The short version: a Maryland single-trip permit starts at $30 before bands, overweight and the transaction charge; an escort is first required at over 12' wide; and the load becomes a superload at a gross weight the state does not publish. Everything below carries the Maryland 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 §24-102(c)(1): "a vehicle may not be driven on any highway if the width of the vehicle exceeds 102 inches". EXCLUSIVE ("exceeds") — exactly 102 in needs no permit.
Height
13'6"undated document · read §24-104: "the height of any vehicle and its load may not exceed 13 feet 6 inches". EXCLUSIVE, and the corpus-norm figure.
Semitrailer length
53'undated document · read §24-104.1: "the semitrailer may not exceed 48 feet in length" — EXCLUSIVE. §24-104.2 then allows more: "a person may operate a semitrailer (single) in combination with a truck tractor that exceeds 48 feet in length up to a length not to exceed 53 feet", conditioned on the 41 ft kingpin distance recorded separately. The 53 ft figure is the operative one; a semitrailer between 48 and 53 ft whose kingpin distance EXCEEDS 41 ft falls back to the 48 ft cap, which this row will not catch on its own.
Overall length
None published
Kingpin to rear axle
41'undated document · read §24-104.2: "The wheelbase of the semitrailer, measured as the distance from the kingpin to the center of the rear tandem axles, may not exceed 41 feet in length." EXCLUSIVE, and it is the CONDITION on the 53 ft allowance above rather than an independent limit — a semitrailer over 41 ft of kingpin distance is held to 48 ft of length.
Front overhang
3'undated document · read §24-105: a load "may not extend more than 3 feet beyond the foremost part of the vehicle". EXCLUSIVE. Maryland allows 4 ft for garbage trucks and automobile transporters — a vehicle-class exemption a quote does not identify, so the general 3 ft figure is recorded and the exemption is not.
Rear overhang
6'undated document · read §24-105: a load "may not extend more than 6 feet beyond the rear of the bed or body of the vehicle". EXCLUSIVE. Maryland allows only 4 ft for automobile and boat transporters — a STRICTER class exemption, so the 6 ft general figure under-reports those two classes; a quote does not identify them.
Gross weight
80,000 lbundated document · read §24-109(e): "The gross weight of any vehicle or combination of vehicles may not exceed the following limits: ... Five [axles] as provided for in §13-916 or §13-923 of this article 80,000". EXCLUSIVE, and the corpus-norm figure. NOTE THE UNIT MISMATCH WITH THE FEE: the fee section measures the excess over 40 TONS of gross weight rather than over 80,000 lb. The two coincide numerically — 40 tons is 80,000 lb — but Maryland writes the fee in tons and the limit in pounds.
Single axle
By condition (2)
22,400 lbregistered gross weight at or under 73,000 lb
34,000 lbundated document · read §24-109: "2 consecutive sets of tandem axles may carry a gross load of 34,000 pounds each". The corpus-norm federal figure.
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 12' and not (the road is “interstate”) and Is the load construction equipment? COMAR 11.04.04.03A(5) requires one escort for "Construction equipment over 12 feet wide traveling off the interstate system" — a commodity test no dimension settles.
width from 13' (exclusive) to 14' (exclusive) and not (Is the load a manufactured housing unit? COMAR 11.04.04.03A(1) exempts a manufactured housing unit from the one-escort requirement above 13 ft wide, and 11.04.04.03B(1) then requires two escorts at 14 ft wide or more "including a load that is a manufactured housing unit" — so the answer changes the escort count only between 13 ft and 14 ft of width.)
The count is settled; the source does not say front or rear — at least 1. Published as: “Height 16 feet or higher — MSP Escort required”Advisory: A MARYLAND STATE POLICE ESCORT IS REQUIRED ON THIS MOVE AND NO RATE IS QUOTED, because Maryland publishes none. COMAR 11.04.01.08F sets the basis and not the amount: "the fee for a single escort by off-duty Maryland State Police officers is based upon the reasonable expenses incurred, AS ESTABLISHED BY A SCHEDULE MAINTAINED BY THE UNIT. These expenses include, but are not limited to, the maintenance and use of Maryland State Police vehicles and the overtime rate of Maryland State Police personnel." That schedule is held by the SHA Hauling Permits Unit and appears neither in COMAR nor on roads.maryland.gov. .08G adds that it "will be added to the permit fee at the time of issuance", so it is a real line on the invoice. Obtain the figure from the Hauling Permits Unit before quoting; nothing is estimated here. Note also that the THRESHOLD above is from the 2008 SHA permit manual — COMAR sets no MSP threshold, only a discretionary power.
The count is settled; the source does not say front or rear — at least 1. Published as: “48-Hour advance notice to the Maryland State Police prior to move — MSP escort required for any move”Advisory: A MARYLAND STATE POLICE ESCORT IS REQUIRED ON THIS MOVE AND NO RATE IS QUOTED, because Maryland publishes none. COMAR 11.04.01.08F sets the basis and not the amount: "the fee for a single escort by off-duty Maryland State Police officers is based upon the reasonable expenses incurred, AS ESTABLISHED BY A SCHEDULE MAINTAINED BY THE UNIT. These expenses include, but are not limited to, the maintenance and use of Maryland State Police vehicles and the overtime rate of Maryland State Police personnel." That schedule is held by the SHA Hauling Permits Unit and appears neither in COMAR nor on roads.maryland.gov. .08G adds that it "will be added to the permit fee at the time of issuance", so it is a real line on the invoice. Obtain the figure from the Hauling Permits Unit before quoting; nothing is estimated here. Note also that the THRESHOLD above is from the 2008 SHA permit manual — COMAR sets no MSP threshold, only a discretionary power.
The count is settled; the source does not say front or rear — at least 1. Published as: “Weight Over 60 Tons — MSP Escort required ... Special Escorts and 1 MSP escort vehicle is required if load is going against traffic”Advisory: A MARYLAND STATE POLICE ESCORT IS REQUIRED ON THIS MOVE AND NO RATE IS QUOTED, because Maryland publishes none. COMAR 11.04.01.08F sets the basis and not the amount: "the fee for a single escort by off-duty Maryland State Police officers is based upon the reasonable expenses incurred, AS ESTABLISHED BY A SCHEDULE MAINTAINED BY THE UNIT. These expenses include, but are not limited to, the maintenance and use of Maryland State Police vehicles and the overtime rate of Maryland State Police personnel." That schedule is held by the SHA Hauling Permits Unit and appears neither in COMAR nor on roads.maryland.gov. .08G adds that it "will be added to the permit fee at the time of issuance", so it is a real line on the invoice. Obtain the figure from the Hauling Permits Unit before quoting; nothing is estimated here. Note also that the THRESHOLD above is from the 2008 SHA permit manual — COMAR sets no MSP threshold, only a discretionary power.
$30rev. · read COMAR 11.04.01.08C: "The fees for special hauling permits and special vehicle permits are as follows: (1) The base fees for oversize AND OVERWEIGHT are: (a) Thirty dollars for the first 40 tons or less of gross weight; and (b) Five dollars for each additional ton or part of a ton in excess of 40 tons. (2) There are additional fees associated with permits for excessive size and excessive weight as described in §§D—I of this regulation. (3) The fee for extension of a special hauling permit or special vehicle permit is $5." The $30 covers gross weight up to AND INCLUDING 40 tons. The non-single-trip products are not applied: 30-day blanket $50 and annual blanket $500 (.08A), a book of ten single-trip permits $300 (.08B(1)), the $5 extension (.08C(3)), and the Heavy Weight Port Corridor permit at $500 a year (COMAR 11.04.17.07).
Transaction / card
None publishedrev. · read A SOURCED ZERO ON AN AFFIRMATIVE ABSENCE, not a default. COMAR 11.04.01.08 was read in full, A through K, looking specifically for an application, processing, issuance, convenience, transaction or percentage service charge. There is none — the only base charge in the regulation is the $30 of C(1)(a). Note what the regulation DOES add at .08J, which is not a transaction fee and is not priceable: "Additional fees may be assessed by other jurisdictions affected by the permitted routes." See `additionalAuthorities`.
Route analysis review
Not yet covered
Route with no bridges
Not yet covered
Maryland has more than one permit issuer. A state total can be complete and still be missing a whole permit.
Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) — ANY move on or across an MDTA facility — the William Preston Lane Jr. Memorial (Bay) Bridge on US 50/301, the Fort McHenry Tunnel on I-95, the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel Thruway on I-895, the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway on I-95, the Francis Scott Key Bridge on MD 695, the Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge, the Harry W. Nice Memorial/Thomas "Mac" Middleton Bridge, the Intercounty Connector on MD 200, or any other Authority highway (COMAR 11.04.03.05A). MDTA DOES NOT ISSUE ITS OWN PERMIT: the SHA permit covers Authority facilities and the Authority's charge is collected by SHA on its behalf — COMAR 11.04.01.08H, "The Unit may assess and collect, on behalf of the Maryland Transportation Authority, fees imposed by the Authority for permit moves on or across property owned by the Authority." One application, one permit, one payment, with an MDTA line item on it. HARD ROUTING CONSTRAINTS ON THOSE FACILITIES, ALL FROM COMAR 11.04.03.05 AND NOT ENCODED ELSEWHERE IN THIS FILE: the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel (I-895) is closed outright to permit loads — "Any oversize or overweight vehicle and any vehicle and load together exceeding 96 inches (8 feet) in width or 13 feet 6 inches in height is PROHIBITED from entering the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel and its approaches (I-895)", and the 2008 SHA manual is blunter still: "NO PERMIT LOADS ARE ALLOWED ON I-895 EXCEPT CONTAINERIZED CARGO WITH A VALID PERMIT". The Fort McHenry Tunnel (I-95) bars anything "exceeding 14 feet 6 inches in height or 11 feet in width ... unless, in the case of vehicles and loads exceeding 11 feet in width, special written permission is obtained from the Administrator of the Tunnel". Authority-wide travel is confined to "daylight hours between 9 a.m. Monday and 12 noon Friday" unless the Authority approves otherwise, and "A permittee shall notify the appropriate Maryland Transportation Authority facility at least 1 hour before using the facility.". We do not hold this authority's fee schedule, so the leg goes to review rather than being quoted short. COMAR Title 11 Subtitle 04 (Chapters 11.04.01–11.04.04) — Permits for Oversize and Overweight Vehicles
City of Baltimore — A move on or across roadways under the City of Baltimore's jurisdiction. TWO MARYLAND SOURCES DESCRIBE TWO DIFFERENT MECHANISMS AND BOTH ARE RECORDED RATHER THAN RECONCILED. COMAR 11.04.01.08H-1 has SHA collecting the City's fee under a JOINT permit for Port moves: "The Unit may assess and collect, on behalf of the City of Baltimore, fees imposed by the City for permit moves on or across roadways under the jurisdiction of the City in relation to the issuance of a joint permit to accommodate moves associated with the Port of Baltimore." The 2008 SHA permit manual instead directs a SEPARATE City application in the general case: "It you are traveling to or through the City of Baltimore you must apply for a permit from their permit office (410-396-3333)" (the typo is the manual's). Either way the City charge ADDS to the SHA permit and does not replace it. SEPARATELY, AND NOT A ROW OF ITS OWN: the SHA permit does not cover county or municipal roads anywhere in the state. COMAR 11.04.03.04A(1) forbids a permittee to "Move the oversize or overweight vehicle over any highway, bridge, or other structure under the jurisdiction of any county, municipality, or other entity (other than the Administration), except that a permit authorizes the permittee or user to cross the highway, bridge, or structure, after giving sufficient notice to the responsible authority." That is generic to every local road and carries no fee schedule, so it is stated here rather than as a third authority row that would fire on every quote without adding a number.. We do not hold this authority's fee schedule, so the leg goes to review rather than being quoted short. COMAR Title 11 Subtitle 04 (Chapters 11.04.01–11.04.04) — Permits for Oversize and Overweight Vehicles
Graduated weight bands. COMAR 11.04.01.08C(1): "The base fees for oversize and overweight are: (a) Thirty dollars for the first 40 tons or less of gross weight; and (b) Five dollars for each additional ton or part of a ton in excess of 40 tons." Weight-stepped in 1-ton increments over a 40-TON base, and it is the SAME fee line as the oversize charge rather than an additive second one. The excess is measured over 40 tons of GROSS WEIGHT — not over an axle limit, and not over the 80,000 lb statutory limit expressed in pounds, though 40 tons and 80,000 lb coincide. Stated minimum $30 (the first-40-tons band). Stated maximum: NONE — an affirmative absence; the $5-per-ton escalator is unbounded in the text. Not per mile: COMAR .08 contains no mileage, distance or ton-mile term.
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.
Maryland is not in the seasonal-restriction registry, so we hold no posting window for it and are not inventing one.
Superload
7. Maryland's superload threshold
Above one of these, the state stops issuing over the counter and prices the move after an engineering review.
16' or morerev. · read "16 feet wide or more" — INCLUSIVE as the bullet is written, so exactly 16'0" is a superload. THE DOCUMENT IS INTERNALLY INCONSISTENT: the same definition's lead-in says "loads with dimensions in excess of", which read alone would be exclusive and would NOT catch exactly 16 ft. The bullet is encoded as the specific operative text and as the conservative reading; the lead-in is recorded here and not resolved. SOURCE AGE: 2008 SHA permit manual; COMAR has no superload definition.
Height
16' or morerev. · read "16 feet or more in height" — INCLUSIVE as written; the lead-in's "in excess of" would be exclusive. See the width row for the unresolved inconsistency. Note that 16 ft of height is also the 2008 manual's Maryland State Police escort trigger, so a 16 ft high load is simultaneously a superload and an MSP move. SOURCE AGE: 2008 SHA permit manual.
Length
120' or morerev. · read "120 feet or more in length" — INCLUSIVE as written; the lead-in's "in excess of" would be exclusive. See the width row. This sits between COMAR's two length escort triggers (one escort over 85 ft, two at 140 ft or more), so a 120 ft Maryland load is a superload carrying one private escort. SOURCE AGE: 2008 SHA permit manual.
The dimensions at which Maryland 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
9. Police escorts
Charges exist and no schedule is published. MARYLAND'S REGULATION SAYS THE SCHEDULE IS INTERNAL, WHICH IS A STRONGER FINDING THAN A FAILED SEARCH. COMAR 11.04.01.08.F: "Except for permits requiring unique or unusual considerations as may be determined by the Maryland State Police, the fee for a single escort by off-duty Maryland State Police officers is based upon the reasonable expenses incurred, as established by a schedule maintained by the Unit." The Unit is the SHA Hauling Permits Unit and its schedule is not published. COMAR 11.04.04.06 sets the trigger — police escort for a move "16 feet wide or more or in excess of 75 tons gross weight" — and puts the cost on the permittee without naming it: "The permittee is responsible for costs incurred by the law enforcement agency in the course of escorting the permittee's oversize or overweight vehicle." The Wisconsin shape: the mechanism is published and the inputs are not. TWO MARYLAND FIGURES MUST NOT BE MISTAKEN FOR THIS ONE. COMAR 11.04.01.08 does publish a $20.00/$12.00 ENGINEERING escort fee and a $200.00 daily MONITORING fee; both are SHA staff, not police, exactly as Utah's $40.00 departmental minimum is. And the $250.00 "fee for escort by off-duty Maryland State Police Troopers" quoted by commercial permit services appears nowhere in COMAR 11.04.01.08, which was read in full.
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 Maryland. 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.
legal single-axle weight
22,400 lbMd. Code, Transportation §24-109 (FindLaw copy) — SECONDARY, and the ONLY secondary source behind any row in this file. Used for the 22,400 lb / 20,000 lb registered-weight single-axle split and for nothing else. The primary host (mgaleg.maryland.gov, section=24-109) returned the statutory definition of single-axle weight but its renderer never surfaced the numeric table row, and law.justia.com returned HTTP 403, so no primary cite and no independent cross-check was obtainable. Pull the primary before launch. undated document · read
20,000 lbMd. Code, Transportation §24-109 (FindLaw copy) — SECONDARY, and the ONLY secondary source behind any row in this file. Used for the 22,400 lb / 20,000 lb registered-weight single-axle split and for nothing else. The primary host (mgaleg.maryland.gov, section=24-109) returned the statutory definition of single-axle weight but its renderer never surfaced the numeric table row, and law.justia.com returned HTTP 403, so no primary cite and no independent cross-check was obtainable. Pull the primary before launch. undated document · read
Both are in effect and neither has been adopted.
superload gross-weight threshold
over 150,000 lbMaryland Oversize/Overweight Hauling Permit Manual — PRIMARY BUT EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD — the document's own face reads "Permit Manual as of April 10, 2008". It is the ONLY source for Maryland's superload thresholds (COMAR carries no superload definition at all) and for the width/height/weight thresholds at which a Maryland State Police escort is required. Re-verify with the SHA Hauling Permits Unit before launch. rev. · read
over 120,000 lbMaryland Oversize/Overweight Hauling Permit Manual — PRIMARY BUT EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD — the document's own face reads "Permit Manual as of April 10, 2008". It is the ONLY source for Maryland's superload thresholds (COMAR carries no superload definition at all) and for the width/height/weight thresholds at which a Maryland State Police escort is required. Re-verify with the SHA Hauling Permits Unit before launch. rev. · read
COMAR Title 11 Subtitle 04 (Chapters 11.04.01–11.04.04) — Permits for Oversize and Overweight Vehicles — Maryland Division of State Documents — PRIMARY, on the state's own regulation host. Chapter 11.04.01 states "Effective date: May 20, 1975 ... Chapter revised effective March 22, 2010 (37:6 Md. R. 478)". Source of the $30/$5-per-ton fee (.08C(1)), the $8/$20/$12 per-structure engineering review (.08D), the $200/day monitoring fee (.08E), the police-escort cost basis (.08F), the charged-even-if-refused rule and the fee-timing rule (.08G), the government exemption (.08I), the other-jurisdiction clause (.08J), the MDTA and City of Baltimore collection mechanisms (.08H, .08H-1), the private-escort ladder (11.04.04.03), the toll-facility list and curfews (11.04.03.05) and the local-roads exclusion (11.04.03.04A(1)). COMAR contains no superload definition and no mileage, distance or ton-mile term — both checked against the full chapter text. rev. · read
Maryland Oversize/Overweight Hauling Permit Manual — MDOT State Highway Administration, Office of Traffic & Safety, Motor Carrier Division — PRIMARY BUT EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD — the document's own face reads "Permit Manual as of April 10, 2008". It is the ONLY source for Maryland's superload thresholds (COMAR carries no superload definition at all) and for the width/height/weight thresholds at which a Maryland State Police escort is required. Re-verify with the SHA Hauling Permits Unit before launch. rev. · read
Md. Code, Transportation §24-109 (FindLaw copy) — FindLaw (Thomson Reuters) — NOT a State of Maryland publication — SECONDARY, and the ONLY secondary source behind any row in this file. Used for the 22,400 lb / 20,000 lb registered-weight single-axle split and for nothing else. The primary host (mgaleg.maryland.gov, section=24-109) returned the statutory definition of single-axle weight but its renderer never surfaced the numeric table row, and law.justia.com returned HTTP 403, so no primary cite and no independent cross-check was obtainable. Pull the primary before launch. undated document · read secondary host
Md. Code, Transportation Article §§24-102, 24-104, 24-104.1, 24-104.2, 24-105, 24-109 — Maryland General Assembly — PRIMARY. §24-102(c)(1) width, §24-104 height, §24-104.1 semitrailer and residual-combination length, §24-104.2 the 53 ft allowance and the 41 ft kingpin condition, §24-105 overhang, §24-109(e) gross weight and the tandem allowance. Vary the `section=` parameter to reach each. The pages carry no date. The §24-109 renderer returned the statutory DEFINITION of single-axle weight but never the numeric single-axle row — see MD_FINDLAW_CODE. undated document · read
Common questions
Questions
How much is an oversize permit in Maryland?
The single-trip base is $30, before the dimension bands, the overweight component and the transaction charge. The base alone is rarely what is paid.
When does Maryland 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 Maryland?
Maryland publishes no gross-weight superload threshold in the documents on file — see the superload section, which shows the dimensional triggers it does publish.
Do Maryland'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.