The short version: a North Dakota single-trip permit starts at $20 before bands, overweight and the transaction charge; an escort is first required at over 16' wide; and the load becomes a superload at a gross weight the state does not publish. Everything below carries the North Dakota 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 NDCC 39-12-04(1): "Vehicles operated on a highway in this state may not exceed a total outside width, including load thereon, of eight feet six inches [2.59 meters]." EXCLUSIVE — 102 in exactly is legal. NDCC 39-12-04(1)(f) excludes a narrow safety allowance: "Any non-load-carrying safety appurtenance as determined by the highway patrol which extends no more than three inches [7.62 centimeters] from each side of a trailer is excluded from the measurement of trailer width. The width of a trailer is measured across the sidemost load-carrying structures, support members, and structural fasteners." NOTE THAT A SIGN REQUIREMENT STARTS AT THIS SAME FIGURE AND IS NOT A PERMIT TRIGGER: Policy 9-6 p.2, "When the overall length of an overdimensional movement exceeds 75 feet in length and/or 8 feet 6 inches in width, there shall be at least a 12\" x 60\" OVERSIZE LOAD sign on the front and rear."
Height
14'undated document · read NDCC 39-12-04(2): "Vehicles operated on a highway in this state may not exceed a height of fourteen feet [4.27 meters], whether loaded or unloaded. This height limitation does not affect any present structure such as bridges and underpasses that are not fourteen feet [4.27 meters] in height." EXCLUSIVE, and 14 FT RATHER THAN 13 FT 6 IN — a 13 ft 9 in load needs no North Dakota permit. The statute expressly disclaims structural clearance, and Policy 9-6 p.4 puts it on the carrier in capitals: "ALL VERTICAL CLEARANCES SHALL BE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PERMITTEE."
Semitrailer length
53'undated document · read NDCC 39-12-04(3)(e): "The length of a trailer or semitrailer, INCLUDING THE LOAD THEREON, may not exceed fifty-three feet [16.5 meters] except that trailers and semitrailers titled and registered in North Dakota before July 1, 1987, and towed vehicles may not exceed a length of sixty feet [18.29 meters]." EXCLUSIVE. TWO THINGS DIVERGE FROM THE CORPUS NORM. First, the DATUM: North Dakota measures "including the load thereon", where Montana next door measures the semitrailer "excluding those portions not designed to carry a load" — so a 52 ft trailer with a 2 ft load overhang is over the limit in North Dakota and legal in Montana on the same figure. Second, THE 60 FT GRANDFATHER IS RECORDED AND NOT ENCODED: it reaches only trailers titled and registered in North Dakota before 1 July 1987, which no quote can establish, and encoding 60 ft would drop a real permit on every modern 57 ft trailer.
20,000 lbundated document · read THE SAME ON BOTH SYSTEMS, SO THE ROW IS UNCONDITIONAL. NDCC 39-12-05(1) (interstate): "With a single axle that carries a gross weight in excess of twenty thousand pounds [9071.85 kilograms] or a wheel load over ten thousand pounds [4535.92 kilograms]. A wheel may not carry a gross weight over five hundred fifty pounds [249.48 kilograms] for each inch [2.54 centimeters] of tire width except that such limits may not be applied to tires on the steering axle. Steering axle weights are limited to twenty thousand pounds or the axle rating established by the manufacturer, whichever is lower. Axles spaced forty inches [101.60 centimeters] apart or less are considered as one axle and, on axles spaced over forty inches and under eight feet [2.44 meters] apart, the axle load may not exceed SEVENTEEN THOUSAND POUNDS per axle. The wheel load, in any instance, may not exceed one-half the allowable axle load." NDCC 39-12-05.3(1) (non-interstate) states the same 20,000 lb and 10,000 lb and 550 lb/in, and differs on the close-spaced figures: "On axles spaced over forty inches and under eight feet apart, the axle load may not exceed NINETEEN THOUSAND POUNDS per axle, with a maximum of thirty-four thousand pounds gross weight on a tandem axle and A MAXIMUM OF FORTY-EIGHT THOUSAND POUNDS GROSS WEIGHT ON ANY GROUPING OF THREE OR MORE AXLES." FOUR FIGURES ARE RECORDED AND NOT EVALUATED, because the schema has no field for them and a quote supplies none of the inputs: the 10,000 lb WHEEL load, the 550 lb PER INCH OF TYRE WIDTH limit (which binds before the axle limit on narrow-tyre heavy haul), the 17,000 / 19,000 lb close-spaced per-axle figures, and the 48,000 lb cap on any three-or-more-axle group off the interstate. THE 48,000 lb GROUP CAP IS A NORTH DAKOTA-SPECIFIC FIGURE WITH NO MONTANA ANALOGUE and must not be assumed away by carrying Montana's formula-only treatment across the border. Policy 9-6 pp.9-10 adds operational ceilings in the same family: "3) For all axle groupings of four axles or more, no axle shall exceed 19,000 pounds per axle. a)) On a group of five axles, the gross weight shall not exceed 85,000 pounds; and on a group of six axles, the gross weight shall not exceed 102,000 pounds", and "a. The maximum permitted axle weight when driving earthmoving equipment is 52,000 pounds per axle except as authorized by DOT district engineers."
Tandem axle
34,000 lbundated document · read THE FEDERAL FIGURE, AND THE SAME ON BOTH SYSTEMS, SO THE ROW IS UNCONDITIONAL. NDCC 39-12-05(2) (interstate): "two consecutive sets of tandem axles may carry a gross load of thirty-four thousand pounds [15422.14 kilograms] each, providing the overall distance between the first and last axles of the consecutive sets of tandem axles is at least thirty-six feet [10.97 meters]." NDCC 39-12-05.3(1) (non-interstate) states the same ceiling directly: "with a maximum of thirty-four thousand pounds [15422.14 kilograms] gross weight on a tandem axle". Unlike Wyoming's 36,000 lb, North Dakota publishes no departure from the federal tandem.
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 16' and the road is “four lane divided highway” or “interstate system”
1 behindAdvisory: NDHP Policy 9-6 §A.4.b.2): "One pilot car is required to follow each movement at a distance of 300 to 700 feet on four-lane divided highways." EXCLUSIVE at 16 ft. ONE CAR RATHER THAN TWO — the same load on a two-lane highway needs a front car as well, so the road class halves the escort bill. The interstate system is treated as four-lane divided here; see `ND_FOUR_LANE_DIVIDED`.
1 in front1 behindAdvisory: NDHP Policy 9-6 §A.4.b: "Exceeding 16 feet in overall width. 1) One pilot car is required to precede each movement at a distance of 300 to 700 feet, and one pilot car is required to follow each movement at a distance of 300 to 700 feet on two-lane highways." EXCLUSIVE at 16 ft. The 300-to-700 ft spacing is a published condition on the escort, not on the count. Policy 9-6 §A.4.g separately requires "a minimum distance of 1,000 feet between vehicles in a convoy of two or more vehicles".
Escorts required; the source states no number — at least 1. Published as: “NDHP Policy 9-6 Annex E p.4 §A.7: "Movements exceeding 18 feet in width WILL BE REQUIRED to have an official escort UNLESS EXEMPTED by the Highway Patrol regional commander(s)." Annex E governs loads over 200,000 lb gross vehicle weight.”Cannot be reduced to a number: TWO CURRENT NDHP DOCUMENTS SET OPPOSITE DEFAULTS FOR THIS MOVE AND NEITHER IS ADOPTED HERE. Policy 9-6 §A.4.c (11/21/2025) makes a trooper escort over 18 ft wide the EXCEPTION — "subject to Highway Patrol escort if deemed necessary by the regional commander(s)" — while Annex E (8/2023) makes it the RULE for a load over 200,000 lb — "will be required to have an official escort unless exempted by the Highway Patrol regional commander(s)". One presumes no trooper and one presumes at least one. The published RATE is the same in both and is citable: $50 per hour and $0.50 per mile per trooper (Annex E p.6, "3) Escort services provided by the NDHP, $50/hour and $.50/mile per trooper"; Policy 9-6 p.15 identically), while NDAC 38-06-03-01(4) words the two components as "fifty cents per mile or fifty dollars per hour, or both". The number of troopers is published nowhere. Annex E p.6 also notes that escort fees alone need not be prepaid: "Unless prior approval has been obtained, all the applicable above fees, EXCEPT ESCORT FEES, must be paid prior to issuance of the permit." No trooper cost is included in the permit total.
Escorts required; the source states no number — at least 1. Published as: “NDHP Policy 9-6 §A.4.a: "All movements exceeding 14 feet 6 inches in width, 18 feet in height, and 120 feet in overall length are required to have official escort or approved pilot cars (see Pilot Car Policy, Policy 915)." The plural "pilot cars" sets a floor of one and no ceiling; §A.4.b and §A.4.c state counts for WIDTH only, and North Dakota publishes no count against length.”Advisory: North Dakota prices the overlength single trip at the ordinary $20 — NDCC 39-12-02(3)(j): "The fee for an overlength vehicle or load that is one hundred twenty feet [36.58 meters] or less is twenty dollars per trip" — and the statute states NO fee for a load longer than 120 ft, which is a statutory silence rather than a higher band. The general $20 single-trip line in Policy 9-6 p.14 covers it in practice. Separately, an OVERSIZE LOAD sign is required: Policy 9-6 p.2, "When the overall length of an overdimensional movement exceeds 75 feet in length and/or 8 feet 6 inches in width, there shall be at least a 12\" x 60\" OVERSIZE LOAD sign on the front and rear."
$20rev. · read NDHP Policy 9-6 p.14: "a. $20 for each single trip permit (SFN 3507, Receipt/Permit) EXCEPT FOR LOADS IN EXCESS OF 150,000 POUNDS or overweight self-propelled special mobile equipment." CORROBORATES THE STATUTE AND CARRIES THE EXCEPTION THAT MATTERS: above 150,000 lb this $20 is NOT charged, and the graduated band below becomes the permit fee. See `nd-graduated-fee-replaces-base-over-150000` for why the engine cannot express that and what to do about it. The policy also prices the special-mobile-equipment variant at p.15: "c. $25 for each single trip permit (SFN 3507, Receipt/Permit) for overweight self-propelled special mobile equipment except for workover rigs and when the GVW is in excess of 150,000 pounds." VALIDITY, from p.2: "h. A single trip permit is valid for a one-way load movement made within a five-day period. For a self-propelled fixed vehicle, a single trip permit is valid for multiple movements made within one 24-hour period, or a one-way movement made within a five-day period", and p.4 adds a round-trip concession: "1) If an overwidth trailer or semitrailer is needed to transport an oversize load, only one single trip permit will be required for the round-trip movement."
Weight bands plus a per-mile surcharge. THREE REGIMES, AND THE FIRST ONE IS FREE. (1) At or under 150,000 lb gross vehicle weight there is NO incremental overweight charge at all — the $20 single-trip fee covers it, which Policy 9-6 p.14 states by exception ("$20 for each single trip permit ... except for loads in excess of 150,000 pounds") and NDAC 38-06-03-01(2) confirms by starting its schedule only above that figure. A 140,000 lb overweight single trip on a North Dakota state highway is $20 plus the service fee, with no weight component. (2) Above 150,000 lb a graduated flat band applies, measured on GROSS VEHICLE WEIGHT rather than on excess over a legal limit — NDAC 38-06-03-01(2): "There is a graduated fee schedule for overweight single trip movements exceeding one hundred fifty thousand pounds [68035 kilograms] gross vehicle weight" — and the top band is open-ended at $70, so the graduated fee is CAPPED at $70 however heavy the load gets. (3) Above 200,000 lb a $0.05 per-ton-per-mile charge STACKS ON TOP, on the excess over 200,000 lb only — NDAC 38-06-03-01(3): "There is an ADDITIONAL ton/mile fee of $.05 per ton per mile on all those movements that exceed two hundred thousand pounds gross vehicle weight." That rate lives in `overweightPerMile` and IS now applied: the model is `bandsPlusPerMile`, the band and the surcharge are summed, and a 220,000 lb load across 100 North Dakota miles is $70 of band plus $50 of ton-mile fee. It is the state's own word "additional" that settles the arithmetic as a sum rather than a choice. THE SUM IS STILL A CEILING RATHER THAN A FINAL PRICE, and the quote says so: `nd-heavy-load-over-200000-ton-mile-and-engineering` fires on the same 200,000 lb trigger and sends the move to review for the three reasons the figure is not deterministic — Annex E p.6 makes the ton-mile fee discretionarily reducible "based on axle weights, axle configuration, and roadway conditions", NDDOT traffic-control and vehicle-inspection costs are passed through with no published amount, and the permit requires bridge- and district-engineer approval rather than being issued over the counter.
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
200,001 lb and up
any
$0.05 per mile for each 2,000 lb above 200,000 lba part increment is not charged
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 programmeNDDOT publishes every restricted segment as GeoJSON with the order number, its effective time and the ton limit. This is the one state where we hold segment-level detail.
Posting window we watch
02-01 → 07-15NDDOT issues numbered load-restriction orders under NDCC 39-12-03. Observed 2026-09-04: order 2026-20, effective 2026-06-25, still carried segments with InEffect=Y — so the season demonstrably runs past midsummer and the window is set from the feed, not from folklore.
WHETHER THE TWO COMPONENTS ADD IS NOT SETTLED. Both Highway Patrol documents state them conjunctively — "$50 per hour AND $.50 per mile per trooper" — while NDAC 38-06-03-01(4) states an election: "a fee of fifty cents per mile [1.6 kilometers] or fifty dollars per hour, or both, per trooper". On a six-hour, 150-mile escort the readings give $375, $300 or $75, a fivefold spread.
NO MINIMUM OF ANY KIND IS PUBLISHED — no minimum hours, no minimum charge, no minimum officers — so no floor can be computed. The bill is the hours the Patrol actually works.
THE NUMBER OF TROOPERS IS SET BY A PERSON, NOT A RULE. Policy 9-6 §A.4.c leaves a trooper escort over 18 ft wide "subject to Highway Patrol escort if deemed necessary by the regional commander(s)", and Annex E reverses the presumption for a load over 200,000 lb — "will be required to have an official escort unless exempted by the Highway Patrol regional commander(s)". One presumes none and one presumes at least one.
Escort fees are the one charge North Dakota does not collect up front: Annex E p.6, "Unless prior approval has been obtained, all the applicable above fees, except escort fees, must be paid prior to issuance of the permit." The same NDAC rate also applies "when the highway patrol is requested to weigh a vehicle with portable scales", which no load dimension predicts.
Holiday, curfew and night-travel windows are not yet encoded for North Dakota. 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 overall length
75'North Dakota Century Code, Chapter 39-12 — Size, Width, and Height Restrictions — PRIMARY, from the state legislature's own host. Source of every legal limit, the $20 single-trip fee, the three road-conditioned gross weights, the 75/110 ft combination lengths, the up-to-$15 electronic-permit ceiling, the $25 engineering fee, the $5 faxing fee and the fee waiver. `revisedOn` IS NULL AS A RECORDED FACT: the PDF carries no printed date. The latest session-law citation inside the chapter is "S.L. 2021"; the HTTP Last-Modified header of 1 July 2025 is server metadata and was deliberately not substituted, and neither was the retrieval date. undated document · read
110'North Dakota Century Code, Chapter 39-12 — Size, Width, and Height Restrictions — PRIMARY, from the state legislature's own host. Source of every legal limit, the $20 single-trip fee, the three road-conditioned gross weights, the 75/110 ft combination lengths, the up-to-$15 electronic-permit ceiling, the $25 engineering fee, the $5 faxing fee and the fee waiver. `revisedOn` IS NULL AS A RECORDED FACT: the PDF carries no printed date. The latest session-law citation inside the chapter is "S.L. 2021"; the HTTP Last-Modified header of 1 July 2025 is server metadata and was deliberately not substituted, and neither was the retrieval date. undated document · read
Both are in effect and neither has been adopted.
legal gross weight
80,000 lbNorth Dakota Century Code, Chapter 39-12 — Size, Width, and Height Restrictions — PRIMARY, from the state legislature's own host. Source of every legal limit, the $20 single-trip fee, the three road-conditioned gross weights, the 75/110 ft combination lengths, the up-to-$15 electronic-permit ceiling, the $25 engineering fee, the $5 faxing fee and the fee waiver. `revisedOn` IS NULL AS A RECORDED FACT: the PDF carries no printed date. The latest session-law citation inside the chapter is "S.L. 2021"; the HTTP Last-Modified header of 1 July 2025 is server metadata and was deliberately not substituted, and neither was the retrieval date. undated document · read
105,500 lbNorth Dakota Century Code, Chapter 39-12 — Size, Width, and Height Restrictions — PRIMARY, from the state legislature's own host. Source of every legal limit, the $20 single-trip fee, the three road-conditioned gross weights, the 75/110 ft combination lengths, the up-to-$15 electronic-permit ceiling, the $25 engineering fee, the $5 faxing fee and the fee waiver. `revisedOn` IS NULL AS A RECORDED FACT: the PDF carries no printed date. The latest session-law citation inside the chapter is "S.L. 2021"; the HTTP Last-Modified header of 1 July 2025 is server metadata and was deliberately not substituted, and neither was the retrieval date. undated document · read
80,000 lbNorth Dakota Century Code, Chapter 39-12 — Size, Width, and Height Restrictions — PRIMARY, from the state legislature's own host. Source of every legal limit, the $20 single-trip fee, the three road-conditioned gross weights, the 75/110 ft combination lengths, the up-to-$15 electronic-permit ceiling, the $25 engineering fee, the $5 faxing fee and the fee waiver. `revisedOn` IS NULL AS A RECORDED FACT: the PDF carries no printed date. The latest session-law citation inside the chapter is "S.L. 2021"; the HTTP Last-Modified header of 1 July 2025 is server metadata and was deliberately not substituted, and neither was the retrieval date. undated document · read
Heavy Load Permit Policy for Loads in Excess of 200,000 Pounds Gross Vehicle Weight — NDHP Policy 9-6 Annex E — North Dakota Highway Patrol, Motor Carrier Division — PRIMARY. Carries its own reference line "Ref: 9-6 Annex E (8/2023)" — a month and a year, which `SourceDoc.revisedOn` permits and which sorts correctly against the 2025 policy. Governs loads over 200,000 lb GVW only. Source of the $8 service/routing fee that disagrees with Policy 9-6's $10, the "will be required unless exempted" reading of the >18 ft trooper escort, the bridge-engineer and district-engineer approval requirement, the 1-to-15-day lead time, and the open-ended cost pass-through for NDDOT traffic-control personnel and vehicle inspection. rev. · read
North Dakota Administrative Code, Chapter 38-06-03 — Permit Fees — North Dakota Legislative Council — PRIMARY. 38-06-03-01. History: "Effective January 1, 1988; amended effective May 1, 1988; January 1, 1992; August 1, 1993; February 1, 1999; February 1, 2000; April 1, 2008, July 1, 2013; January 1, 2016; July 1, 2019; January 1, 2022." General Authority and Law Implemented: NDCC 39-12-02, 39-12-03, 39-12-04, 39-12-05.3. Source of the graduated $30-$70 band table, the $0.05 ton-mile charge above 200,000 lb, the $1/$5 spring-thaw ton-mile regime and the $50/hr-or-$0.50/mi trooper escort rate. rev. · read
North Dakota Century Code, Chapter 39-12 — Size, Width, and Height Restrictions — North Dakota Legislative Branch — PRIMARY, from the state legislature's own host. Source of every legal limit, the $20 single-trip fee, the three road-conditioned gross weights, the 75/110 ft combination lengths, the up-to-$15 electronic-permit ceiling, the $25 engineering fee, the $5 faxing fee and the fee waiver. `revisedOn` IS NULL AS A RECORDED FACT: the PDF carries no printed date. The latest session-law citation inside the chapter is "S.L. 2021"; the HTTP Last-Modified header of 1 July 2025 is server metadata and was deliberately not substituted, and neither was the retrieval date. undated document · read
Permits for Oversize and Overweight Vehicles and/or Loads Excluding Workover Rigs — NDHP Motor Carrier Policy 9-6 — North Dakota Highway Patrol, Motor Carrier Division — PRIMARY, and the operational document the permit office actually works from. Carries its own reference line "Ref: 9-6 (11/21/2025)". Source of the escort ladder (14 ft 6 in / 16 ft / 18 ft / 120 ft), the $10 service/routing fee, the pilot-car equipment specification, the 1,000 ft convoy spacing, the OVERSIZE LOAD sign rule, the rear-overhang MARKING rule, the single-unit issuance ceilings, the 200,000 lb and 250,000 lb process gates, and the qualitative superload definition. Reprints the NDAC graduated band table verbatim at p.14. rev. · read
Common questions
Questions
How much is an oversize permit in North Dakota?
The single-trip base is $20, before the dimension bands, the overweight component and the transaction charge. The base alone is rarely what is paid.
When does North Dakota require a pilot car?
The first width trigger is over 16', and it varies by road class — the figure shown is the lowest across classes.
What is a superload in North Dakota?
North Dakota publishes no gross-weight superload threshold in the documents on file — see the superload section, which shows the dimensional triggers it does publish.
Do North Dakota'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.