The Wyoming answer
Legal limits
First escort trigger
- Width
- 14' or morerev. · read · lowest across road classessecondary host
- Height
- over 17'rev. · read secondary host
- Length
- 110' or morerev. · read · lowest across road classessecondary host
- Rear overhang
- 25' or morerev. · read secondary host
- Gross weight
- over 117,000 lbrev. · read secondary host
What the paper costs
- Single-trip base
- $25 · 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 Wyoming single-trip permit starts at $25 before bands, overweight and the transaction charge; an escort is first required at 14' or more wide; and the load becomes a superload at a gross weight the state does not publish. Everything below carries the Wyoming 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. Wyoming 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 W.S. 31-18-802: "No vehicle, unladen or with load or load-holding device thereon shall exceed one hundred two (102) inches in width." EXCLUSIVE ("shall exceed"). Corroborated by Wyoming Administrative Code Agency 045 Subagency 0004 Chapter 5 § 5-3(c)(i): "Width: 8 1/2 feet (102 inches)." |
| Height | 14'rev. · read W.S. 31-18-802: "No vehicle, unladen or with load or load-holding devices thereon, shall exceed fourteen (14) feet in height." EXCLUSIVE. 14 FT, NOT 13 FT 6 IN — a 13 ft 9 in load needs no Wyoming permit. Corroborated at Chapter 5 § 5-3(c)(ii): "Height: 14 feet". |
| Semitrailer length | 60'rev. · read W.S. 31-18-803: "In a truck-tractor semitrailer combination, no semitrailer shall exceed sixty (60) feet in length." EXCLUSIVE, and SIXTY FEET IS EXCEPTIONALLY GENEROUS — most of this corpus caps the semitrailer at 48 or 53 ft, so a 57 ft trailer that needs a permit in Utah is legal in Wyoming. Chapter 5 § 5-3(c)(iii)(A) states the same: "60 feet for single units or semi-trailers in a truck-tractor and semitrailer combination." A DOUBLE is different and stricter: the semitrailer may not exceed 48 ft, the second trailer 40 ft, and their combined length 81 ft including connecting mechanisms. |
| Overall length | 85'rev. · read W.S. 31-18-803: "For any other combination of vehicles the overall length shall not exceed eighty-five (85) feet." EXCLUSIVE. A single vehicle is separately capped at 60 ft, no combination may consist of more than three single vehicles, and a saddlemount combination may run to 97 ft with no more than three saddlemounts. |
| Kingpin to rear axle | None published |
| Front overhang | None published |
| Rear overhang | None published |
| Gross weight | 117,000 lbrev. · read W.S. 31-18-802 and Chapter 5 § 5-3(c)(iv)(J)(I): "Up to 117,000 pounds on the interstate in accordance with the formula limitations found in Gross Weight Table 1." Table I is built from W = 500[LN/(N-1) + 12N + 36], with W "to the nearest five hundred (500) pounds". ON PRIMARY AND SECONDARY HIGHWAYS THE OPERATOR ELECTS: vehicles "may operate in accordance with Table I or Table II AT THE DISCRETION OF THE OPERATOR" — Table I to 117,000 lb banded by axle-group spacing, Table II to 80,000 lb banded by the extreme-axle distance of the whole vehicle. That is an election rather than a conflict, and a heavy hauler takes Table I, so 117,000 lb is the operative ceiling. One proviso binds it: vehicles with two consecutive sets of tandem axles less than 22 ft apart "shall comply with gross weight Table I" regardless. |
| Single axle | 20,000 lbrev. · read W.S. 31-18-802: "No single axle shall carry a load in excess of twenty thousand (20,000) pounds." EXCLUSIVE. "Single axle" is defined at W.S. 31-18-801(a)(xxv) as the wheels whose centres fall between two parallel transverse vertical planes 40 inches apart. Wyoming also caps the WHEEL at 10,000 lb on pneumatic tyres and 8,000 lb on solid, and the TYRE at 750 lb per inch of width on a steering axle and 600 lb/in elsewhere, with "tire width" meaning the width stamped on the tyre by the manufacturer. None of the three is evaluated, because a quote states no tyre dimensions. |
| Tandem axle | 36,000 lbrev. · read W.S. 31-18-802: "No tandem axle shall carry a load in excess of thirty-six thousand (36,000) pounds and no one (1) axle of any group of two (2) consecutive axles shall exceed the weight permitted on a single axle." EXCLUSIVE, and 2,000 lb ABOVE the federal figure every other state in this corpus uses. "Tandem axle" is defined at W.S. 31-18-801(a)(xxviii) as consecutive load-bearing axles spaced more than 40 inches and not more than 96 inches apart. WYOMING ALSO PUBLISHES A TRIDEM, which is rare: "No triple axle, consisting of three (3) consecutive load bearing axles ... having a spacing between the first and third axles greater than ninety-six (96) inches and not more than one hundred two (102) inches, shall carry a load in excess of forty-two thousand (42,000) pounds." The schema holds no tridem field, so 42,000 lb is recorded here and not evaluated. |
3. The Wyoming 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 |
|---|---|---|
| width of 14' or more and the road is “two lane primary secondary” | 2 certified escorts1 in front1 behind |
SECONDARY HOST, PRIMARY TEXT, AND THE DISTINC…rev. · read secondary host |
| width of 15' or more and the road is “interstate divided four lane” | 1 certified escort1 behind |
SECONDARY HOST, PRIMARY TEXT, AND THE DISTINC…rev. · read secondary host |
| height over 17' | 1 certified escort1 in frontHeight pole required |
SECONDARY HOST, PRIMARY TEXT, AND THE DISTINC…rev. · read secondary host |
| rear overhang of 25' or more | 1 certified escort1 behind |
SECONDARY HOST, PRIMARY TEXT, AND THE DISTINC…rev. · read secondary host |
| overall length of 110' or more and the road is “two lane primary secondary” | 2 certified escorts1 in front1 behind |
SECONDARY HOST, PRIMARY TEXT, AND THE DISTINC…rev. · read secondary host |
| overall length of 150' or more and the road is “interstate divided four lane” | 1 certified escort1 behind |
SECONDARY HOST, PRIMARY TEXT, AND THE DISTINC…rev. · read secondary host |
| gross weight over 117,000 lb | 1 certified escort1 behindAdvisory: ADOPTED PILOT-CAR COUNT — CONSERVATIVE INTERPRETATION OF PERMIT-OFFICE TRIGGER. WYDOT Motor Carrier Ch. 5 § 5-8(k) (effective 2025-04-30) requires a rear escort for "any overweight move with special restrictions imposed by the OWL" (Overweight Loads office, Wyoming Highway Patrol). Whether OWL restrictions are imposed is a permit-office decision that cannot be predicted from load dimensions or weight — it is decided per permit after application. This quote adopts ONE REAR ESCORT for all overweight moves (gross weight > 117,000 lb) as a conservative floor to avoid under-equipping. The actual requirement may be zero (if OWL imposes no restrictions) or higher (§ 5-8(k) adds "The OWL may require additional escorts depending on load restrictions"). This is an ADOPTED count using MARKET rates, not a published dimensional threshold, and reliability is reduced accordingly. |
SECONDARY HOST, PRIMARY TEXT, AND THE DISTINC…rev. · read secondary host |
The first trigger in each dimension
| Measurement | First escort trigger | First police escort trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Width | 14' or morerev. · read · varies by road class | None published |
| Height | over 17'rev. · read | None published |
| Length | 110' or morerev. · read · varies by road class | None published |
| Rear overhang | 25' or morerev. · read | None published |
| Gross weight | over 117,000 lbrev. · read | None published |
The same rules restated in plain sentences8 rules
- Width 14 ft or greater on a two-lane primary or secondary route — one FRONT and one REAR escort (the centerline limb of the same sentence is not evaluated) — SECONDARY HOST, PRIMARY TEXT, AND THE DISTINCTION IS STATED RATHER THAN BURIED. rules.wyo.gov serves a search form and no rule text, and WYDOT's own Chapter 5 PDF would not render, so § 5-8(g)-(k) was read from Cornell LII's copy of the Wyoming Code of Rules — twice, under independently worded requests, which agreed verbatim. The section prints its own currency, "Amended, Eff. 4/30/2025". Paragraph (g) carries the two width triggers (14 ft two-lane, 15 ft interstate/divided), (h) the two length triggers, (i) the 25 ft rear-overhang trigger, (j) the 17 ft height pole and (k) the OWL overweight-restriction trigger. CONFIRM AGAINST rules.wyo.gov before relying on the two-lane limbs, which this corpus has not yet exercised on a real lane. rev. · read
- Width 15 ft or greater on an interstate, a divided highway, or a four-lane road with a left-turn centre lane — one REAR escort — SECONDARY HOST, PRIMARY TEXT, AND THE DISTINCTION IS STATED RATHER THAN BURIED. rules.wyo.gov serves a search form and no rule text, and WYDOT's own Chapter 5 PDF would not render, so § 5-8(g)-(k) was read from Cornell LII's copy of the Wyoming Code of Rules — twice, under independently worded requests, which agreed verbatim. The section prints its own currency, "Amended, Eff. 4/30/2025". Paragraph (g) carries the two width triggers (14 ft two-lane, 15 ft interstate/divided), (h) the two length triggers, (i) the 25 ft rear-overhang trigger, (j) the 17 ft height pole and (k) the OWL overweight-restriction trigger. CONFIRM AGAINST rules.wyo.gov before relying on the two-lane limbs, which this corpus has not yet exercised on a real lane. rev. · read
- Overall length 110 ft or more on a two-lane primary or secondary route — one FRONT and one REAR escort — SECONDARY HOST, PRIMARY TEXT, AND THE DISTINCTION IS STATED RATHER THAN BURIED. rules.wyo.gov serves a search form and no rule text, and WYDOT's own Chapter 5 PDF would not render, so § 5-8(g)-(k) was read from Cornell LII's copy of the Wyoming Code of Rules — twice, under independently worded requests, which agreed verbatim. The section prints its own currency, "Amended, Eff. 4/30/2025". Paragraph (g) carries the two width triggers (14 ft two-lane, 15 ft interstate/divided), (h) the two length triggers, (i) the 25 ft rear-overhang trigger, (j) the 17 ft height pole and (k) the OWL overweight-restriction trigger. CONFIRM AGAINST rules.wyo.gov before relying on the two-lane limbs, which this corpus has not yet exercised on a real lane. rev. · read
- Overall length 150 ft or longer on an interstate or divided highway — one REAR escort — SECONDARY HOST, PRIMARY TEXT, AND THE DISTINCTION IS STATED RATHER THAN BURIED. rules.wyo.gov serves a search form and no rule text, and WYDOT's own Chapter 5 PDF would not render, so § 5-8(g)-(k) was read from Cornell LII's copy of the Wyoming Code of Rules — twice, under independently worded requests, which agreed verbatim. The section prints its own currency, "Amended, Eff. 4/30/2025". Paragraph (g) carries the two width triggers (14 ft two-lane, 15 ft interstate/divided), (h) the two length triggers, (i) the 25 ft rear-overhang trigger, (j) the 17 ft height pole and (k) the OWL overweight-restriction trigger. CONFIRM AGAINST rules.wyo.gov before relying on the two-lane limbs, which this corpus has not yet exercised on a real lane. rev. · read
- Rear overhang of 25 ft or more — one REAR escort, on all highways — SECONDARY HOST, PRIMARY TEXT, AND THE DISTINCTION IS STATED RATHER THAN BURIED. rules.wyo.gov serves a search form and no rule text, and WYDOT's own Chapter 5 PDF would not render, so § 5-8(g)-(k) was read from Cornell LII's copy of the Wyoming Code of Rules — twice, under independently worded requests, which agreed verbatim. The section prints its own currency, "Amended, Eff. 4/30/2025". Paragraph (g) carries the two width triggers (14 ft two-lane, 15 ft interstate/divided), (h) the two length triggers, (i) the 25 ft rear-overhang trigger, (j) the 17 ft height pole and (k) the OWL overweight-restriction trigger. CONFIRM AGAINST rules.wyo.gov before relying on the two-lane limbs, which this corpus has not yet exercised on a real lane. rev. · read
- Height exceeding 17 ft — one FRONT escort carrying a height-measuring device, on all highways — SECONDARY HOST, PRIMARY TEXT, AND THE DISTINCTION IS STATED RATHER THAN BURIED. rules.wyo.gov serves a search form and no rule text, and WYDOT's own Chapter 5 PDF would not render, so § 5-8(g)-(k) was read from Cornell LII's copy of the Wyoming Code of Rules — twice, under independently worded requests, which agreed verbatim. The section prints its own currency, "Amended, Eff. 4/30/2025". Paragraph (g) carries the two width triggers (14 ft two-lane, 15 ft interstate/divided), (h) the two length triggers, (i) the 25 ft rear-overhang trigger, (j) the 17 ft height pole and (k) the OWL overweight-restriction trigger. CONFIRM AGAINST rules.wyo.gov before relying on the two-lane limbs, which this corpus has not yet exercised on a real lane. rev. · read
- Adopted: overweight moves (>117,000 lb) — one REAR escort as conservative floor (§ 5-8(k) trigger is OWL permit-office action) — SECONDARY HOST, PRIMARY TEXT, AND THE DISTINCTION IS STATED RATHER THAN BURIED. rules.wyo.gov serves a search form and no rule text, and WYDOT's own Chapter 5 PDF would not render, so § 5-8(g)-(k) was read from Cornell LII's copy of the Wyoming Code of Rules — twice, under independently worded requests, which agreed verbatim. The section prints its own currency, "Amended, Eff. 4/30/2025". Paragraph (g) carries the two width triggers (14 ft two-lane, 15 ft interstate/divided), (h) the two length triggers, (i) the 25 ft rear-overhang trigger, (j) the 17 ft height pole and (k) the OWL overweight-restriction trigger. CONFIRM AGAINST rules.wyo.gov before relying on the two-lane limbs, which this corpus has not yet exercised on a real lane. rev. · read
- Whether the Wyoming Highway Patrol itself escorts this move is not settled by any published trigger — SECONDARY HOST, PRIMARY TEXT, AND THE DISTINCTION IS STATED RATHER THAN BURIED. rules.wyo.gov serves a search form and no rule text, and WYDOT's own Chapter 5 PDF would not render, so § 5-8(g)-(k) was read from Cornell LII's copy of the Wyoming Code of Rules — twice, under independently worded requests, which agreed verbatim. The section prints its own currency, "Amended, Eff. 4/30/2025". Paragraph (g) carries the two width triggers (14 ft two-lane, 15 ft interstate/divided), (h) the two length triggers, (i) the 25 ft rear-overhang trigger, (j) the 17 ft height pole and (k) the OWL overweight-restriction trigger. CONFIRM AGAINST rules.wyo.gov before relying on the two-lane limbs, which this corpus has not yet exercised on a real lane. rev. · read
4. Wyoming single-trip permit fees
| Charge | Amount |
|---|---|
| Single-trip base | $25rev. · read W.S. 31-18-804(f): "When an oversize single trip permit is issued, the fee is twenty-five dollars ($25.00)." Corroborated at Chapter 5 § 5-6(a): "Fees shall be $25 for any vehicle or load exceeding the statutory limits". The annual and specialty products are not single-trip alternatives and are not applied: Class D at $50 oversize with a $40 minimum overweight, Class E and F at $15 single-trip and $50 for a period not exceeding 90 days, $250 for a commercial oversize recreational-vehicle move, and a custom-harvest 90-day permit at $50 oversize and $40 minimum overweight. |
| Transaction / card | None publishedrev. · read AN AFFIRMATIVE ABSENCE, and the fee section WAS reached before the research run terminated — the truncation hit the escort rules, not this. Neither W.S. 31-18-804 nor Chapter 5 § 5-6 names a service, processing, administrative or percentage charge on top of the permit fee. |
| Route analysis review | Not yet covered |
| Route with no bridges | Not yet covered |
Dimension bands
| Band | Fee |
|---|---|
| oversize single-trip surcharge, $0.03 per foot of excess per mile | $0rev. · read THE $25 IS NOT IN THIS BAND. W.S. 31-18-804(f) states it separately — "When an oversize single trip permit is issued, the fee is twenty-five dollars ($25.00)" — and it is carried once, in `permitBaseFeeUsd`. This band is only the "additional fee" the next sentence adds. |
5. How Wyoming prices overweight
Priced by the mile. W.S. 31-18-804: "When an overweight permit is issued, the fee is six cents ($.06) for each ton or fraction thereof of weight in excess of the weight limitation under W.S. 31-18-802 for each mile traveled on the highways. In no event shall the fee be less than forty dollars ($40.00) for the permit."
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 117,001 lb and up | any | $0.06 per mile for each 2,000 lb above 117,000 lba part increment is charged in full ("or fraction thereof")minimum $40 |
PRIMARY, from the state's own statute host. S…rev. · read |
6. Wyoming 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
- A statewide seasonal programmePublished on the statewide road-conditions map. Wyoming restricts fewer miles than its neighbours because much of the state system is built on free-draining base.
- Posting window we watch
- 02-01 → 05-15WYDOT posts seasonal load restrictions through its road-conditions system as districts thaw.
- Issuing authority
- WYDOT — Wyoming Road ConditionsWyoming Department of Transportation
The live Wyoming restriction picture, with the date we last read the bulletin →
7. Wyoming'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 Wyoming 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. CHECKED 2026-10-18, AND THIS ROW CHANGED KIND. It used to read "NOT CHECKED — a gap in our data rather than a finding about Wyoming", because the research run that produced the legal limits and fee schedule terminated partway through the fee section and never reached the escort rules. The escort section has now been read: WYDOT Motor Carrier Ch. 5 § 5-8(g)-(k), amended eff. 4/30/2025, and its CIVILIAN triggers are encoded in `WYOMING_ESCORT_RULES`. THE POLICE HALF IS A REAL "NOTHING PUBLISHED" FINDING RATHER THAN AN UNREAD ONE. § 5-8 sets no dimension at which the Highway Patrol itself escorts a move; it publishes an untriggered discretion twice — "WHP may require additional escorts depending on load width" (g) and "The OWL may require additional escorts depending on load restrictions" (k) — and no hourly, mileage, minimum-hours or per diem schedule appears anywhere in the chapter or on the Patrol's own site. Chapter 5 § 5-6(c) separately makes the applicant pay "the cost of sending personnel to accompany load movement" above 250,000 lb, which is a departmental escort charge with no published rate. So neither the trigger nor the rate exists in published form, and `wy-police-escort-requirement-open` keeps the question OPEN rather than letting Wyoming fall into the confirmed-none column.
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 Wyoming. 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 (3)
Every document behind Wyoming3 sources
- Wyoming Administrative Rules, Agency 045 Subagency 0004 Chapter 5 § 5-6 — permit fees — Wyoming Department of Transportation (via Cornell LII) — SECONDARY — Cornell LII's copy, which states no revision date. It restates the statute's $25, $0.03 foot-mile and $0.06 ton-mile figures identically, which is the available cross-check, and adds the Class A-F, custom-harvest and recreational-vehicle products and the over-125-ton cost-recovery rule.
undated document · read secondary host - Wyoming Code of Rules, WYDOT Motor Carrier (045-0004) Chapter 5 § 5-8 — Safety Measures and Moves — Wyoming Department of Transportation (via Cornell LII) — SECONDARY HOST, PRIMARY TEXT, AND THE DISTINCTION IS STATED RATHER THAN BURIED. rules.wyo.gov serves a search form and no rule text, and WYDOT's own Chapter 5 PDF would not render, so § 5-8(g)-(k) was read from Cornell LII's copy of the Wyoming Code of Rules — twice, under independently worded requests, which agreed verbatim. The section prints its own currency, "Amended, Eff. 4/30/2025". Paragraph (g) carries the two width triggers (14 ft two-lane, 15 ft interstate/divided), (h) the two length triggers, (i) the 25 ft rear-overhang trigger, (j) the 17 ft height pole and (k) the OWL overweight-restriction trigger. CONFIRM AGAINST rules.wyo.gov before relying on the two-lane limbs, which this corpus has not yet exercised on a real lane.
rev. · read secondary host - Wyoming Statutes Title 31 Chapter 18 — size, weight and load — Wyoming Legislature — PRIMARY, from the state's own statute host. Source of every legal limit, the Table I bridge formula, the $25 base fee, the $0.03 foot-mile oversize surcharge, the $0.06 ton-mile overweight rate and the $40 minimum. The path carries a 2021 title year and no finer date.
rev. · read
Questions
How much is an oversize permit in Wyoming?
The single-trip base is $25, before the dimension bands, the overweight component and the transaction charge. The base alone is rarely what is paid.
When does Wyoming require a pilot car?
The first width trigger is 14' or more, and it varies by road class — the figure shown is the lowest across classes.
What is a superload in Wyoming?
Wyoming publishes no gross-weight superload threshold in the documents on file — see the superload section, which shows the dimensional triggers it does publish.