State profile · Texas
Every figure here carries the Texas document behind it.
The short version: a Texas single-trip permit starts at $60 before bands, overweight and the transaction charge; an escort is first required at 14' or more wide; and the load becomes a superload at over 254,300 lb. Everything below carries the Texas document it came from, that document's own revision date, and the date we read it.
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 hoststatute states 102 inches |
| Height | 14'rev. · read secondary host |
| Semitrailer length | 59'undated document · read semitrailer in a truck-tractor/semitrailer combination, excluding the towing device (Transp. Code §621.204) |
| Overall length | None published |
| Kingpin to rear axle | None published |
| Front overhang | 3'undated document · read |
| Rear overhang | 4'undated document · read |
| Gross weight | 80,000 lbrev. · read secondary host§621.101 adopts the federal bridge formula rather than a flat cap; §621.101(b-1) allows natural-gas and battery-electric vehicles up to 2,000 lb more, capped at 82,000 lb. Powertrain is not collected on a quote, so the allowance is not applied. |
| Single axle | 20,000 lbrev. · read secondary hostincludes all enforcement tolerances |
| Tandem axle | 34,000 lbrev. · read secondary hostincludes all enforcement tolerances |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| width over 14' and width from 14' to 16' | 1 certified escort |
TxDMV — Escort and Equipment Requirementsundated document · read |
| width over 16' | 2 certified escorts1 in front1 behind |
TxDMV — Escort and Equipment Requirementsundated document · read |
| height over 17' | 1 certified escort1 in frontHeight pole required |
TxDMV — Escort and Equipment Requirementsundated document · read |
| height over 18' | 2 certified escorts1 in front1 behindHeight pole required |
TxDMV — Escort and Equipment Requirementsundated document · read |
| front overhang over 20' | 1 certified escort1 behind |
TxDMV — Escort and Equipment Requirementsundated document · read |
| rear overhang over 20' | 1 certified escort1 behind |
TxDMV — Escort and Equipment Requirementsundated document · read |
| overall length over 110' and overall length from 110' to 125' | 1 certified escort |
TxDMV — Escort and Equipment Requirementsundated document · read |
| overall length over 125' | 2 certified escorts1 in front1 behind |
TxDMV — Escort and Equipment Requirementsundated document · read |
| at least 2 of: another rule already applies (tx-width-14-to-16) or another rule already applies (tx-width-over-16); another rule already applies (tx-height-over-17) or another rule already applies (tx-height-over-18); another rule already applies (tx-length-110-to-125) or another rule already applies (tx-length-over-125); another rule already applies (tx-front-overhang-over-20) or another rule already applies (tx-rear-overhang-over-20) | 2 certified escorts1 in front1 behind |
TxDMV — Escort and Equipment Requirementsundated document · read |
| Measurement | First escort trigger | First police escort trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Width | 14' or moreundated document · read | None published |
| Height | over 17'undated document · read | None published |
| Length | 110' or moreundated document · read | None published |
| Rear overhang | over 20'undated document · read | None published |
| Gross weight | None published | None published |
| Charge | Amount |
|---|---|
| Single-trip base | $60rev. · read secondary host |
| Transaction / card | $0.25 + 2.25% of the totalrev. · read |
| Route analysis review | $500rev. · read TxDOT review of a state-approved private engineer’s analysis. The engineer’s own fee is separate and is not a state charge. |
| Route with no bridges | $100rev. · read Applies when the approved route crosses no bridges. |
Graduated weight bands. Transp. Code §623.077 sets a highway maintenance fee in four flat gross-weight steps. The general single-trip permit has no mileage component.
| Gross weight | Axles | Fee | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 80,001 lb – 120,000 lb | any | $150 | highway maintenance fee bandsrev. · read secondary host |
| 80,001 lb – 120,000 lb | any | $150 | single-page fee table; "February 2021" footerrev. · read |
| 120,001 lb – 160,000 lb | any | $225 | highway maintenance fee bandsrev. · read secondary host |
| 120,001 lb – 160,000 lb | any | $225 | single-page fee table; "February 2021" footerrev. · read |
| 160,001 lb – 200,000 lb | any | $300 | highway maintenance fee bandsrev. · read secondary host |
| 160,001 lb – 200,000 lb | any | $300 | single-page fee table; "February 2021" footerrev. · read |
| 200,001 lb and up | any | $375 | highway maintenance fee bandsrev. · read secondary host |
| 200,001 lb and up | any | $375 | single-page fee table; "February 2021" footerrev. · read |
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.
Texas is not in the seasonal-restriction registry, so we hold no posting window for it and are not inventing 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 254,300 lbundated document · read |
| Width | None published |
| Height | None published |
| Length | None published |
| Short axle spacing | 200,001 lb–254,300 lb on under 95 ft of axle spacingundated document · read |
The dimensions at which Texas triggers a physical route inspection or an engineering review, and what the agency charges to review it.
| Measurement | Inspection / review trigger |
|---|---|
| Width | over 20'rev. · read secondary host§219.11(h)(4) |
| Height | Two official sources disagree19' or more — versus — over 18'11" |
| Length | over 125'rev. · read secondary host§219.11(i)(7) |
Charges exist and no schedule is published. TxDOT may require law-enforcement traffic control, sets no threshold that would let it be predicted, and publishes no officer rate.
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 Texas. The seasonal picture — which is a different question — is in section 6 above.
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.
The agency behind each figure above is linked from that figure. We publish no per-state permit-office phone number.
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.
Two official documents, both in effect, giving different answers. Neither has been adopted.
Both are in effect and neither has been adopted.
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.
This is a permit fee, not a freight rate.
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.
The agency's review fee is shown where the state publishes one; the engineer's own fee is a private cost with no schedule.
Set per move by the agency, and in at least one state the escort is billed at actual cost against it.
Arranged with each utility, priced by each utility.
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.
The single-trip base is $60, before the dimension bands, the overweight component and the transaction charge. The base alone is rarely what is paid.
The first width trigger is 14' or more.
Texas's published gross-weight superload line is over 254,300 lb. It is not 80,000 lb; that is the federal legal gross limit, not a superload threshold.
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.