escort vehicle), 12 (preceded by one escort vehicle, with a fixed measuring device on the front escort if the vehicle or load exceeds 14 feet 6 inches high), 13 (at least two flashing or rotating amber lights on the extreme rear of the load), 14 (police supervision of traffic required) and 21 (radio communication required between escort vehicles and the towing vehicle). Signing the permit is acceptance of the conditions listed on it. No general escort threshold is recorded here because MDOT publishes none on the pages and documents checked for this pass.
- Escort notes: equipment
- An escort vehicle must be a passenger vehicle, or a passenger car or pickup truck under the special provisions, with at least one flashing or rotating amber light on top of the cab, visible for 500 feet. An OVERSIZE LOAD sign 5 feet long by 12 inches high with 8-inch black letters on a yellow background is displayed on the roof of the escort vehicle; on a pickup the sign may be mounted in the bed provided the bottom of the sign sits higher than the roof.
- Escort notes: police escort
- MDOT's special provision 14 provides for police supervision of traffic on a move, and building moves must be accompanied by a uniformed police officer, but MDOT publishes no fixed dimension that triggers a police escort.
- Escort notes: state does not certify escorts
- MDOT lists transport escort companies as a convenience and states expressly that the State of Michigan does not regulate or certify escort services and assumes no responsibility for inadequate business practices, defective or illegal equipment, or fraud. A listing is not an endorsement.
- Permit conditions: non divisible only
- Permits are issued only for vehicles or loads that cannot reasonably be divided, dismantled, reduced, or otherwise rearranged to conform to legal dimensions or weights, using the non-divisible load definition at 23 CFR 658.5. Loads must be arranged to the minimum dimensions for height, length, and width, and staggered loading is not permitted. Where a loaded object creates a single over-dimension, two or more objects may move as one load if the permit application says so, legal axle loadings are not exceeded, and no additional nonconforming dimension is created or enlarged.
- Permit conditions: no doubles
- Permits are not issued for doubles: truck tractor and semitrailer combinations, truck and semitrailer or trailer combinations, truck tractor and two semitrailers, truck tractor with semitrailer and trailer, or more than one motor vehicle in combination on one tow bar or three saddle mounts.
- Permit conditions: one object overweight
- An overweight permit application is not approved for a load consisting of more than one object, and no wheel load may exceed 700 pounds per inch of tire tread width, except that empty self-propelled earth-moving equipment may be approved at up to 850 pounds per inch.
- Permit conditions: carry requirements
- The driver carries the permit and the special provisions in the vehicle at all times, available for inspection by any police officer or MDOT agent, and must stop at all highway weight stations for permit inspection. Highways must be travelled in the sequence listed on the permit. Misrepresenting information on the application, operating beyond the size or weight shown on the permit, or altering a permit voids it immediately.
- Permit conditions: insurance
- Insurance coverage as required by the laws of Michigan must be in effect for any move operating under an oversize or overweight permit. MDOT publishes no separate permit-bond or permit-specific liability amount.
- Permit conditions: flags and signs
- An overwidth or overlength vehicle or load displays clean plain red or orange flags at least 18 inches square at each of the four corners, plus one more at the widest point on each side if any part of the load extends beyond the corner flag. Signing requirements for mobile homes and for general oversize loads are set by the numbered special provisions on the permit.
- Permit conditions: liability
- The permittee is responsible for damage to the highway, to persons, and to property arising from operations covered by the permit, and indemnifies the Transportation Commission and the department. A granted permit is not a guarantee of the sufficiency of a highway, its width or vertical clearance, or a structure. The permittee certifies that the route has been checked for vertical clearance and overhead obstructions before any movement; striking a structure is treated as non-compliance and terminates the permit.
- Application process: summary
- All permit applications are submitted electronically in MiTRIP through the MDOT Permit Gateway, or through a permit service that files in the same system. A carrier using a permit service must still register in the MDOT Permit Gateway, add the oversize/overweight permit task, and select carrier from the dropdown before the service can act. MDOT no longer bills accounts: the fee is paid at submission through the MPG shopping cart by credit card, debit card, or electronic check, and an application is not transmitted for processing until it is paid. MDOT no longer returns applications for correction; an application with wrong information must be resubmitted. Permits are delivered to the email address given on the final MiTRIP screen and can also be printed from My Permits in the gateway.
- Application process: turnaround single trip
- Usually issued within 12 business hours; may be applied for up to seven business days ahead.
- Application process: turnaround extended
- Usually issued within 15 to 21 business days; may be applied for up to 60 days before expiration, with renewal recommended at least 30 days ahead.
| Category | Max width ft | Max height ft | Max overall length ft | Max axle weight lb | Max gross weight lb | Note | Statute | Max body length ft | Max trailer length ft | Max truck length ft |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Construction equipment | 12.5 | 14 | 85 | 24,000 | 150,000 | Bulldozers without blade, cranes without counterweights, loaders, excavators and similar. The 24,000-pound axle limit does not apply to empty self-propelled scrapers, rubber-tired loaders, rubber-tired dozers, or 2-axle mobile cranes, which are instead restricted to a wheel load of 850 pounds per inch of tire tread width. MCL 257.725(11) and (12) require MDOT to offer an annual construction-equipment permit covering a power unit without a separate permit for each piece of equipment carried, storable and presentable on a mobile device, with no daily operating-hour restrictions and only Memorial Day weekend, the Fourth of July, and Labor Day weekend as restricted holidays. | MCL 257.725(11); MCL 257.725(12) | |||
| Agricultural (farm equipment, implements of husbandry) | 15.5 | 14 | 80 | A permit is required when an implement of husbandry is loaded on a trailer, but not when the farm equipment is being driven or towed and can maintain the minimum posted speed. | ||||||
| Mobile homes, building modules, park models, modular home frames | 12 | 14 | 95 | The towing vehicle must be at least a 1 1/2 ton truck with dual rear wheels. MDOT's T-3 limits extended mobile-home permits to dealers, manufacturers, and commercial transporters. | 80 | |||||
| Poles, pipes, and similar overlength loads | 8 | 13.5 | 85 | All axle weights must be legal; the permit does not allow overweight loads. Public utility companies and firms working for them may move up to 150 feet overall within the utility's service area, with written confirmation from the utility company where the mover is under contract. | ||||||
| Annual miscellaneous combined | 12.5 | 14 | 85 | 24,000 | 150,000 | For use when the same power unit, trailer, and object are transported multiple times. No overweight divisible loads. | ||||
| Logging trailer | 9 | 13.5 | No overweight permits; limited to 11 axles. | 75 | 42 | |||||
| Raw forest products | 8.5 | 13.5 | 85 | 98,000 | Gross weight limitation of 90,000 pounds on 5 axles and 98,000 pounds on 6 axles, each with specific axle weight limitations, for travel on specific routes between Michigan and Wisconsin only. | |||||
| Milk | 8 | 13.5 | 59 | Overweight is issued only during the spring weight restriction period, on rigid and flexible pavements. | ||||||
| Pavement marking | 8 | 13.5 | 40 | Limited to an overload of 20 percent, not to exceed 700 pounds per inch of tire tread width. | ||||||
| Wreckers | 12.5 | 14 | Limited to 700 pounds per inch of tire tread width. Single-trip permits are issued for disabled vehicles; MCL 257.716(4) sets the conditions under which a wrecker and a disabled vehicle may exceed the size and weight limits, including a special permit under MCL 257.725 and a departmental list of highways and structures the wrecker may not use. | MCL 257.716(4) | ||||||
| International sealed shipping container (single trip only) | 8.5 | 13.5 | 60 | 24,000 | 95,000 | Power unit with one trailer; the load must be USDA sealed. No extended permits are issued in this category. |
| Name | Note | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural extended permit (farm equipment and implements of husbandry) | ||
| Raw forest products extended permit (Michigan-Wisconsin routes) | ||
| Milk extended permit (overweight only during the spring weight restriction period) | ||
| Logging trailer extended permit | ||
| Snowplow blade allowance, October 1 to May 1, no permit required up to 132 inches | ||
| Seasonal agricultural-commodity pickup or delivery permit from a county road commission during seasonal weight restrictions | MCL 257.722(5): the county road commission issues the permit and may charge a fee not exceeding its administrative costs, after at least 48 hours' notice of the time and location of the pickup or delivery. | MCL 257.722(5) |
| Public utility seasonal truck permit from a county road commission | MCL 257.722(6): issued annually before seasonal weight restrictions take effect, for each public utility vehicle or configuration expected to do non-emergency utility work on restricted roads, at a fee not exceeding administrative costs. | MCL 257.722(6) |
The Michigan permit office
Legal limits before you need a permit
Michigan splits width three ways. The code caps the total outside width of a vehicle or its load at one figure, allows a pneumatic-tired vehicle a wider measurement from outside of tire to outside of tire while still capping the body or load, and MDOT restates the practical rule as one width on non-designated highways and a wider one on designated highways. Concrete and ferrous pipe, agricultural products, and unprocessed logs get a wider load-only allowance, and a snowplow blade gets a seasonal pass without a permit.
Height is a single figure, and the owner of a vehicle that strikes a lawfully established bridge or viaduct is liable for the damage whether or not the clearance was posted. Length depends on configuration: a longer semitrailer is limited to designated highways, a tractor-semitrailer combination has no overall limit while the trailer stays inside its figure, and a tractor with two towed units has no overall limit while each unit and the coupled pair stay inside theirs.
Weight is where Michigan stops looking like anywhere else. The familiar interstate maximum, the single and tandem axle limits, and the federal bridge formula apply on the interstate system and on highways designated for that operation. Off those routes there is no published gross-weight table at all: legal weight is whatever the axle spacing schedule allows across the statutory axle cap, subject to a wheel load stated per inch of tire width, with a companion MDOT chart converting tire size into allowable load.
Single-trip permits
The fee is statutory and flat, which makes Michigan easy to budget and unusual among big freight states. One amount applies to a vehicle or combination that exceeds the maximum size but not the maximum weight or load. A second applies to a single-trip movement that is over legal weight, or over-dimension and over weight together.
A single-trip permit covers one trip and can be issued for a five-day period on request, with a return move allowed inside the same window for an identical configuration or an empty trailer over the reversed route. Electronically submitted single-trip permits are usually issued within half a business day, and can be applied for about a week ahead.
MiTRIP assigns the fee from the exact dimensions and weights you enter, and prices the load against Michigan's legal allowable axle weights rather than the federal bridge weights. Enter the configuration honestly: operating beyond the size or weight shown on the permit voids it immediately.
Extended permits, and why for-hire carriers cannot have one
MDOT's annual product is the extended permit, issued for loads and vehicles the applicant owns or holds under a bona fide lease or rental agreement, described by make, model, and serial or VIN. The published category list runs through construction equipment, agricultural, miscellaneous, pipe and pole, and modular or mobile home, each with its own width, height, length, and weight envelope.
MDOT's own guidance closes them to for-hire carriers. So a for-hire operator running repeated oversize work in Michigan buys a single-trip permit every time, which changes the arithmetic on whether a Michigan lane is worth running at all.
Renewal amounts are set per unit and differ for over-dimension equipment, overweight equipment, and construction equipment power units. A brand new extended permit is prorated, because extended permits expire alphabetically by company name through the year and the first letter of your name sets the expiration month. Farm-to-farm-only permits pay a fraction of the prorated overweight amount.
Escorts arrive as numbered provisions, not a table
Michigan publishes escort thresholds by dimension for one class of load only: mobile homes and building modules. Those carry a rear escort past one width, front and rear past a greater width, front and rear with a height-measuring device when wide and tall together, and front and rear past a published overall length.
Every other oversize or overweight load gets its escort requirement as a numbered special provision printed on the individual permit. The provisions cover a following escort, a preceding escort with a measuring device above a stated height, extra flashing amber lights on the extreme rear of the load, police supervision of traffic, and radio communication between escorts and the towing vehicle. Signing the permit accepts whatever is listed on it, so read the provisions before the truck rolls.
Equipment rules are published even where thresholds are not: a passenger vehicle or pickup with a flashing or rotating amber light visible for a distance, and an oversize load sign of stated dimensions on the roof, or in the bed of a pickup if the sign sits higher than the cab. MDOT lists escort companies as a convenience and states outright that Michigan does not regulate or certify escort services.
When oversize loads can move
Daylight hours only, Monday through Friday, from a half hour before sunrise to a half hour after sunset, unless the load fits the weekend envelope, which runs all day Saturday and into Sunday afternoon and excludes mobile and modular homes. Self-propelled vehicles have minimum speeds to hold on non-freeway and freeway routes, and an annual construction-equipment permit cannot demand travel far below the posted limit.
A numbered provision voids the permit during morning and evening peak hours in eleven named counties whenever it is printed on the permit. Holiday blocks run from midday before each major holiday until daylight after, stretching across three-day weekends, with annual construction equipment permits blocked for a shorter list. MDOT publishes a dated holiday calendar each year.
Wind voids a permit past a stated velocity, and the Mackinac Bridge Authority can stop a crossing on the same basis. Four crossings each want at least a day of notice, and two of them escort the load across with their own vehicle.
The spring restriction period
For three months every spring the maximum axle load falls on concrete and concrete-base pavements, and falls further on every other road type, with the wheel load allowance cut to match and a reduced speed limit across the board. MDOT renders the reductions as a conversion table, so a given legal axle becomes a smaller allowable load on rigid pavement and a smaller one again on flexible pavement.
On MDOT-jurisdiction routes the department issues no overweight permits during the restriction except in a public emergency, issues nothing past a published width, and holds the axle count at the statutory cap. Restricted routes are shown on the MDOT Truck Operators Map and posted with signs, and there is a hotline for the current status. Local agencies set their own dates, so a county road can be restricted when a trunkline is not.
Superloads
Michigan draws the single-trip ceiling at published width, height, and overall length figures, and calls anything past them a superload. Before MDOT will even consider one, the shipper has to show that other means were tried: rail, water, an alternate route around the state, or dismantling the object so it comes inside standard permit limits.
When a superload does go forward, the paperwork is heavier than the load. The shipper supplies a written explanation on company letterhead, a completed MiTRIP application, and a route survey certification, and the documentation has to reach the Lansing office at least ten working days before the tentative movement date. MDOT publishes no separate superload fee, so the statutory single-trip amounts are the only permit charges recorded for these moves.
How to read this page
A value reading "Not confirmed" means we could not verify the figure on an official agency page at review time, so it stays open rather than guessed. Superload moves above the standard permit thresholds get individual review by the state; contact the permit office named on this page. For the rest of the Michigan permit stack, see Michigan trucking permits.
Frequently asked questions
What can I haul in Michigan without an oversize permit?
- Anything inside the published width, height, and configuration length limits that also stays inside the axle loading schedule. Off the interstate system Michigan has no gross-weight table at all: what matters is axle spacing, the axle cap, and the wheel load allowance per inch of tire width.
How much does a Michigan single-trip oversize permit cost?
- One flat statutory amount when the load is over-dimension but legal in weight, and a higher flat amount when it is over legal weight. There is no per-mile or per-ton component, and MDOT publishes no separate superload charge on top.
Can a for-hire carrier get an annual Michigan oversize permit?
- No. MDOT states that extended permits are not available to for-hire carriers. They cover equipment the applicant owns or holds under a bona fide lease, identified by make, model, and serial or VIN, so a for-hire operator buys single-trip permits instead.
When does an oversize load need an escort in Michigan?
- For mobile homes and building modules, at published width, combined width and height, and overall length thresholds. For everything else Michigan publishes no dimension table: the escort requirement arrives as a numbered special provision on your individual permit, and signing the permit accepts it.
What counts as a superload in Michigan?
- A load past the published single-trip ceiling for width, height, or overall combination length. MDOT expects rail, water, an alternate route, or dismantling to be ruled out first, then wants a letterhead explanation, a route survey certification, and about two weeks of lead time.
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.