Legal limits, escort triggers, permit fees, the superload line and the police escort position for Arkansas — every figure carrying the state document behind it.
8 source documents on fileoldest revision 2023last retrieved 2026-09-0311 escort rules in effect1 source conflictsFree · no account needed
The short version: a Arkansas single-trip permit starts at $17 before bands, overweight and the transaction charge; an escort is first required at over 12' wide; and the load becomes a superload at 180,000 lb or more. Everything below carries the Arkansas document it came from, that document's own revision date, and the date we read it.
Legal limits
1. Arkansas legal limits
Anything over one of these needs a permit. Every value links to the document that sets it.
Ark. Code §27-35-210(e)(2) charges "for each ton or major fraction thereof to be hauled in excess of the lawful weight and load for that vehicle, or combination of vehicles" at a rate stepped by the mileage to be travelled — $8.00 a ton up to 100 miles, rising to $16.00 a ton past 251. The mileage selects the rate; it is not multiplied through.
The dimensions at which Arkansas 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
Police escorts
7. Police escorts
Charges exist and no schedule is published. The Permit Section may require one or more law-enforcement vehicles under ARDOT Rules 3.E.7, 4.H.2 and 6.E.6. No dimension triggers it automatically and Arkansas 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".
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
9. 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
10. Where the sources disagree
Two official documents, both in effect, giving different answers. Neither has been adopted.
A move of exactly 251 miles is priced by nothing
Ark. Code §27-35-210(e)(2) bands the per-ton charge "201 miles to 250 miles, inclusive" and then "Over 251 miles", which prices no move of exactly 251 miles. ARDOT Permit Rules Appendix 3 and 27 CAR Part 111 Appendix both read "251 miles or more" and do price it. Only the range all three documents name — 252 miles and up — is priced here; a 251-mile move matches no band and the permit fee must be confirmed with the Permit Section.
27 CAR Part 111, Appendix — Overweight Fee Chart (undated) — Code of Arkansas Rules, Arkansas Secretary of State — Appendix 3, "OVERWEIGHT FEE CHART": "for each ton or major fraction thereof to be hauled in excess of the lawful weight and load for that vehicle, or combination of vehicles"; "100 Miles or Less $8.00 … 251 miles or more $16.00" undated document · read 2026-09-03
ARDOT — Permit Rules for the Movement of Oversize and Overweight Vehicles on the Arkansas State Highway System (2023) — Arkansas Department of Transportation, Arkansas Highway Police Division — adopted by the Arkansas State Highway Commission — Rule 2.A.3 Table of Legal Dimensions and Weight Limits; Rule 2.I super loads; Rule 3.C.2 the $17 fee; Rule 3.E–G escorts, width ceilings and length; Rule 6.D–E escorts; Appendix 3 the overweight fee charts rev. 2023 · read 2026-09-03
Ark. Code §27-35-203 — Weight of vehicles (via FindLaw — SECONDARY source) — FindLaw, reproducing the Arkansas Code — (a) "shall not exceed twenty thousand pounds (20,000 lbs.)" single axle; (b) "shall not exceed thirty-four thousand pounds (34,000 lbs.)" tandem; (d) "when the gross weight is in excess of eighty thousand pounds (80,000 lbs.)" rev. 2024-03-28 · read 2026-09-03
Ark. Code §27-35-206 — Width of vehicles (via FindLaw — SECONDARY source) — FindLaw, reproducing the Arkansas Code — "a vehicle operated upon the highways of this state shall not have a total outside width, unladen or with load, in excess of one hundred two inches (102″)" rev. 2024-03-28 · read 2026-09-03
Ark. Code §27-35-207 — Height of vehicles (via FindLaw — SECONDARY source) — FindLaw, reproducing the Arkansas Code — "A vehicle operated upon the highways of this state, unladen or with load, shall not exceed a height of fourteen feet (14′)"; the page carries no history line and does not mention Act 871 of 2021 rev. 2024-03-28 · read 2026-09-03
Ark. Code §27-35-208 — Length of vehicles (via FindLaw — SECONDARY source) — FindLaw, reproducing the Arkansas Code — "The state shall not establish or enforce any rule which imposes a semitrailer or trailer length limitation of less than fifty-three feet six inches (53′ 6″)"; "No single truck … shall have an overall length in excess of forty feet (40′)" rev. 2024-03-28 · read 2026-09-03
Ark. Code §27-35-210 — Permits for special cargoes (via FindLaw — SECONDARY source) — FindLaw, reproducing the Arkansas Code — (e)(1) "A charge of seventeen dollars ($17.00) shall be made for each special permit."; (e)(2) the per-ton mileage table, whose top band reads "Over 251 miles"; (e)(3) "a fee not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500) … whose gross weight is one hundred eighty thousand pounds (180,000 lbs.) or greater"; the section defines no "major fraction" rev. 2024-03-28 · read 2026-09-03
Common questions
Questions
How much is an oversize permit in Arkansas?
The single-trip base is $17, before the dimension bands, the overweight component and the transaction charge. The base alone is rarely what is paid.
When does Arkansas require a pilot car?
The first width trigger is over 12', and it varies by road class — the figure shown is the lowest across classes.
What is a superload in Arkansas?
Arkansas's published gross-weight superload line is 180,000 lb or more. It is not 80,000 lb; that is the federal legal gross limit, not a superload threshold.
Do Arkansas'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.
