Legal limits, escort triggers, permit fees, the superload line and the police escort position for Michigan — every figure carrying the state document behind it.
11 source documents on fileoldest revision 2018-05-14last retrieved 2026-09-059 escort rules in effect4 source conflictsFree · no account needed
The short version: a Michigan single-trip permit starts at $0 before bands, overweight and the transaction charge; an escort is first required at no width the state publishes; and the load becomes a superload at a gross weight the state does not publish. Everything below carries the Michigan document it came from, that document's own revision date, and the date we read it.
Legal limits
1. Michigan legal limits
Anything over one of these needs a permit. Every value links to the document that sets it.
Michigan has more than one permit issuer. A state total can be complete and still be missing a whole permit.
county road commission or city — Any part of the move that leaves the state trunkline system — which almost every lane does at its first or last mile.. We do not hold this authority's fee schedule, so the leg goes to review rather than being quoted short. MDOT — Special Provisions, Conditions and Restrictions for Transport Permits
Charges exist and no schedule is published. MDOT Special Provision 14 reads, in full, "Police supervision of traffic required on move." No width, height, length or weight triggers it, and neither the Michigan State Police nor MDOT publishes an hourly rate, minimum hours, officer minimum or mileage rate in michigan.gov/msp, T-1, either revision of T-2, the permit conditions, Form 2465 or the OS/OW FAQ. A required police escort also forces a motor-carrier-officer inspection before movement, for which no fee is published either.
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.
axle-load table by axle spacing
the federal loading maximum, MCL 257.722(12): any single axle, at any spacing → 20,000 lbMCL 257.722 — axle load maxima (Michigan Legislature) — (1)(a)-(d) the normal loading maximum; (2)-(3) the 16,000 lb tandem on designated highways; (7) 700 lb per inch of tyre; (11) how weight is measured; (12) the federal table and the regime selector; (14)-(15) natural-gas and battery-electric allowances; last amendment "Am. 2024, Act 106, Eff. Apr. 2, 2025" rev. 2025-04-02 · read 2026-09-05
the normal loading maximum, MCL 257.722(1) as the statute writes it: (a) axle spacing 9 feet or more between axles → 18,000 lb; (b) less than 9 feet between 2 axles but MORE THAN 3 1/2 feet → 13,000 lb; (c) axles spaced less than 3 1/2 feet apart → 9,000 lb — one tandem assembly at 16,000 lb per axle only on mi-designated highwaysMCL 257.722 — axle load maxima (Michigan Legislature) — (1)(a)-(d) the normal loading maximum; (2)-(3) the 16,000 lb tandem on designated highways; (7) 700 lb per inch of tyre; (11) how weight is measured; (12) the federal table and the regime selector; (14)-(15) natural-gas and battery-electric allowances; last amendment "Am. 2024, Act 106, Eff. Apr. 2, 2025" rev. 2025-04-02 · read 2026-09-05
the axle-load table as MDOT T-1 (05/2024) prints it: 9 feet or more between axles → 18,000 lb; more than or equal to 3 1/2 feet but less than 9 feet → 13,000 lb; less than 3 1/2 feet apart → 9,000 lb — one tandem assembly at 16,000 lb per axle, with NO route condition statedMDOT T-1 — Maximum Legal Truck Loadings and Dimensions — form stamp "T-1 (05/2024)"; designated/non-designated width and length table; axle-load table; the tandem footnote rev. 2024-05 · read 2026-09-05
Both are in effect and neither has been adopted.
The 164,000 lb figure is published without the configuration that reaches it
MDOT publishes 164,000 lb as the maximum allowable gross vehicle weight and states it is the result of the eleven-axle cap and the per-axle spacing maxima, not a statutory figure. It does not publish the configuration. One arrangement that reaches it under MCL 257.722(1)-(3) is 3 axles at 18,000 lb (each 9 ft or more from its neighbours) + 1 tandem assembly at 16,000 lb per axle + 6 axles at 13,000 lb = 54,000 + 32,000 + 78,000 = 164,000 lb. THAT ARITHMETIC IS OURS, NOT MICHIGAN’S, it is offered only as evidence the number is reachable, and it is encoded in no rule, fee or limit in this file.
MICHIGAN_164000_RECONSTRUCTION
An annual permit fee keyed to the first letter of the applicant's name
A new Michigan extended (annual) permit is prorated once, from a 12x12 matrix crossing the month the existing permit expires with THE FIRST LETTER OF THE APPLICANT COMPANY’S NAME: $30-$57 for an oversize permit and $100-$191 for an overweight one, with farm-to-farm-only permits at 10% of the overweight prorated fee. MDOT’s worked example: "The new extended transport fee for the oversize permit (prorated this year only) is $47.00." No field in this model expresses a fee keyed to an applicant’s name, and none is invented. The sheet itself carries NO printed revision date and its PDF was created on 2010-07-20 — sixteen years old and still the live linked schedule. It leaves June, July and August unassigned to any letter group, and says nothing about a company name beginning with a digit.
MICHIGAN_NAME_LETTER_PRORATION
michigan.gov serves superseded editions of MDOT’s own operational documents
Two official MDOT hosts serve different editions of the same two documents, and only one host is current. MDOT T-1 (04/19) — SUPERSEDED copy still served by michigan.gov at https://www.michigan.gov/mdot/-/media/Project/Websites/MDOT/Business/Truckers/Rules-and-Guidelines/Maximum-Legal-Truck-Loadings-Dimensions.pdf is superseded by T-1 (05/2024) at mdotjboss.state.mi.us. MDOT T-2 (11/22) — SUPERSEDED copy still served by michigan.gov at https://www.michigan.gov/mdot/-/media/Project/Websites/MDOT/Business/Truckers/Rules-and-Guidelines/Moving-Oversize-Overweight-Vehicles-Loads.pdf is superseded by T-2 (10/2023) at mdotjboss.state.mi.us. These are different editions rather than reflows — the michigan.gov T-2 runs to eight pages against the permit host’s five. Every Michigan value on this site is taken from the permit host’s current copies, and no value is taken from the superseded ones, because their contents were not transcribed and writing down what they probably said would manufacture history.
FHWA — Pilot/Escort Vehicle Operator (P/EVO) Best Practices Guide — Federal Highway Administration — "As of early 2016, States that require P/EVOs be certified include Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia, and Washington." undated document · read 2026-09-05
MCL 257.717 — width of vehicles (Michigan Legislature) — Michigan Legislature — (1) 96 in general; (3) 108 in for named commodities; (4) 102 in tyre-to-tyre and 96 in body; (5) 102 in body of a trailer or semitrailer; (7) designation power; last amendment "Am. 2018, Act 342, Eff. Jan. 14, 2019" rev. 2019-01-14 · read 2026-09-05
MCL 257.719 — height, length, overhang and axle count (Michigan Legislature) — Michigan Legislature — (1) height 13 ft 6 in; (2)(a),(d),(e),(f) non-designated lengths; (3)(a),(b) designated lengths; (5)(b) eleven axles; (5)(e) 3 ft front projection; last amendment "Am. 2018, Act 35, Eff. May 22, 2018" rev. 2018-05-22 · read 2026-09-05
MCL 257.722 — axle load maxima (Michigan Legislature) — Michigan Legislature — (1)(a)-(d) the normal loading maximum; (2)-(3) the 16,000 lb tandem on designated highways; (7) 700 lb per inch of tyre; (11) how weight is measured; (12) the federal table and the regime selector; (14)-(15) natural-gas and battery-electric allowances; last amendment "Am. 2024, Act 106, Eff. Apr. 2, 2025" rev. 2025-04-02 · read 2026-09-05
MCL 257.725 — special permit fees (Michigan Legislature) — Michigan Legislature — (5) $15 single trip / $30 multiple for over-dimension only, and the CPI escalation clause; the $50/$100 over-weight fee; the $264 construction-equipment annual; the local-authority cap frozen at 1997-09-30 levels; last amendment "Am. 2018, Act 17, Eff. May 14, 2018" rev. 2018-05-14 · read 2026-09-05
MDOT — Michigan's Truck Weight Law and Truck User Fees — Michigan Department of Transportation — "per-axle load restrictions have resulted in a maximum gross vehicle weight of 164,000 pounds" rev. 2026-04-07 · read 2026-09-05
MDOT — Oversize/Overweight frequently asked questions — Michigan Department of Transportation — single-trip permit cost; processing times; weekend movement allowance; permits on state trunklines only undated document · read 2026-09-05
MDOT Form 2465 — Route Survey Certification (superload) — Michigan Department of Transportation — form stamp "2465 (05/19)"; superload definition; certified route survey requirement; MSP coordination and the pre-movement inspection; fees non-refundable rev. 2019-05 · read 2026-09-05
MDOT T-1 — Maximum Legal Truck Loadings and Dimensions — Michigan Department of Transportation — form stamp "T-1 (05/2024)"; designated/non-designated width and length table; axle-load table; the tandem footnote rev. 2024-05 · read 2026-09-05
MDOT T-2 — Moving Oversize and Overweight Vehicles and Loads — Michigan Department of Transportation — form stamp "T-2 (10/2023)"; Permit Fees; single-trip permit limitations and Superloads; escort vehicle standard; time limitations; holidays rev. 2023-10 · read 2026-09-05
Common questions
Questions
How much is an oversize permit in Michigan?
The single-trip base is $0, before the dimension bands, the overweight component and the transaction charge. The base alone is rarely what is paid.
When does Michigan require a pilot car?
Michigan publishes no numeric width trigger for an escort in the documents on file. That does not mean none is ever required — see the escort section above.
What is a superload in Michigan?
Michigan publishes no gross-weight superload threshold in the documents on file — see the superload section, which shows the dimensional triggers it does publish.
Do Michigan's own documents contradict each other?
Yes, in 4 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.
