The short version: a Rhode Island single-trip permit starts at a figure the documents on file do not resolve before bands, overweight and the transaction charge; an escort is first required at 12' or more wide; and the load becomes a superload at a gross weight the state does not publish. Everything below carries the Rhode Island 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"rev. · read § 31-25-3: "The total outside width of any vehicle or the load on it shall not exceed one hundred two inches (102″) excluding any safety and noncargo carrying appurtenances on either motorized campers or camping recreational vehicles." EXCLUSIVE ("shall not exceed"). The appurtenance exclusion is written for campers and recreational vehicles, not for commercial freight.
Height
13'6"rev. · read § 31-25-4: "No vehicle including any load on it shall exceed a height of one hundred sixty-two inches (162″)." EXCLUSIVE. 162 in is 13 ft 6 in, which AGREES with most of this corpus — recorded from the statute rather than inherited, and stated here so the agreement is known to have been checked. Rhode Island publishes no statewide low-clearance table; overhead clearance is checked by RIDOT engineers under § 3.4 for extra-large loads.
Semitrailer length
53'rev. · read § 31-25-6(b): "Combinations of vehicles consisting of truck-tractor and semi-trailer coupled together shall not be restricted in overall length, and semi-trailers shall not exceed fifty-three feet (53′) in length, excluding bumpers and accessories." EXCLUSIVE. THREE RELATED FIGURES ARE NOT RECORDED AS LENGTHS HERE AND MUST NOT BE CONFUSED WITH THIS ONE: (1) § 31-25-6(a) caps EACH unit of a truck-tractor + semi-trailer + trailer combination at 28 ft 6 in — a doubles rule, not this field; (2) § 31-25-6(b) confines semitrailers "exceeding forty-eight and one-half feet (48′ 6″)" to the interstate system and to roads designated by the RIDOT director — a route eligibility rule, not a length cap; (3) § 31-25-5 caps a SINGLE VEHICLE including its load at 40 ft ("No vehicle, including any load on it, except Rhode Island public transit authority articulated buses, shall exceed a length of forty feet (40′) extreme overall dimension inclusive of front and rear bumpers, or in the case of a motor bus, motorized camper or camping recreational vehicle forty-five feet (45′)"). That 40 ft governs a straight truck and has no field in this schema — it is neither a semitrailer length nor a combination length — so it is recorded in prose here and is not evaluated.
Overall length
None published
Kingpin to rear axle
41'rev. · read § 31-25-6(c): "The distance from the kingpin of the trailer to the center of the rear axle may not exceed forty-one feet (41′)." EXCLUSIVE. IT LIVES HERE AND NOT IN `trailerLengthIn`: 41 ft of kingpin-to-rear-axle sits alongside the same statute's 53 ft semitrailer allowance, and recording it as a trailer length would have flagged every ordinary 53 ft trailer in Rhode Island as over-length while contradicting § 31-25-6(b). Two measurements of one trailer, two rules.
Front overhang
3'rev. · read § 31-25-7(a): "the load upon any vehicle, operated alone or the load upon the front vehicle of a combination of vehicles, shall not extend more than three feet (3′) beyond the foremost part of the vehicle". EXCLUSIVE.
Rear overhang
6'rev. · read § 31-25-7(a): "the load upon any vehicle, operated alone or the load upon the rear vehicle of a combination of vehicles, shall not extend more than six feet (6′) beyond the rear of the bed or body of the vehicle". EXCLUSIVE. Rhode Island publishes both ends, unlike Kansas and Nebraska — which is why `ri-escort-overhang-15` can test either end against the manual's unqualified "overhang".
Gross weight
80,000 lbrev. · read § 31-25-14(b): "This overall gross weight of any vehicle or combination of vehicles may not exceed eighty thousand pounds (80,000 lbs.) except as specified in §§ 31-25-1, 31-25-2, and 31-25-21." EXCLUSIVE, and the federal figure. The § 31-25-21 carve-out is the permit itself, not a higher legal ceiling.
Single axle
22,400 lbrev. · read § 31-25-13(a): "The gross weight imposed on the highway by the wheels of any one axle of a vehicle shall not exceed twenty-two thousand four hundred pounds (22,400 lbs.)." EXCLUSIVE. 22,400 lb rather than the federal 20,000 — the New England figure, shared with Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
Tandem axle
36,000 lbrev. · read § 31-25-14(a): "It shall be unlawful to transport or operate over or upon any public highway in this state any vehicle equipped with tandem axles, should the gross weight of the axles exceed thirty-six thousand pounds (36,000 lbs.) if the axle spacing does not exceed eight feet (8′)." EXCLUSIVE, and 2,000 lb ABOVE the federal 34,000 that most of this corpus carries. Rhode Island also floors its bridge-formula arithmetic at the same number — § 31-25-14(c): "In any calculation using the formula in subsection (b) of this section in which the tandem axle limit is less than thirty-six thousand pounds (36,000 lbs.), thirty-six thousand pounds (36,000 lbs.) shall be considered the legal limit." The statute conditions the 36,000 on spacing of 8 ft or less; no separate figure is published for a wider-spaced pair, which the bridge formula then governs.
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 from 12' to 14'6"
1 certified escortAdvisory: RIDOT manual § 5.4: "One escort vehicle is required for overall width of between 12'0" and 14'6"." Position is published rather than priced: "When one escort is required, it shall precede a load on undivided highways and follow the load on divided highways." The escort must be "at least the size of a compact size car or larger" and its driver must "maintain visual and two-way radio contact with the permitted vehicle at all times".
2 certified escortsAdvisory: RIDOT manual § 5.4: "Two escort vehicles" above 14'6" of overall width. The manual states the count and not the arrangement of the pair; its one-escort position rule (precede on undivided, follow on divided) does not say where a second car rides.
rear overhang of 15' or more or front overhang of 15' or more
1 certified escortAdvisory: RIDOT manual § 5.4: "No escort vehicle is required if overhang is less than 15'0" with proper flags displayed. One escort vehicle is required if the overhang is 15'0" or more." The manual says "overhang" without naming an end, and Rhode Island regulates both (§ 31-25-7(a): 3 ft front, 6 ft rear), so either end at or over 15 ft fires this rule.
1 certified escortAdvisory: RIDOT manual § 5.4: "No escort vehicle is required for overlength of less than 80'0". One escort is required for overlength between 80'0" and 90'0"." NOTE THE ASYMMETRY WITH THE LEGAL LIMITS, WHICH IS RHODE ISLAND'S AND NOT AN ENCODING SLIP: the state publishes NO legal cap on overall combination length (§ 31-25-6(a)-(b)) yet sets escort thresholds on overall length. Over-length escorts and over-length permits are independent questions here.
None publishedrev. · read A SOURCED ZERO, NOT AN EMPTY ARRAY: the fee provisions were read and they charge nothing. Neither § 31-25-21 nor the RIDOT manual's § 4.4 names a service, processing, administrative, convenience or percentage charge on top of the permit fee. The only non-permit charge anywhere in chapter 31-25 is § 31-25-22(f)'s "Transfer fee $10.00", which belongs to the annual divisible-load permit and does not attach to a single-trip oversize move.
Route analysis review
$0undated document · read A SOURCED ZERO. Rhode Island DOES require an engineering route review for its largest moves and charges nothing for it: manual § 3.4 "Extra Large Vehicle or Load Permits" requires applications "at least five (5) working days in advance of the move to allow our engineers to check routes submitted for overhead clearance, etc." No fee is attached to that review in § 3.4, in § 4.4, or in § 31-25-21. The charge was looked for and is not imposed — which is different from both an unpriced charge and an absent review.
Route with no bridges
$0undated document · read A SOURCED ZERO. Rhode Island publishes no cheaper no-bridge permit path and charges nothing for one; the manual's § 4.4 and § 31-25-21 were both read in full and the single-trip fee does not vary with whether the route crosses a structure. Note that structures are where Rhode Island's real second cost lives, and it is a PERMIT rather than a fee variant — see `additionalAuthorities` for the Mount Hope and Newport bridges.
Rhode Island has more than one permit issuer. A state total can be complete and still be missing a whole permit.
Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority (RITBA) — the RIDOT manual uses the older name "Rhode Island Bridge Authority" — A permitted load crossing the MOUNT HOPE BRIDGE or the NEWPORT BRIDGE (the Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge) needs that authority's own permit IN ADDITION to the RIDOT permit. RIDOT manual § 4.9 "Department's Jurisdiction": "Nonconsortium permits issued by the Department of Transportation will be effective only on routes and highways which are maintained by the Department. To travel over bridges under the jurisdiction of the Rhode Island Bridge Authority, (Mount Hope Bridge and Newport Bridge) or local town or city streets, permits must be obtained from their responsible authorities." These are the only fixed crossings to Aquidneck Island, so a delivery to Newport or Portsmouth cannot route around them.. We do not hold this authority's fee schedule, so the leg goes to review rather than being quoted short. State of Rhode Island Manual for Overweight and Oversize Vehicle Permits (filed under 290-RICR-40-00-1)
Rhode Island cities and towns (municipal streets) — A permitted load using "local town or city streets" needs a permit from that municipality in addition to the RIDOT permit — the same sentence of RIDOT manual § 4.9 that names the bridge authority. In practice this binds on first and last mile wherever the consignee is not on a state-maintained road.. We do not hold this authority's fee schedule, so the leg goes to review rather than being quoted short. State of Rhode Island Manual for Overweight and Oversize Vehicle Permits (filed under 290-RICR-40-00-1)
Included in the base permit fee. AN AFFIRMATIVE ABSENCE, FROM § 31-25-21 READ IN FULL. The single flat fee covers weight as well as size: § 31-25-21(a) frames the permit as covering "a size or weight of vehicle or load exceeding eighty thousand pounds (80,000 lbs.) or otherwise not in conformity with the provisions of chapters 1 — 27 of this title", and § 31-25-21(c) charges one amount for "each non-divisible single trip permit" with no per-pound, per-ton, stepped or per-mile term attached. THE $50-PER-1,000-LB FIGURE THAT CIRCULATES FOR RHODE ISLAND IS NOT THIS PERMIT AND MUST NOT BE APPLIED TO IT: § 31-25-22(f) sets it for ANNUAL DIVISIBLE-LOAD permits held by OUT-OF-STATE-REGISTERED vehicles ("Single-unit axle trucks $50.00 per 1,000 pounds over legal limit; maximum $1,500 ... Tractors $50.00 per 1,000 pounds over legal limit; maximum $1,250"), measured over the Bridge Formula per § 31-25-22(g), and § 31-25-22(h) confirms "Annual divisible load permits are issued for overweight only and not over-dimensional." Applying it to a single trip would bill $500 on a 10,000 lb excess against a permit whose whole published price is $20 or $40. Rhode Island registered vehicles pay their divisible-load fee through registration instead (§ 31-25-22(e)).
The permittable ceilings § 31-25-22 publishes for the annual divisible product are recorded here and NOT used as single-trip limits: "2 axle — legal weight only per § 31-25-14(b), (c)", "3+ axle — 76,650 lbs.", and tractors "may acquire a permit for up to 104,800 lbs." with "3 axle — 62,000 lbs. / 4 axle — 87,000 lbs. / 5+ axle — 104,800 lbs."
There is no weight schedule to print, and under this model there is not supposed to be one.
Seasonal posting
6. Rhode Island 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.
Rhode Island is not in the seasonal-restriction registry, so we hold no posting window for it and are not inventing one.
Superload
7. Rhode Island's superload threshold
Above one of these, the state stops issuing over the counter and prices the move after an engineering review.
The dimensions at which Rhode Island 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
No schedule exists, and that is structural rather than a gap. RHODE ISLAND'S POLICE ESCORT IS MUNICIPAL, ONE AGENCY PER TOWN ON THE ROUTE — the Virginia case. 290-RICR-40-00-1 §1.5.4 (periodic refile effective 4 January 2022) requires, for a building move, "Two (2) escorts ... with police escort from each city or town where move will travel", and the state manual it implements asks the applicant for "Confirmation from the local or state police, who will be in attendance for escorting move, for the safeguarding of traffic while building is being moved." There is no statewide schedule to quote and the regulation and manual were both searched for one: no hourly rate, minimum hours, officer minimum, mileage charge or cancellation fee appears in either, and the only fees in the scheme are the $20.00 trip fee, the $100.00 intrastate blanket and the divisible-load table capped at $300.00. A separate requirement at the same silence: "For vehicles over 9 feet wide which receive a permit, the owner must arrange with police officials to halt traffic on one end of the bridge before proceeding across the bridge."
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 Rhode Island. 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.
single-trip base permit fee
$40R.I. Gen. Laws § 31-25-21 — Power to permit excess size or weight of loads — PRIMARY. § 31-25-21(c) is the source of the $40.00 single-trip non-divisible permit fee; the fee subsection was set by P.L. 2022 ch. 178 § 1 and ch. 179 § 1, effective June 27, 2022, and the section was further amended by P.L. 2025 ch. 29 § 1 and ch. 30 § 1, effective June 10, 2025 — which is the latest date the document itself carries and therefore its `revisedOn`. Also the source of the affirmative absence of any single-trip weight term, of the $400 annual blanket fee in (d) and of the blanket-permit envelope in (e). rev. · read
$20State of Rhode Island Manual for Overweight and Oversize Vehicle Permits (filed under 290-RICR-40-00-1) — PRIMARY — RIDOT's own rule document. § 4.4 "Fee for Permit" is the source of the $20.00 trip fee that conflicts with the statute's $40.00; § 5.4 "Escort Vehicles" of the whole civilian escort ladder; § 4.9 "Department's Jurisdiction" of the bridge-authority and municipal second issuers; § 3.4 of the extra-large class; § 4.11 of the damage deposit. THE PDF CARRIES NO DATE OF ITS OWN, recorded as `revisedOn: null` rather than filled in — its § 1.1 says only that it "shall amend the rules and regulations for overweight and oversize vehicles issued on April 23, 1978, June 21, 1976 and February 8, 1974". Its effective date comes from the parent rule, 290-RICR-40-00-1 "Rules and Regulations Regarding Overweight and Oversize Vehicle Permits", effective 01/04/2022, published by the Rhode Island Department of State at https://rules.sos.ri.gov/regulations/part/290-40-00-1 — and is carried in `effectiveFrom`, not here. undated document · read
R.I. Gen. Laws § 31-25-21 — Power to permit excess size or weight of loads — Rhode Island General Assembly — PRIMARY. § 31-25-21(c) is the source of the $40.00 single-trip non-divisible permit fee; the fee subsection was set by P.L. 2022 ch. 178 § 1 and ch. 179 § 1, effective June 27, 2022, and the section was further amended by P.L. 2025 ch. 29 § 1 and ch. 30 § 1, effective June 10, 2025 — which is the latest date the document itself carries and therefore its `revisedOn`. Also the source of the affirmative absence of any single-trip weight term, of the $400 annual blanket fee in (d) and of the blanket-permit envelope in (e). rev. · read
R.I. Gen. Laws § 31-25-22 — Application for excess load permit — Rhode Island General Assembly — PRIMARY. The ANNUAL DIVISIBLE-LOAD schedule, cited here only to keep it OUT of the single-trip price: the $50.00 per 1,000 lb over the Bridge Formula, its $1,500 and $1,250 caps, the $100 trailer flat fee and the $10.00 transfer fee are all out-of-state annual divisible-load figures, and (h) confirms "Annual divisible load permits are issued for overweight only and not over-dimensional." Effective June 27, 2022 (P.L. 2022 ch. 178 § 1; ch. 179 § 1). rev. · read
R.I. Gen. Laws Title 31 ch. 25 §§ 31-25-3 to 31-25-14 — Size, Weight, and Load Limits — Rhode Island General Assembly — PRIMARY, from the General Assembly's own statute host. Source of every legal limit in this file — § 31-25-3 width, § 31-25-4 height, § 31-25-5 single-vehicle length, § 31-25-6 semitrailer/KPRA/overall length, § 31-25-7 overhang, § 31-25-13 single axle, § 31-25-14 tandem and gross. Each section's "History of Section" line gives P.L. 2022 ch. 178 § 1 and ch. 179 § 1, effective June 27, 2022. The sibling sections are at the same path with -4, -5, -6, -7, -13 and -14 substituted. rev. · read
State of Rhode Island Manual for Overweight and Oversize Vehicle Permits (filed under 290-RICR-40-00-1) — Rhode Island Department of Transportation (filed with the Rhode Island Department of State) — PRIMARY — RIDOT's own rule document. § 4.4 "Fee for Permit" is the source of the $20.00 trip fee that conflicts with the statute's $40.00; § 5.4 "Escort Vehicles" of the whole civilian escort ladder; § 4.9 "Department's Jurisdiction" of the bridge-authority and municipal second issuers; § 3.4 of the extra-large class; § 4.11 of the damage deposit. THE PDF CARRIES NO DATE OF ITS OWN, recorded as `revisedOn: null` rather than filled in — its § 1.1 says only that it "shall amend the rules and regulations for overweight and oversize vehicles issued on April 23, 1978, June 21, 1976 and February 8, 1974". Its effective date comes from the parent rule, 290-RICR-40-00-1 "Rules and Regulations Regarding Overweight and Oversize Vehicle Permits", effective 01/04/2022, published by the Rhode Island Department of State at https://rules.sos.ri.gov/regulations/part/290-40-00-1 — and is carried in `effectiveFrom`, not here. undated document · read
Common questions
Questions
How much is an oversize permit in Rhode Island?
Rhode Island's single-trip base fee does not resolve to a single figure in the documents on file — see the fee section above, which shows what each document says.
When does Rhode Island require a pilot car?
The first width trigger is 12' or more.
What is a superload in Rhode Island?
Rhode Island publishes no gross-weight superload threshold in the documents on file — see the superload section, which shows the dimensional triggers it does publish.
Do Rhode Island'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.