The short version: a West Virginia single-trip permit starts at $20 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 West Virginia document it came from, that document's own revision date, and the date we read it.
1. West Virginia legal limits
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 2026-09-06 |
| Height | 13'6"undated document · read 2026-09-06 |
| Semitrailer length | 53'undated document · read 2026-09-06 |
| Overall length | None published |
| Kingpin to rear axle | None published |
| Front overhang | None published |
| Rear overhang | None published |
| Gross weight | 80,000 lbundated document · read 2026-09-06 |
| Single axle | 20,000 lbundated document · read 2026-09-06 |
| Tandem axle | 34,000 lbundated document · read 2026-09-06 |
2. When West Virginia requires an escort
| Measurement | First escort trigger | First police escort trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Width | 12' or moreundated document · read 2026-09-06 | None published |
| Height | None published | None published |
| Length | over 75'undated document · read 2026-09-06 | None published |
| Rear overhang | over 10'undated document · read 2026-09-06 | None published |
| Gross weight | None published | None published |
Every escort rule on file, in full6 rules
- On the West Virginia Turnpike (I-64/I-77): 12 ft wide or more, over 75 ft long, or over 10 ft of overhang — one pilot car — A DIFFERENT AGENCY from WVDOH. The Parkways Authority operates I-64/I-77 as the West Virginia Turnpike and publishes its own pilot-car rule, which 157 CSR 5 does not contain. UNDATED. undated document · read 2026-09-06
- Mobile home up to and including 12 ft wide on a two-lane highway — one FRONT escort — The promulgated rule, filed with the Secretary of State. Source of the $20 base fee, the $0.04 ton-mile charge, the mobile-home escort ladder, the police-escort commodity trigger and the superload provisions. rev. 2023-11-08 · read 2026-09-06
- Mobile home over 12 ft wide on an expressway or interstate — one REAR escort — The promulgated rule, filed with the Secretary of State. Source of the $20 base fee, the $0.04 ton-mile charge, the mobile-home escort ladder, the police-escort commodity trigger and the superload provisions. rev. 2023-11-08 · read 2026-09-06
- Mobile home over 14 ft 6 in wide on a multi-lane highway with pavement at least 24 ft wide — one FRONT and two REAR escorts — The promulgated rule, filed with the Secretary of State. Source of the $20 base fee, the $0.04 ton-mile charge, the mobile-home escort ladder, the police-escort commodity trigger and the superload provisions. rev. 2023-11-08 · read 2026-09-06
- Mobile home over 12 ft wide on all other highways — one FRONT and one REAR escort — The promulgated rule, filed with the Secretary of State. Source of the $20 base fee, the $0.04 ton-mile charge, the mobile-home escort ladder, the police-escort commodity trigger and the superload provisions. rev. 2023-11-08 · read 2026-09-06
- Moving a house or similar oversized structure — police escort, arranged with the local law-enforcement agency, at WVDOH's determination — The promulgated rule, filed with the Secretary of State. Source of the $20 base fee, the $0.04 ton-mile charge, the mobile-home escort ladder, the police-escort commodity trigger and the superload provisions. rev. 2023-11-08 · read 2026-09-06
3. West Virginia single-trip permit fees
| Charge | Amount |
|---|---|
| Single-trip base | $20rev. 2023-11-08 · read 2026-09-06 |
| Transaction / card | None publishedundated document · read 2026-09-06 |
| Route analysis review | Not yet covered |
| Route with no bridges | Not yet covered |
4. How West Virginia prices overweight
157 CSR 5: "an overweight fee of $.04 per ton mile will be assessed." Per mile, on the excess tonnage, with no bands and no flat alternative.
5. West Virginia's superload threshold
Above one of these, the state stops issuing over the counter and prices the move after an engineering review.
| Trigger | Threshold |
|---|---|
| Gross weight | None published |
| Width | None published |
| Height | None published |
| Length | None published |
| Short axle spacing | Not yet covered |
6. Route survey and bridge review
The dimensions at which West Virginia 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 |
7. Police escorts
Charges exist and no schedule is published. West Virginia publishes neither half of the question. The TRIGGER is a commodity test plus agency discretion rather than a dimension: 157 CSR 5 § 6.4.k requires police escort of "houses or other similar oversized structures that could cause significant disruptions to the normal flow of traffic", with "The Division of Highways shall determine the need for a police escort based on the information provided in the permit application and knowledge of the roads or highways being traveled." The RATE does not exist in published form — the West Virginia State Police posts no hourly, mileage, minimum-hours or per diem schedule on its site or anywhere in the Code of State Rules, and carriers coordinate directly with the local detachment or the municipal agency with jurisdiction. 157 CSR 5 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".
8. When you can move it
Holiday, curfew and night-travel windows are not yet encoded for West Virginia.
West Virginia spring thaw restrictions →
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.
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.
11. What this does not include
Named rather than gestured at, because each of these can exceed the permit itself. Every item is listed; open one for why it is excluded.
Line haul, fuel and driver time
This is a permit fee, not a freight rate.
Civilian pilot car rates
We hold no rate data, and the two commercial sites that publish market rates disagree by nearly a factor of two on the same service.
Route-survey engineering
The agency's review fee is shown where the state publishes one; the engineer's own fee is a private cost with no schedule.
Bonds and escrow
Set per move by the agency, and in at least one state the escort is billed at actual cost against it.
Utility coordination and line lifts
Arranged with each utility, priced by each utility.
Second-issuer permits
A toll, bridge or city authority inside the same state issues its own permit, and a state total that omits it is missing a whole permit.
Need a pilot car for this lane? Browse the pilot car & escort directory.
12. Every source behind this page (6)
Every document behind West Virginia6 sources
- 157 CSR 5 — WVDOH rules governing hauling permits — West Virginia Secretary of State, Code of State Rules — The promulgated rule, filed with the Secretary of State. Source of the $20 base fee, the $0.04 ton-mile charge, the mobile-home escort ladder, the police-escort commodity trigger and the superload provisions.
rev. 2023-11-08 · read 2026-09-06 - West Virginia State Police — West Virginia State Police — Checked for an escort tariff and found none. The patrol publishes no statewide hourly, mileage or per diem schedule for commercial oversize escorts on its site or in the Code of State Rules.
undated document · read 2026-09-06 - West Virginia Turnpike — Safety and assistance — West Virginia Parkways Authority — A DIFFERENT AGENCY from WVDOH. The Parkways Authority operates I-64/I-77 as the West Virginia Turnpike and publishes its own pilot-car rule, which 157 CSR 5 does not contain. UNDATED.
undated document · read 2026-09-06 - WVDOT — Frequently asked questions, hauling permits — West Virginia Department of Transportation — UNDATED. Carries the statement that WVDOH publishes no route-by-route weight or clearance lists because every application is analysed dynamically — which is why the bridge fee cannot be predicted.
undated document · read 2026-09-06 - WVDOT — Legal size and weight limits — West Virginia Department of Transportation — The per-route-class limit table. UNDATED — the page carries no publication or revision stamp. Every figure on it is corroborated below against W. Va. Code Chapter 17C, which is what makes it usable.
undated document · read 2026-09-06 - WVDOT — Permit types and fees — West Virginia Department of Transportation — Source of the bridge-monitoring schedule. UNDATED. Restates the $20 base fee and $0.04 ton-mile charge in the same words as 157 CSR 5, which corroborates both.
undated document · read 2026-09-06
Questions
How much is an oversize permit in West Virginia?
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 West Virginia require a pilot car?
The first width trigger is 12' or more.
What is a superload in West Virginia?
West Virginia publishes no gross-weight superload threshold in the documents on file — see the superload section, which shows the dimensional triggers it does publish.