The short version: a Colorado single-trip permit starts at a figure the documents on file do not resolve before bands, overweight and the transaction charge; an escort is first required at over 8'6" wide; and the load becomes a superload at over 200,000 lb. Everything below carries the Colorado document it came from, that document's own revision date, and the date we read it.
Corridor
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.
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 secondary hostC.R.S. §42-4-502: "The total outside width of any vehicle or the load thereon shall not exceed eight feet six inches, except as otherwise provided in this section." INCLUSIVE — exactly 102 in is legal. Last amended in 2008 and the oldest statute in this file.
Height
14'6"rev. · read secondary hostC.R.S. §42-4-504: "A driver shall not drive a vehicle either unladen or with load that exceeds a height of fourteen feet six inches. The department of transportation shall designate highways with overhead highway structures that have less than fourteen feet six inches of vertical clearance." EXCLUSIVE — exactly 14 ft 6 in is legal. Note the second sentence: Colorado guarantees nothing above 14 ft 6 in and publishes the exceptions, so clearance still has to be checked route by route.
Semitrailer length
57'4"rev. · read secondary hostC.R.S. §42-4-504: "Said length limitation shall not apply to unladen truck tractor-semitrailer combinations when the semitrailer is fifty-seven feet four inches or less in length or to unladen truck tractor-semitrailer-trailer combinations when the semitrailer and the trailer are each twenty-eight feet six inches or less in length." INCLUSIVE at 57 ft 4 in — one of the longest semitrailer allowances in this directory, and the condition on which the 70 ft combination cap is lifted.
Overall length
75'rev. · read secondary hostC.R.S. §42-4-504 caps a general combination at 70 ft — "No combination of vehicles coupled together shall consist of more than four units, and no such combination of vehicles shall exceed a total overall length of seventy feet." — and then exempts a truck tractor-semitrailer combination whose semitrailer is 57 ft 4 in or less. §42-4-504(4.5)(b) is cited by the source as restricting LADEN combinations over 75 ft without a permit, and 75 ft is used here on that reading. IT IS NOT A VERBATIM QUOTE: the subsection is referenced in the source’s notes rather than reproduced, so this figure is our reading of the source’s reading. A combination whose semitrailer exceeds 57 ft 4 in falls back to the 70 ft cap, and `trailerLengthIn` flags that load anyway.
Kingpin to rear axle
None published
Front overhang
4'rev. · read secondary hostC.R.S. §42-4-504: "a load may project not more than four feet beyond the front most point of the grille assembly of the vehicle engine compartment of such a vehicle at a point above the cab of the driver's compartment". INCLUSIVE — exactly 4 ft is legal. Colorado measures from the GRILLE rather than the bumper, which is not the same datum every state uses.
Rear overhang
10'rev. · read secondary hostC.R.S. §42-4-504: "and no load shall project to the rear more than ten feet." INCLUSIVE, and by a distance the most generous rear-overhang allowance in this directory — Virginia and Texas both stop at 4 ft.
Gross weight
80,000 lbundated document · read secondary hostC.R.S. §42-4-508(1)(c)(III)(B), via an undated county compilation: "and N equals number of axles in the group under consideration; but in computations of this formula no gross vehicle weight shall exceed eighty thousand pounds, except as may be authorized under section 42-4-510." OFF the interstate system the binding rule is a different formula with a different ceiling — "the maximum gross weight of any vehicle or combination of vehicles shall not exceed that determined by the formula W equals 1,000 (L plus 40) ... but in computation of this formula no gross vehicle weight shall exceed eighty-five thousand pounds" — so a non-interstate combination with enough axle spacing may lawfully run to 85,000 lb. The lower figure is used because a quote knows two endpoints and not which system the route uses, and because §42-4-510(5) puts the interstate figure itself in dispute.
Single axle
20,000 lbundated document · read secondary hostC.R.S. §42-4-507: "when the wheels attached to a single axle are equipped with pneumatic tires, twenty thousand pounds". INCLUSIVE, and the same on and off the interstate system. §42-4-507(2)(b.5) allows 21,000 lb off the interstate for an electric utility digger derrick or bucket boom truck — a vehicle type a quote does not identify.
Tandem axle
36,000 lbundated document · read secondary hostC.R.S. §42-4-507: "When the wheels attached to a tandem axle are equipped with pneumatic tires, thirty-six thousand pounds for highways on the interstate system ... and forty thousand pounds for highways not on the interstate system." INCLUSIVE. The interstate figure is recorded because a quote cannot establish that a route stays off the interstate system, and the off-system figure is the more permissive of the two. §42-4-507(4)(b) defines the group as axle centres more than 40 inches and not more than 96 inches apart.
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 “co blue two lane” or “co blue four lane” and width from 8'6" (exclusive) to 11'
the road is “co yellow two lane” or “co yellow four lane” and width from 13' (exclusive) to 15'
1 certified escort1 in frontAdvisory: 2 CCR 601-4 lets this band be satisfied by "either one Pilot Escort Vehicle or one Flashing Yellow Light in the rear". The light is the cheaper compliant option and most trailers can carry one, so NO rear pilot car is counted in this quote. If the configuration cannot mount a compliant rear amber light, add one rear escort to the count above.
the road is “co green two lane” and width from 15' (exclusive) to 17'
1 certified escort1 in frontAdvisory: 2 CCR 601-4 lets this band be satisfied by "either one Pilot Escort Vehicle or one Flashing Yellow Light in the rear". The light is the cheaper compliant option and most trailers can carry one, so NO rear pilot car is counted in this quote. If the configuration cannot mount a compliant rear amber light, add one rear escort to the count above.
the road is “co red two lane” or “co blue two lane” or “co yellow two lane” or “co green two lane” or “co white two lane” and is this a Mountainous highway as designated on CDOT’s Pilot Escort and Oversize Restriction Map (2 CCR 601-4 §410.1 drops the two-lane length trigger from 110 ft to 85 ft on one) and overall length from 85' (exclusive) to 110'
the road is “co red four lane” or “co blue four lane” or “co yellow four lane” or “co green four lane” or “co white four lane” and overall length over 115'
2 certified escorts1 in front1 behindRoute survey / engineering review before issueCannot be reduced to a number: 2 CCR 601-4 §603: "An Extra-legal Vehicle or Load under a special or Super Load permit shall have at least one Pilot Escort Vehicle in the front and shall have at least one Pilot Escort Vehicle in the rear, except when expressly designated otherwise by the Department. The Department may require the Permittee, as a condition of the permit, to provide Colorado State Patrol escort or additional Pilot Escort Vehicles and flagpersons based upon certain factors including, but not limited to: State Highway Width, traffic volume, visibility, and whether the Width of the Load interferes with or blocks more than one Lane of traffic." COLORADO DOES PUBLISH THE PERMIT FEE FOR THIS — $125 before the FASTER surcharge and $250 after it for a Chapter 6 Special between 200,001 and 500,000 lb, and $400 before and $800 after for a statutory Super Load at 500,000 lb or more — and it is still not quoted, because §606.4 lets CDOT require "Posting a bond or establishing an escrow account to pay for potential damage to the Highway or any Highway structure, or for cost of Department employees and/or Colorado State Patrol to accompany the load and supervise movement, or for response to any problems encountered during the move". Neither the bond, the escrow, the State Patrol time nor the additional flagpersons has a published rate: Colorado bills the actual cost. A $250 permit fee beside an unbounded escrow is not a total.
$4undated document · read "Credit Card Fee: $4 per transaction per permit" — Visa, MasterCard and Discover in COOPR. It is charged per PERMIT rather than per payment, so two permits on one card are $8, and an escrow account is exempt: a carrier settling through escrow pays $4 less than the total below.
Graduated weight bands. Colorado adds "$10 per axle" to the $30 single-trip base and nothing else. There is no weight increment and no mileage component at all: an 81,000 lb load and a 199,000 lb load on the same six axles pay exactly the same $90, and a seventh axle costs more than 118,000 lb of cargo does.
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.
Seasonal posting
Programme
No seasonal weight-restriction programme on the state systemCDOT runs no spring thaw weight programme. Colorado closes and chain-controls mountain routes in winter, which is a traction and closure question, not an axle-weight one.
Above one of these, the state stops issuing over the counter and prices the move after an engineering review.
Trigger
Threshold
Gross weight
over 200,000 lbundated document · read CDOT’s single-trip OSOW permit covers non-divisible vehicles and loads up to 200,000 lb GVW; above that the move is a Chapter 6 Special under C.R.S. §42-4-510(11)(a)(IV) and 2 CCR 601-4 §600, which applies "to non-divisible loads between 200,001 and 500,000 lbs or moves requiring extraordinary action", and at 500,000 lb or more it is a statutory Super Load under §42-4-510(1.7). Neither is quoted here.
Width
over 17'rev. · read 2 CCR 601-4 §408.2.4.5 and the white-route rule both read "An Extra-legal Vehicle or Load that exceeds 17 feet in Width requires a Chapter 6 Special permit", and green and white are the most permissive colours Colorado publishes — every other colour reaches the Chapter 6 requirement at a narrower width. So no state highway segment admits an ordinary oversize permit above 17 ft.
The dimensions at which Colorado 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
over 17'6"rev. · read 2 CCR 601-4 §303.16: "Route Survey for all Vehicles or Loads that exceed 17' 6" in height."
Length
over 130'rev. · read 2 CCR 601-4 §303.17: "Route Survey for all Vehicles or Loads that exceed 130' in Length."
Police escorts
9. Police escorts
No schedule exists, and that is structural rather than a gap. Structural, not a gap: 2 CCR 601-4 §606.4 bills the actual cost of Colorado State Patrol time through a bond or escrow. There is no rate card to find — the number is whatever the escort actually costs.
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".
Holiday, curfew and night-travel windows are not yet encoded for Colorado. 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.
Who issues it
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.
Source conflicts
12. Where the sources disagree
Two official documents, both in effect, giving different answers. Neither has been adopted.
single-trip base permit fee
$30CDOT Freight — Permitting Information (undated) — "Single Trip Oversize: $15* and total of $30"; "Single Trip OSOW: $15 plus $5 per axle* and a total of $30 plus $10 per axle"; "Credit Card Fee: $4 per transaction per permit"; the SB 09-108 surcharge note and its six-axle worked example undated document · read
$250CDOT Freight — Permitting Information (undated) — "Single Trip Oversize: $15* and total of $30"; "Single Trip OSOW: $15 plus $5 per axle* and a total of $30 plus $10 per axle"; "Credit Card Fee: $4 per transaction per permit"; the SB 09-108 surcharge note and its six-axle worked example undated document · read
$800CDOT Freight — Permitting Information (undated) — "Single Trip Oversize: $15* and total of $30"; "Single Trip OSOW: $15 plus $5 per axle* and a total of $30 plus $10 per axle"; "Credit Card Fee: $4 per transaction per permit"; the SB 09-108 surcharge note and its six-axle worked example undated document · read
2 CCR 601-4 Chapter 3 — Permit types and required documentation — Cornell Legal Information Institute, reproducing 2 CCR 601-4 — "300.1 Single Trip Permit: A permit that is valid for a single move not to exceed a maximum of five days"; "303.16 Route Survey for all Vehicles or Loads that exceed 17' 6" in height. 303.17 Route Survey for all Vehicles or Loads that exceed 130' in Length." rev. · read
2 CCR 601-4 Chapter 4 — Travel restrictions and pilot escort requirements — Justia, reproducing 2 CCR 601-4 — §408.2 the colour width ladders; §408.3 the night-time rules; §409.4 the signal contractor; §410 the length triggers; §411 the overhang triggers; §402 the I-70 seasonal restrictions; §403.2 the Eisenhower-Johnson tunnel limit rev. · read
2 CCR 601-4 Chapter 5 — Pilot escort vehicle and operator requirements — Cornell Legal Information Institute, reproducing 2 CCR 601-4 — §505.1.7 the height-pole specification and the "exceeding sixteen feet in Height" trigger; §500.2, §500.4.3 and §500.5 the operator certification, insurance and driving-record requirements rev. · read
2 CCR 601-4 Chapter 6 — Special and Super Load permits — Cornell Legal Information Institute, reproducing 2 CCR 601-4 — §603 the mandatory front and rear escorts and the discretionary State Patrol escort; §606.4 the bond or escrow for actual Department and CSP costs; §607 the applicant's duty to resolve overhead conflicts; §609.1 "deemed to occupy two Lanes when the total Width ... exceeds 15 feet" rev. · read
C.R.S. §42-4-502 — Width of vehicles (via Justia) — Justia, reproducing the Colorado Revised Statutes — "The total outside width of any vehicle or the load thereon shall not exceed eight feet six inches, except as otherwise provided in this section." rev. · read secondary host
C.R.S. §42-4-504 — Height and length of vehicles (via Justia) — Justia, reproducing the Colorado Revised Statutes — 14 ft 6 in height; 45 ft single vehicle; 70 ft combination and four units; the 57 ft 4 in semitrailer exemption; 4 ft front and 10 ft rear projection rev. · read secondary host
C.R.S. §42-4-510 — Permits for excess size and weight (via Justia) — Justia, reproducing the Colorado Revised Statutes — "Single trip permit, fifteen dollars plus five dollars per axle;"; subsection (1.7), the super-load class and its 25 mph / 10 mph speed restriction; subsection (11)(a), the full fee schedule rev. · read secondary host
CDOT Freight — Permitting Information (undated) — Colorado Department of Transportation, Division of Freight Mobility — "Single Trip Oversize: $15* and total of $30"; "Single Trip OSOW: $15 plus $5 per axle* and a total of $30 plus $10 per axle"; "Credit Card Fee: $4 per transaction per permit"; the SB 09-108 surcharge note and its six-axle worked example undated document · read
CDOT Freight — Pilot escort resources (undated) — Colorado Department of Transportation, Division of Freight Mobility — "Valid certification from Colorado, Arizona, Florida, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Utah, Washington or the Specialized Carriers and Rigging Association" undated document · read
Common questions
Questions
How much is an oversize permit in Colorado?
Colorado's single-trip base fee does not resolve to a single figure in the documents on file — see the fee section above, which shows what each document says.
When does Colorado require a pilot car?
The first width trigger is over 8'6", and it varies by road class — the figure shown is the lowest across classes.
What is a superload in Colorado?
Colorado's published gross-weight superload line is over 200,000 lb. It is not 80,000 lb; that is the federal legal gross limit, not a superload threshold.
Do Colorado's own documents contradict each other?
Yes, in 1 place(s) we hold both documents for. They are set out in full above, each with its pinpoint citation, and none of them has been adopted.