California oversize permit requirements
California looks permissive on paper and turns strict the moment a load gets wide. Caltrans allows continuous travel — day and night — for a permitted load that needs no escorts, no detour and no more than a two-vehicle configuration, and the permit itself runs seven days. Compared with the daylight-only, six-day states in the south-east, that is a great deal of running time.
Then the metros take it back. Loads over ten feet wide are barred from the peak windows in Sacramento, San Francisco and San Diego, seven to nine in the morning and four to six in the evening; Los Angeles widens that to six to nine and three to six; the Bay Bridge sets its own hours again. None of this is unusual in itself — plenty of states protect their commute — but California stacks the restrictions rather than replacing them, and a route through two metros inherits both.
The rule that reshapes schedules is the one for loads over twelve feet wide. Those may move Monday to Friday only between eleven in the morning and one in the afternoon. Two hours a day. A wide load crossing California is not planning around traffic; it is planning around a window barely long enough to clear a metro, and the difference between eleven feet eleven inches and twelve feet one inch is the difference between a day of driving and a fortnight of them.
The other California-specific dimension is length measured from the kingpin. Annual permits are written to a kingpin-to-rear-axle maximum of forty feet, which is a constraint no eastern state imposes, and a combination that measures legally overall can still fall outside it. Past fifteen feet wide, seventeen feet high or a hundred and thirty-five feet long the load leaves the routine system altogether and needs a variance permit, which is a different application on a different timescale.
Legal dimensions
At or under these figures, no oversize permit is required in California.
- Width
- 8′6″
- Height
- 14′0″
- Gross weight
- 80,000 lb
- Overhang
- 10′
- Steer axle
- 12,500 lb
- Single axle
- 20,000 lb
- Tandem
- 34,000 lb
Routine permit limits
Above legal dimensions and up to these figures, California issues a permit as routine business. Beyond them the load becomes a superload, reviewed case by case.
- Length
- 135′
- Overhang
- 30′
- Width
- 15′
- Height
- Set by the route rather than a single published figure
- Tandem
- 46,000 lb
- Tridem
- 58,061–60,000 lb depending on axle spread
Escort requirements
A load reaching any of these figures needs an escort in California — the figure is the first size that requires one, so a load measuring exactly this much already needs it.
- Width
- 12′1″
- Height
- 15′0″
- Length
- 120′1″
When the load may move
Permit validity. Single-trip permits are valid for seven days.
Operating time. Continuous travel — day and night — where the load needs no escorts, no detour and no more than a two-vehicle configuration. A load moving at night must be lighted.
Restricted travel. Loads over 10′ wide are barred from metro peak hours Monday to Friday: 7–9 AM and 4–6 PM in Sacramento, San Francisco and San Diego; 6–9 AM and 3–6 PM in Los Angeles; 6:30–9 AM and 3:30–6:30 PM on the Bay Bridge. Loads over 12′ wide may move Monday to Friday only, between 11 AM and 1 PM.
Worth knowing
- Annual permits are limited to 40′ kingpin-to-rear-axle, a constraint on the combination that overall length does not capture.
- Legal combination length is shorter on non-designated highways than on the designated network. The semitrailer itself is limited to 48′.
- Past 15′ wide, 17′ high or 135′ long the load needs a variance permit rather than a routine one.
- Tridem allowances depend on axle spread rather than a single figure.
California permits, answered
Can an oversize load travel at night in California?
Yes. Caltrans allows continuous travel for a permitted load that needs no escorts, no detour and no more than two vehicles in the configuration. The load has to be lighted.
What are the travel hours for a load over 12 feet wide in California?
Monday to Friday, 11 AM to 1 PM. Two hours a day, and no weekend movement — the single biggest scheduling constraint in the state.
What is the kingpin-to-rear-axle limit in California?
40′ on an annual permit. It is a measurement no eastern state applies, and a combination that is legal on overall length can still exceed it.
When does a California load need a variance permit?
Past 15′ wide, 17′ high or 135′ long. That is a different application on a different timescale from a routine single-trip permit.
Do California metro curfews stack across a route?
Yes. The Los Angeles, Bay Area, San Diego and Sacramento windows are separate restrictions, and a route crossing two metros inherits both rather than the wider of the two.
Crossing more than California?
A permit is per state. If the route leaves California, these are the states it most likely enters.
Get a permit quote for California
Enter the load once and the estimator prices every state on the route, flags where an escort is required, and turns the quote into an order.
Price a permit for California →Compiled from published state DOT sources. Regulations change — confirm the current rules before dispatch. Last reviewed 2026-07-30.