Legal limits, escort triggers, permit fees, the superload line and the police escort position for Washington — every figure carrying the state document behind it.
13 source documents on fileoldest revision 1984-03-07last retrieved 2026-09-0221 escort rules in effect1 source conflictsFree · no account needed
The short version: a Washington single-trip permit starts at $0 before bands, overweight and the transaction charge; an escort is first required at over 11' wide; and the load becomes a superload at over 200,000 lb. Everything below carries the Washington document it came from, that document's own revision date, and the date we read it.
Legal limits
1. Washington legal limits
Anything over one of these needs a permit. Every value links to the document that sets it.
RCW 46.44.0941's Overweight Fee Schedule is a per-mile rate stepped by excess weight over legal capacity — $0.07 a mile at the bottom, $4.25 at 100,000 lb of excess, then $4.25 plus 50 cents for each further 5,000 lb increment or portion thereof. RCW 46.44.096 measures the mileage from the department's planning survey records and takes the excess as "gross loadings in excess of loadings authorized by law or axle loadings in excess of loadings authorized by law, whichever is the greater". A $14.00 minimum applies to any overweight permit, and the computed amount is carried to the next full dollar at 50 cents and reduced to it at 49.
Charges exist and no schedule is published. Neither the Washington State Patrol nor WSDOT publishes an application fee, hourly rate, mileage rate, minimum hours, per diem or cancellation charge in the RCW, the WAC or their own FAQs. WSP's own answer to "When is an escort car required?" is "Please contact WSDOT".
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 999-pound band where neither document sets a fee
The statute prices "95,000-99,999 pounds . . . . $ 3.87" while WSDOT's own schedule bands the same step as "95,000-99,000". Between 179,001 lb and 179,999 lb the two documents do not cover the same ground, so no fee is quoted. Reading the statute's figure into the schedule's gap would resolve, in favour of one document, a defect that consists precisely of the two not ending the band in the same place.
RCW 46.44.010 — Maximum width — Washington State Legislature — "The total outside width of any vehicle or load thereon must not exceed eight and one-half feet"; width-exclusive safety devices may add up to three inches rev. 2005-07-24 · read 2026-09-02
RCW 46.44.020 — Maximum height — Washington State Legislature — "It is unlawful for any vehicle unladen or with load to exceed a height of fourteen feet" rev. 1984-03-07 · read 2026-09-02
RCW 46.44.030 — Maximum length — Washington State Legislature — "a semitrailer length in excess of 53 feet"; single vehicle 40 ft; two trailing units 61 ft; truck-and-trailer 75 ft overall rev. 2026-06-11 · read 2026-09-02
RCW 46.44.034 — Front and rear protrusions — Washington State Legislature — (1) three feet beyond the front wheels; (2) fifteen feet beyond the center of the last axle rev. 2017-07-23 · read 2026-09-02
RCW 46.44.041 — Maximum gross weights, axle group table — Washington State Legislature — single axle 20,000 lb; two consecutive tandem sets 34,000 lb each at 36 ft or more; W = 500((LN/N-1)+12N+36); table caps at 105,500 lb for 5–9 axles at 86 ft or more rev. 2016-06-09 · read 2026-09-02
RCW 46.44.092 — Maximum widths a special permit may authorise — Washington State Legislature — "On two-lane highways, fourteen feet; ... where a physical barrier serving as a median divider separates opposing traffic lanes, twenty feet; ... without a physical barrier ..., thirty-two feet." rev. 2006-07-01 · read 2026-09-02
RCW 46.44.0941 — Special permit fees and the Overweight Fee Schedule — Washington State Legislature — single-trip oversize $10.00; per-mile Overweight Fee Schedule; proviso (a) $14.00 minimum, (b) $14.00 duplicate, (c) rounding to the nearest whole dollar rev. 2023-07-23 · read 2026-09-02
RCW 46.44.096 — Determining fees; agents — Washington State Legislature — "whichever is the greater"; "Loads which are overweight and oversize shall be charged the fee for the overweight permit without additional fees being assessed for the oversize features."; agents may retain $3.50 rev. 2006-07-01 · read 2026-09-02
WAC 468-38-100 — Pilot/escort vehicle requirements — Washington State Department of Transportation — (1)(a)–(k) escort triggers; (10)(f) and (14) the height pole; (3) flagperson substitution; (4)(d) operator certification; (16) insurance rev. 2023-03-25 · read 2026-09-02
WAC 468-38-405 — Superloads — Washington State Department of Transportation — (1) superload criteria; (2) lead times; (4) applicant cost-sharing in department analysis; (6) additional pilot/escort or law-enforcement vehicles rev. 2005-02-28 · read 2026-09-02
WSDOT — Permit types and fees — Washington State Department of Transportation — "Single Trip OSOW - A single trip, 3-day, oversize and/or overweight route specific permit."; manufactured housing "$30.00 for 30-days $360.00 per year" undated document · read 2026-09-02
WSDOT — Pilot and escort vehicles — Washington State Department of Transportation — inbound recognition of Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah and Virginia certifications undated document · read 2026-09-02
WSDOT — Self-issue a permit (eSNOOPI Pro) — Washington State Department of Transportation — "There are no additional charges for self-issuing. The cost of the overweight permit is the same as purchasing the permit from a WSDOT office."; the portal displays the first band as "1-9,999" and the top band as "95,000-99,000" undated document · read 2026-09-02
Common questions
Questions
How much is an oversize permit in Washington?
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 Washington require a pilot car?
The first width trigger is over 11', and it varies by road class — the figure shown is the lowest across classes.
What is a superload in Washington?
Washington's published gross-weight superload line is over 200,000 lb. It is not 80,000 lb; that is the federal legal gross limit, not a superload threshold.
Do Washington'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.
