The Iowa answer
Legal limits
First escort trigger
- Width
- over 12'rev. · read · lowest across road classes
- Height
- over 14'6"rev. · read
- Length
- over 120'rev. · read
- Rear overhang
- No trigger published
- Gross weight
- No trigger published
What the paper costs
- Single-trip base
- $35 · caveat ↓rev. · read
- Transaction / card
- None published · caveat ↓rev. · read
- How overweight is priced
- Three official sources disagreeGraduated weight bands — versus — Included in the base permit fee — versus — The agency prices it; no published schedule
- Superload above
- The state publishes none
The short version: a Iowa single-trip permit starts at $35 before bands, overweight and the transaction charge; an escort is first required at over 12' wide; and the load becomes a superload at a gross weight the state does not publish. Everything below carries the Iowa document it came from, that document's own revision date, and the date we read it.
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.
2. Iowa 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"rev. · read § 321.454: "The total outside width of a vehicle or the load on the vehicle shall not exceed eight feet six inches." EXCLUSIVE ("shall not exceed") — 8 ft 6 in exactly is legal. The same section carves out appurtenances: "The limitations on the total outside width ... do not include safety equipment on a vehicle or incidental appurtenances or retracted awnings on motor homes, motorsports recreational vehicles, travel trailers, or fifth-wheel travel trailers if the incidental appurtenance or retracted awning is less than six inches in width." The carve-out is recorded and not applied — a quote states no appurtenance widths. |
| Height | 13'6"rev. · read § 321.456: "A vehicle unladen or with load shall not exceed a height of thirteen feet six inches." EXCLUSIVE. This is the federal/corpus norm, unlike Wyoming's 14 ft, so no unusual substitution risk here. |
| Semitrailer length | 53'rev. · read § 321.457: "A trailer or semitrailer, laden or unladen, shall not have an overall length in excess of fifty-three feet when operating in a truck tractor-semitrailer combination exclusive of retractable extensions used to support the load." EXCLUSIVE ("in excess of"). TWO VARIANTS ARE RECORDED AND NOT APPLIED, because a quote does not state the trailer type: a lowboy "designed and exclusively used for the transportation of construction equipment" may run 57 ft, and in a twin combination "A trailer or semitrailer ... shall not have an overall length in excess of twenty-eight feet six inches." |
| Overall length | None published |
| Kingpin to rear axle | None published |
| Front overhang | 3'rev. · read § 321.458: "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 beyond the front wheels of such vehicle or the front bumper of such vehicle if it is equipped with such a bumper." EXCLUSIVE ("shall not extend more than"). IOWA IS UNUSUAL IN THIS CORPUS FOR PUBLISHING A FRONT OVERHANG LIMIT AND NO REAR ONE — most states here publish both or neither, and the asymmetry was checked against §§ 321.394 and 761—511.20(3) rather than assumed. See the `rearOverhangLimit` row in `publishedAbsences`. |
| Rear overhang | None published |
| Gross weight | 80,000 lbrev. · read § 321.463 sets gross weight by TABLE, introduced by "The maximum gross weight allowed to be carried on a vehicle or combination of vehicles on highways which are part of the primary road system is as follows:". The table's ceiling value is 80,000 lb, which is the figure recorded. It is a TABLE CEILING rather than a flat statutory cap, so a short-wheelbase combination is limited below it by its own row; the table's per-row axle-spacing values are not held in this file. |
| Single axle | 20,000 lbrev. · read § 321.463: "The gross weight on any one axle of a vehicle, or of a combination of vehicles, operated on the highways of this state, shall not exceed twenty thousand pounds on an axle equipped with pneumatic tires, and shall not exceed fourteen thousand pounds on an axle equipped with solid rubber tires." EXCLUSIVE. The 14,000 lb solid-rubber figure is recorded and not applied, because a quote states no tyre construction. |
| Tandem axle | 34,000 lbrev. · read § 321.463: "The gross weight on any tandem axle of a vehicle, or any combination of vehicles, shall not exceed thirty-four thousand pounds on an axle equipped with pneumatic tires." EXCLUSIVE, and the federal/corpus norm. DO NOT CONFUSE IT WITH IOWA'S PERMITTED TANDEM, which is nearly half again as much: 761—511.17(9) allows a load under a single-trip permit "a gross weight not to exceed 46,000 pounds on a single-tandem axle of the truck tractor and a gross weight not to exceed 46,000 pounds on a single-tandem axle of the trailer or semitrailer if each axle of each tandem group has at least four tires", with 24,000 lb the maximum on any single axle inside a permitted tandem and the group's axle centres not more than 96 inches apart. 46,000 lb is what a PERMIT buys, not what is legal without one, and the schema has no permitted-allowance field in which to say so. |
3. The Iowa escort ladder
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 12' and the road is “noninterstate with cdl” and the driver holds cdl | The count is settled; the source does not say front or rear — at least 1. Published as: “761—511.20(3), escort columns "4-Lane" and "2-Lane": width "Over 12ʹ0ʺ up to and including 14ʹ6ʺ" — "rear *" / "front *".”Cannot be reduced to a number: THE ESCORT POSITION IS GENUINELY UNDECIDED ON THIS CLASS. 761—511.20(3) publishes escort cells under two headings, "4-Lane" and "2-Lane", and they put a wide load's escort at OPPOSITE ENDS — rear on 4-Lane, front on 2-Lane. Iowa's third route class is selected by the driver's credential rather than by the roadway, and the retrieved text does not say which chart column applies to it. Picking one would choose a front escort or a rear escort by coin toss on a load over 12 ft wide. The count is one escort on either reading; the position must be confirmed with the permit-issuing authority, and the chart column (4-Lane or 2-Lane) for this stretch of road will settle it. |
PRIMARY, from the Iowa Legislature's own host…rev. · read |
| width from 12' (exclusive) to 14'6" and the road is “2 lane” | 1 certified escort1 in frontAdvisory: Iowa marks this row with an asterisk: "In lieu of an escort, a carrier can display an amber light or strobe light on the power unit and on the rear extremity of the vehicle or load." The substitution is the CARRIER'S election, not the state's default, so the escort is quoted and this alternative is stated. A carrier that runs the lights instead owes no escort on this row. |
PRIMARY, from the Iowa Legislature's own host…rev. · read |
| width from 12' (exclusive) to 16'6" and the road is “4 lane” | 1 certified escort1 behindAdvisory: Iowa marks this row with an asterisk: "In lieu of an escort, a carrier can display an amber light or strobe light on the power unit and on the rear extremity of the vehicle or load." The substitution is the CARRIER'S election, not the state's default, so the escort is quoted and this alternative is stated. A carrier that runs the lights instead owes no escort on this row. |
PRIMARY, from the Iowa Legislature's own host…rev. · read |
| height from 14'6" (exclusive) to 20' | 1 certified escort1 in frontHeight pole required |
PRIMARY, from the Iowa Legislature's own host…rev. · read |
| width from 14'6" (exclusive) to 18' and the road is “2 lane” | 1 certified escort1 in front |
PRIMARY, from the Iowa Legislature's own host…rev. · read |
| width from 16'6" (exclusive) to 18' and the road is “4 lane” | 1 certified escort1 behind |
PRIMARY, from the Iowa Legislature's own host…rev. · read |
| overall length over 120' | 1 certified escort1 behind |
PRIMARY, from the Iowa Legislature's own host…rev. · read |
The first trigger in each dimension
| Measurement | First escort trigger | First police escort trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Width | over 12'rev. · read · varies by road class | None published |
| Height | over 14'6"rev. · read | None published |
| Length | over 120'rev. · read | None published |
| Rear overhang | None published | None published |
| Gross weight | None published | None published |
The same rules restated in plain sentences12 rules
- Overall length over 120 ft — one rear escort, on 4-Lane and 2-Lane alike — PRIMARY, from the Iowa Legislature's own host. Source of the $35 single-trip fee (511.5(10)), the 5-cents-per-ton-per-mile building registration fee (511.5(16)), the uncapped fair-and-reasonable costs (511.5(17)), the escort/flag/light chart with its "4-Lane" and "2-Lane" columns (511.20(3)), the $250-per-day escort-fee cap (511.20(2)"i"), the permitted weight ceilings (511.17(4), 511.17(9)), the roadway-clearance envelope (511.13(1)) and the permit-issuing-authority definition (511.1). revisedOn is the PAGE FOOTER's own date, "IAC 2/5/25"; the URL path carries 02-19-2025, which is the publication path rather than a date the document states about itself. rev. · read
- Height over 14 ft 6 in up to and including 20 ft — one front escort carrying a height pole, on 4-Lane and 2-Lane alike — PRIMARY, from the Iowa Legislature's own host. Source of the $35 single-trip fee (511.5(10)), the 5-cents-per-ton-per-mile building registration fee (511.5(16)), the uncapped fair-and-reasonable costs (511.5(17)), the escort/flag/light chart with its "4-Lane" and "2-Lane" columns (511.20(3)), the $250-per-day escort-fee cap (511.20(2)"i"), the permitted weight ceilings (511.17(4), 511.17(9)), the roadway-clearance envelope (511.13(1)) and the permit-issuing-authority definition (511.1). revisedOn is the PAGE FOOTER's own date, "IAC 2/5/25"; the URL path carries 02-19-2025, which is the publication path rather than a date the document states about itself. rev. · read
- Height over 20 ft — above the top row of Iowa's escort chart — PRIMARY, from the Iowa Legislature's own host. Source of the $35 single-trip fee (511.5(10)), the 5-cents-per-ton-per-mile building registration fee (511.5(16)), the uncapped fair-and-reasonable costs (511.5(17)), the escort/flag/light chart with its "4-Lane" and "2-Lane" columns (511.20(3)), the $250-per-day escort-fee cap (511.20(2)"i"), the permitted weight ceilings (511.17(4), 511.17(9)), the roadway-clearance envelope (511.13(1)) and the permit-issuing-authority definition (511.1). revisedOn is the PAGE FOOTER's own date, "IAC 2/5/25"; the URL path carries 02-19-2025, which is the publication path rather than a date the document states about itself. rev. · read
- Width over 12 ft up to and including 16 ft 6 in on a 4-Lane highway — one rear escort, or amber/strobe lights in lieu — PRIMARY, from the Iowa Legislature's own host. Source of the $35 single-trip fee (511.5(10)), the 5-cents-per-ton-per-mile building registration fee (511.5(16)), the uncapped fair-and-reasonable costs (511.5(17)), the escort/flag/light chart with its "4-Lane" and "2-Lane" columns (511.20(3)), the $250-per-day escort-fee cap (511.20(2)"i"), the permitted weight ceilings (511.17(4), 511.17(9)), the roadway-clearance envelope (511.13(1)) and the permit-issuing-authority definition (511.1). revisedOn is the PAGE FOOTER's own date, "IAC 2/5/25"; the URL path carries 02-19-2025, which is the publication path rather than a date the document states about itself. rev. · read
- Width over 16 ft 6 in up to and including 18 ft on a 4-Lane highway — one rear escort, no lights-in-lieu substitution — PRIMARY, from the Iowa Legislature's own host. Source of the $35 single-trip fee (511.5(10)), the 5-cents-per-ton-per-mile building registration fee (511.5(16)), the uncapped fair-and-reasonable costs (511.5(17)), the escort/flag/light chart with its "4-Lane" and "2-Lane" columns (511.20(3)), the $250-per-day escort-fee cap (511.20(2)"i"), the permitted weight ceilings (511.17(4), 511.17(9)), the roadway-clearance envelope (511.13(1)) and the permit-issuing-authority definition (511.1). revisedOn is the PAGE FOOTER's own date, "IAC 2/5/25"; the URL path carries 02-19-2025, which is the publication path rather than a date the document states about itself. rev. · read
- Width over 12 ft up to and including 14 ft 6 in on a 2-Lane highway — one FRONT escort, or amber/strobe lights in lieu — PRIMARY, from the Iowa Legislature's own host. Source of the $35 single-trip fee (511.5(10)), the 5-cents-per-ton-per-mile building registration fee (511.5(16)), the uncapped fair-and-reasonable costs (511.5(17)), the escort/flag/light chart with its "4-Lane" and "2-Lane" columns (511.20(3)), the $250-per-day escort-fee cap (511.20(2)"i"), the permitted weight ceilings (511.17(4), 511.17(9)), the roadway-clearance envelope (511.13(1)) and the permit-issuing-authority definition (511.1). revisedOn is the PAGE FOOTER's own date, "IAC 2/5/25"; the URL path carries 02-19-2025, which is the publication path rather than a date the document states about itself. rev. · read
- Width over 14 ft 6 in up to and including 18 ft on a 2-Lane highway — one FRONT escort, no lights-in-lieu substitution — PRIMARY, from the Iowa Legislature's own host. Source of the $35 single-trip fee (511.5(10)), the 5-cents-per-ton-per-mile building registration fee (511.5(16)), the uncapped fair-and-reasonable costs (511.5(17)), the escort/flag/light chart with its "4-Lane" and "2-Lane" columns (511.20(3)), the $250-per-day escort-fee cap (511.20(2)"i"), the permitted weight ceilings (511.17(4), 511.17(9)), the roadway-clearance envelope (511.13(1)) and the permit-issuing-authority definition (511.1). revisedOn is the PAGE FOOTER's own date, "IAC 2/5/25"; the URL path carries 02-19-2025, which is the publication path rather than a date the document states about itself. rev. · read
- Width over 18 ft — above the top row of Iowa's escort chart — PRIMARY, from the Iowa Legislature's own host. Source of the $35 single-trip fee (511.5(10)), the 5-cents-per-ton-per-mile building registration fee (511.5(16)), the uncapped fair-and-reasonable costs (511.5(17)), the escort/flag/light chart with its "4-Lane" and "2-Lane" columns (511.20(3)), the $250-per-day escort-fee cap (511.20(2)"i"), the permitted weight ceilings (511.17(4), 511.17(9)), the roadway-clearance envelope (511.13(1)) and the permit-issuing-authority definition (511.1). revisedOn is the PAGE FOOTER's own date, "IAC 2/5/25"; the URL path carries 02-19-2025, which is the publication path rather than a date the document states about itself. rev. · read
- Width over 12 ft on the route class Iowa selects by the driver's CDL credential — the escort chart publishes no column for it — PRIMARY, from the Iowa Legislature's own host. Source of the $35 single-trip fee (511.5(10)), the 5-cents-per-ton-per-mile building registration fee (511.5(16)), the uncapped fair-and-reasonable costs (511.5(17)), the escort/flag/light chart with its "4-Lane" and "2-Lane" columns (511.20(3)), the $250-per-day escort-fee cap (511.20(2)"i"), the permitted weight ceilings (511.17(4), 511.17(9)), the roadway-clearance envelope (511.13(1)) and the permit-issuing-authority definition (511.1). revisedOn is the PAGE FOOTER's own date, "IAC 2/5/25"; the URL path carries 02-19-2025, which is the publication path rather than a date the document states about itself. rev. · read
- Combined gross weight over 100,000 lb — the permit may be issued only on a discretionary finding by the permit-issuing authority — PRIMARY, from the Iowa Legislature's own host. Source of the $35 single-trip fee (511.5(10)), the 5-cents-per-ton-per-mile building registration fee (511.5(16)), the uncapped fair-and-reasonable costs (511.5(17)), the escort/flag/light chart with its "4-Lane" and "2-Lane" columns (511.20(3)), the $250-per-day escort-fee cap (511.20(2)"i"), the permitted weight ceilings (511.17(4), 511.17(9)), the roadway-clearance envelope (511.13(1)) and the permit-issuing-authority definition (511.1). revisedOn is the PAGE FOOTER's own date, "IAC 2/5/25"; the URL path carries 02-19-2025, which is the publication path rather than a date the document states about itself. rev. · read
- Height over 16 ft — the carrier must contact affected public utilities — PRIMARY, from the Iowa Legislature's own host. Source of the $35 single-trip fee (511.5(10)), the 5-cents-per-ton-per-mile building registration fee (511.5(16)), the uncapped fair-and-reasonable costs (511.5(17)), the escort/flag/light chart with its "4-Lane" and "2-Lane" columns (511.20(3)), the $250-per-day escort-fee cap (511.20(2)"i"), the permitted weight ceilings (511.17(4), 511.17(9)), the roadway-clearance envelope (511.13(1)) and the permit-issuing-authority definition (511.1). revisedOn is the PAGE FOOTER's own date, "IAC 2/5/25"; the URL path carries 02-19-2025, which is the publication path rather than a date the document states about itself. rev. · read
- Any load over an Iowa legal dimension — the permit-issuing authority may require additional escorts — PRIMARY, from the Iowa Legislature's own host. Source of the $35 single-trip fee (511.5(10)), the 5-cents-per-ton-per-mile building registration fee (511.5(16)), the uncapped fair-and-reasonable costs (511.5(17)), the escort/flag/light chart with its "4-Lane" and "2-Lane" columns (511.20(3)), the $250-per-day escort-fee cap (511.20(2)"i"), the permitted weight ceilings (511.17(4), 511.17(9)), the roadway-clearance envelope (511.13(1)) and the permit-issuing-authority definition (511.1). revisedOn is the PAGE FOOTER's own date, "IAC 2/5/25"; the URL path carries 02-19-2025, which is the publication path rather than a date the document states about itself. rev. · read
4. Iowa single-trip permit fees
| Charge | Amount |
|---|---|
| Single-trip base | $35rev. · read Iowa Code § 321E.14(1)(e): "Thirty-five dollars for a single-trip permit issued pursuant to section 321E.9." The statute and the administrative rule state the same figure independently, which is the cross-check. NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH the $25 divisible-load special/emergency permit of § 321E.29 and 761—511.5(2), which a secondary multi-state table (KLRD 2025) lists as an Iowa "Single Trip / Oversize" fee; it is a different product and is not applied. |
| Transaction / card | None publishedrev. · read A SOURCED ZERO ON A SECTION THAT WAS READ IN FULL, not an untested assumption. IAC 761—511.5 was read subrule by subrule, (1) through (18), and names no processing, service, administrative, convenience or percentage charge on top of any permit fee; Iowa Code § 321E.14 names none either. The only charges beyond the permit fee anywhere in those sections are the escort fee (capped at $250 per day per escort vehicle), the uncapped "fair and reasonable costs" of 511.5(17), the inspection uplift of § 321E.14(2) and the bond of § 321E.13 — none of which is a transaction fee. |
| Route analysis review | $0rev. · read READ IN FULL — IAC 761—511.5, subrules (1) through (18), plus Iowa Code § 321E.14 — AND NEITHER PUBLISHES A ROUTE-ANALYSIS FEE. The zero records the absence of a SCHEDULED charge and is not a promise that review costs nothing: 511.5(17) lets the issuing authority recover "a fair and reasonable cost for measures necessary to avoid damage to public property including structures and bridges", which is uncapped actual cost with no published rate, and § 321E.14(2) lets fees "for the movement of buildings, parts of buildings, or unusual vehicles or loads ... be increased to cover the costs of inspections by the permit-issuing authority". Neither is a quotable figure. This field is in any case never reached for Iowa, because Iowa declares no superload trigger. |
| Route with no bridges | $0rev. · read READ IN FULL AND NOT FOUND. Iowa publishes no cheap-path bridge fee because it publishes no bridge-analysis fee at all — there is no two-tier route/no-bridge schedule in 761—511.5 or in § 321E.14. Same caveat as `routeAnalysisFeeUsd`: the uncapped 511.5(17) cost recovery for "measures necessary to avoid damage to public property including structures and bridges" is what Iowa charges instead, and it has no rate. |
Iowa has more than one permit issuer. A state total can be complete and still be missing a whole permit.
- city or county road authority — Any part of the move that leaves the primary road system — a city street or a county road — which most lanes do at their first or last mile.. We do not hold this authority's fee schedule, so the leg goes to review rather than being quoted short. Iowa Code 2026, Section 321E.2 — Permits by department and local authorities
5. How Iowa prices overweight
three official documents describe the overweight model differently, and none has been adopted. Graduated weight bands per PRIMARY. Source of § 321E.14(1)(e) ($35 singl… — versus — Included in the base permit fee per PRIMARY, from the Iowa Legislature's own host… — versus — The agency prices it; no published schedule per PRIMARY, from the Iowa Legislature's own host….
The bands, as published
| Gross weight | Axles | Fee | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 80,001 lb and up | any | $0plus $4 per 2,000 lb above 80,000 lb (any part increment is charged in full) | PRIMARY. Source of § 321E.14(1)(e) ($35 singl…rev. · read |
6. Iowa 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.
Iowa is not in the seasonal-restriction registry, so we hold no posting window for it and are not inventing one.
7. Iowa'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 |
8. Route survey and bridge review
The dimensions at which Iowa 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 |
9. Police escorts
Charges exist and no schedule is published. IOWA PUBLISHES A CEILING AND NO RATE, AND THE SCHEMA MUST NOT FLATTEN ONE INTO THE OTHER. Iowa Admin. Code r. 761—511.20(321E) says, in full on the money question, "Escort fees charged by state and local authorities shall not exceed $250 per day per escort vehicle." That is a MAXIMUM. Recording $250 as `minimumChargeUsdPerOfficer` would invert it — a cap read as a floor is wrong in the expensive direction on every short move — and `PoliceEscortRate` has no field for a ceiling, so Iowa holds no row. The rule states no hourly figure, no minimum hours and no minimum charge, and it points traffic control at an on-duty officer rather than a priced detail: "The escort shall not assume responsibility for stopping traffic. An on-duty peace officer, as defined in Iowa Code section 321.1, shall be contacted to provide any traffic control needed." THE $25 PER HOUR PER OFFICER FIGURE IS NOT ADOPTED: it is quoted by commercial permit services and appears nowhere in 761—511 or Iowa Code ch. 321E.
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".
10. When you can move it
Holiday, curfew and night-travel windows are not yet encoded for Iowa. 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.
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.
12. 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.
13. Every source behind this page (8)
Every document behind Iowa8 sources
- Iowa Administrative Code, Transportation[761] Chapter 511 — Special Permits for Operation and Movement of Vehicles and Loads of Excess Size and Weight — Iowa Legislature / Iowa Department of Transportation — PRIMARY, from the Iowa Legislature's own host. Source of the $35 single-trip fee (511.5(10)), the 5-cents-per-ton-per-mile building registration fee (511.5(16)), the uncapped fair-and-reasonable costs (511.5(17)), the escort/flag/light chart with its "4-Lane" and "2-Lane" columns (511.20(3)), the $250-per-day escort-fee cap (511.20(2)"i"), the permitted weight ceilings (511.17(4), 511.17(9)), the roadway-clearance envelope (511.13(1)) and the permit-issuing-authority definition (511.1). revisedOn is the PAGE FOOTER's own date, "IAC 2/5/25"; the URL path carries 02-19-2025, which is the publication path rather than a date the document states about itself.
rev. · read - Iowa Code 2026, Chapter 321E — Vehicles of Excessive Size and Weight — Iowa Legislature — PRIMARY. Source of § 321E.14(1)(e) ($35 single trip), § 321E.12(1)(b) ($4 per ton over 40 tons, added by 2025 Acts ch 149 § 4), § 321E.12(3) (5 cents per ton per mile for buildings), § 321E.14(2) (inspection uplift), § 321E.14(3) ($250-per-day escort fee) and § 321E.13 (bond). The PDF footer reads "Iowa Code 2026, Chapter 321E" and states no finer date, so revisedOn is the bare year.
rev. · read - Iowa Code 2026, Section 321.454 — Width of vehicles — Iowa Legislature — PRIMARY. PDF footer "Iowa Code 2026, Section 321.454"; generation stamp Thu Dec 11 19:42:04 2025.
rev. · read - Iowa Code 2026, Section 321.456 — Height of vehicles — Iowa Legislature — PRIMARY. PDF footer "Iowa Code 2026, Section 321.456".
rev. · read - Iowa Code 2026, Section 321.457 — Maximum length — Iowa Legislature — PRIMARY. PDF footer "Iowa Code 2026, Section 321.457". Read in full: it publishes a 53 ft semitrailer, a 57 ft construction-equipment lowboy, a 28 ft 6 in trailer in a twin combination, 70 ft for a three-vehicle combination other than a truck tractor and 65 ft for a cargo-carrying power unit with a trailer — and NO overall cap for a truck tractor-semitrailer, and NO kingpin-to-rearmost-axle limit anywhere.
rev. · read - Iowa Code 2026, Section 321.458 — Loading beyond front — Iowa Legislature — PRIMARY. The 3 ft front overhang limit. PDF footer "Iowa Code 2026, Section 321.458".
rev. · read - Iowa Code 2026, Section 321.463 — Maximum gross weight — exceptions — penalties — Iowa Legislature — PRIMARY. The 20,000 lb single axle, the 34,000 lb tandem and the primary-road-system gross weight table whose ceiling is 80,000 lb. PDF footer "Iowa Code 2026, Section 321.463".
rev. · read - Iowa Code 2026, Section 321E.2 — Permits by department and local authorities — Iowa Legislature — PRIMARY. The second-issuer provision: "The department and local authorities may in their discretion and upon application and with good cause shown issue permits".
rev. · read
Questions
How much is an oversize permit in Iowa?
The single-trip base is $35, before the dimension bands, the overweight component and the transaction charge. The base alone is rarely what is paid.
When does Iowa require a pilot car?
The first width trigger is over 12', and it varies by road class — the figure shown is the lowest across classes.
What is a superload in Iowa?
Iowa publishes no gross-weight superload threshold in the documents on file — see the superload section, which shows the dimensional triggers it does publish.