The short version: a New York 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 12' wide; and the load becomes a superload at 200,000 lb or more. Everything below carries the New York 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"undated document · read §385(1)(a): 96 in generally, 102 in on a qualifying or access highway, and 102 in on any other highway with lanes designed at 10 ft or more — except inside a city not wholly within one county, i.e. New York City. The 102 in figure is used, matching the federal National Network width; a load between 96 and 102 in on a narrow-lane non-qualifying highway would be over-width and is not caught here. Note also that the State Police commercial-vehicle page prints "102 inches (8 feet)", a parenthetical that contradicts both its own inches figure and the statute; it is a transcription error on a secondary page, not a competing legal limit, so it is not recorded as a conflicting row.
Height
13'6"undated document · read §385(2): "not more than thirteen and one-half feet", inclusive of load
Semitrailer length
48'undated document · read §385(3)(b): a semitrailer or trailer "shall not exceed forty-eight feet". A semitrailer over 48 ft and up to 53 ft may run on a qualifying or specifically designated access highway if the kingpin-to-rear-axle distance is 43 ft or less and a rear-end protective device is fitted — route-dependent, not collected on a quote, so recorded here rather than applied.
Overall length
65'undated document · read §385(4)(a): "The total length of a combination of vehicles, inclusive of load and bumpers, shall not be more than sixty-five feet." The statute exempts qualifying/access-highway operations and specified vehicle and load types.
Kingpin to rear axle
None published
Front overhang
None published
Rear overhang
None published
Gross weight
80,000 lbundated document · read §385(10): "In no case, however, shall the total weight exceed eighty thousand pounds." Below 71,000 lb New York allows the HIGHER of its own 34,000 lb + 1,000 lb per foot formula and the federal bridge formula; at or above 71,000 lb the bridge formula governs.
Single axle
22,400 lbundated document · read §385(8): higher than the federal 20,000 lb limit; applies to pneumatic tires
Tandem axle
36,000 lbundated document · read §385(9): higher than the federal 34,000 lb limit, for two consecutive axles spaced under 8 ft. At 8 ft to under 10 ft the pair is limited by the bridge formula AND by 40,000 lb; axles under 46 in apart count as one axle.
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.
width over 16' or height of 16' or more or overall length over 160' or gross weight of 200,000 lb or more
Escorts required; the source states no number. Published as: “Police escort required at the published dimensional triggers; number of police vehicles is not published.”Route survey / engineering review before issueCannot be reduced to a number: New York requires a police escort at these dimensions (and whenever the load must cross the centreline of a structure, or exceeds 200 ft in length on a Thruway-controlled highway), but publishes no required number of police vehicles. The rates ARE published and are citable: as of 1 April 2026 the New York State Police charge $101.89 per hour at the regular rate, $144.66 per hour at overtime, and $0.725 per mile from the moment a trooper leaves the station, with a minimum of three hours per assigned officer at the overtime rate — those rates already include fringe benefits and indirect costs at 62.91% — so a single officer costs at least $433.98 before mileage. Because the officer count and hours are set by the agency on the day, no police-escort amount is included in the permit total. Note also that the WEIGHT boundary is itself disputed: the 2025 Certified Escort Manual says the trigger is where the load "exceeds 200,000 pounds" (exclusive) while Perm 87 and PERM 12S both say "200,000 POUNDS OR GREATER" (inclusive). The inclusive reading is used here, because it is the stricter one and a load at exactly 200,000 lb is a superload under the current superloads page on any reading; the disagreement bites for that one load and should be confirmed with the permitting office.
the road is “interstate” and overall length of 160' or more
2 certified escortsAdvisory: New York reduces the escort requirement to two vehicles for a load 160 ft or longer travelling only on interstate highways, but does not state where the two ride. Their positions must be confirmed with the permitting office.
Three official sources disagree$40 — versus — $60 — versus — $40
Transaction / card
None publishedundated document · read New York charges no processing, convenience or credit-card fee. The fee page states "Fees do not include any permit service company charges" — i.e. a service charge on a quote is the broker's, not the state's. UNKNOWN and recorded rather than assumed: whether the $20 regional-office surcharge VTL §385 authorises is presently levied. Note also that a three-way movement is charged TWO permit fees under §154-1.20; this engine prices a one-way single trip.
Route analysis review
$0undated document · read No route or bridge analysis fee is published by NYSDOT, and the superload permit itself is the same $40. What a superload does add is not a state fee: a surety bond ($10,000–$50,000, added together across qualifying dimensions and weight), a route survey performed and certified by a New York Certified Escort, and — for some moves — a licensed engineering firm retained by the permittee to analyse bridges and accompany the load. Those are private costs and none is included in the permit total.
New York has more than one permit issuer. A state total can be complete and still be missing a whole permit.
New York State Thruway Authority — A nondivisible oversize/overweight load travelling on the Thruway (I-87, I-90 Mainline, I-190) needs a Thruway permit in addition to the NYSDOT permit — the reciprocity that honours a NYSDOT permit on the Thruway applies to Divisible Load Permits only. Note also that TAP-623 caps width on the Thruway Mainline and the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge at 12 ft 6 in, so a wider load cannot use those roads at all and must route on NYSDOT highways.. We do not hold this authority's fee schedule, so the leg goes to review rather than being quoted short. NYS Thruway Authority TAP-623 — Oversize/Overweight Permit Information (PDF)
New York State Bridge Authority — A load crossing a Bridge Authority facility needs that authority's own permit.. We do not hold this authority's fee schedule, so the leg goes to review rather than being quoted short. NYS Certified Vehicle Escort Manual (PDF)
New York City (NYC DOT) — A movement on any state or other highway inside New York City. VTL §385 says a NYSDOT special hauling permit "shall not be valid" there, so a load entering the five boroughs needs New York City's own permit under its own rules and fees.. We do not hold this authority's fee schedule, so the leg goes to review rather than being quoted short. NY Vehicle & Traffic Law §385 (NYSDOT reprint)
Included in the base permit fee. 17 NYCRR §154-1.2(b)(1) defines a trip permit as authorising "an oversize and/or overweight vehicle" — one permit, one fee. NYSDOT publishes no weight bands and no per-mile component for a nondivisible trip permit.
There is no weight schedule to print, and under this model there is not supposed to be one.
Seasonal posting
6. New York 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.
Seasonal posting
Programme
Local roads only — the state system is not postedNYSDOT does not seasonally restrict the touring routes. New York frost laws are posted by towns and counties on local roads, typically for a few weeks in March and April.
The regular rate is $101.89 per hour, but NYSP says hours are often billed at overtime beyond the three-hour minimum. The assignment determines the actual regular/overtime split; the owner planning split after three hours is not an agency guarantee.
Mileage at $0.725 per mile runs from the moment a trooper leaves the STATION, so it is not the load's in-state mileage and cannot be computed from this lane.
New York publishes no required NUMBER of police vehicles, so the floor below is for a single officer and the real assignment may be larger.
Holiday, curfew and night-travel windows are not yet encoded for New York. 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.
$40NYSDOT — Special Hauling Permit Fees — trip permit table — every type $40 with a $10 amendment fee; page carries no revision date undated document · read
Both are in effect and neither has been adopted.
superload length threshold
160' or moreNYSDOT PERM 12S — Superload Permit Requirements (PDF) — superload definition with INCLUSIVE length boundary; bond schedule; police escorts for all superloads. Month-only date, recorded as the 1st. rev. · read
over 160'NYSDOT — Superloads — superload definition: over 16 ft wide; 16 ft or more high; over 160 ft long; 200,000 lb or more undated document · read
17 NYCRR Subpart 154-1 — Special Hauling Permits (PDF) — New York State Department of Transportation — §154-1.2(b)(1) trip permit definition; §154-1.20 fee table, form PERM43 (9/95); three-way movement = two permit fees rev. · read
NY Vehicle & Traffic Law §385 (NYSDOT reprint) — New York State Department of Transportation — independent reprint, used as corroboration of the Senate text; also the regional-office surcharge and the New York City exclusion undated document · read
NYS Certified Vehicle Escort Manual (PDF) — New York State Department of Transportation — escort positions and escalations; height-pole settings; police-escort triggers; §IV.1(e) separate permits. Cover states the year 2025 only — no month or day. rev. · read
NYSDOT — Special Hauling Permit Fees — New York State Department of Transportation — trip permit table — every type $40 with a $10 amendment fee; page carries no revision date undated document · read
NYSDOT — Superloads — New York State Department of Transportation — superload definition: over 16 ft wide; 16 ft or more high; over 160 ft long; 200,000 lb or more undated document · read
NYSDOT PERM 12S — Superload Permit Requirements (PDF) — New York State Department of Transportation — superload definition with INCLUSIVE length boundary; bond schedule; police escorts for all superloads. Month-only date, recorded as the 1st. rev. · read
New York'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 New York require a pilot car?
The first width trigger is over 12'.
What is a superload in New York?
New York's published gross-weight superload line is 200,000 lb or more. It is not 80,000 lb; that is the federal legal gross limit, not a superload threshold.
Do New York's own documents contradict each other?
Yes, in 2 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.