Rhode Island OS/OD Overview
Permit Required
Yes – any load exceeding legal size or weight must have a permit from the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT). Single-trip and other permit types are issued through RIDOT's trucking permits office.
Legal Limits (Without Permit)
- Width: 8'6"
- Height: 13'6"
- Length: 60' (combo); 53' trailer allowed
- Weight: 80,000 lbs GVW (standard axle limits apply)
Anything over a legal dimension or weight requires an oversize/overweight permit before the move. Superloads beyond routine permit limits may require additional engineering review and route approval.
Travel Hours
- Daylight: 1/2 hour before sunrise to 1/2 hour after sunset. Sec. 1.5.8 applies this to permitted vehicles generally — it is not hung on a width trigger. An earlier version of this page said “loads over 11'11" wide,” which understates who it covers.
- Tighter Interstate window: sec. 1.5.8(B) cuts the day down to sunrise–7:00 AM and 9:00 AM–3:30 PM on specified Interstates for mobile and modular homes over 12' wide, construction equipment over 13' wide, and cranes.
- Weekends: “Permit travel is authorized during approved hours on Monday through Friday. No permit travel on Saturday or Sunday is authorized under the agreement” (sec. 1.5.7). That is all permit travel, not only wide loads — the earlier 11'11" qualifier on this page was too narrow.
- Holidays: Travel prohibited on New Year's, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday, Memorial Day, Victory Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Election Day (the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, even-numbered years only), Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas (sec. 1.4.15(A)). MLK Day and Election Day were missing from this list before.
Escort Requirements (290-RICR-40-00-1 sec. 1.5.4)
Verification status: I read the Rhode Island regulation itself — 290-RICR-40-00-1, effective 01/04/2022 — and every figure below is quoted from it with its section number. I still carry Rhode Island as unverified in my own notes: RIDOT's OS/OW permit portal is a JavaScript application that publishes no rule text to spot-check against, and I have not confirmed current practice with the permit office. Read these as the rule as written, not as a figure a permit writer confirmed to me.
Where the single escort rides is set by the road, not by the load. Sec. 1.5.4(A): “When one (1) escort is required, it shall precede a load on undivided highways and follow the load on divided highways.” This page used to say “1 rear escort” across the board, and that version still circulates elsewhere. On an undivided Rhode Island highway a car running behind the load is worse than no car at all, because the driver believes he is covered when the regulation says the escort must be out front.
| Dimension | Escort Requirement |
|---|---|
| Width 12'0" through 14'6" | 1 escort. Undivided highway: it precedes the load. Divided highway: it follows the load. No escort below 12'0" (sec. 1.5.4(A)(1)(a)) |
| Width over 14'6" | 1 front + 1 rear escort. “Two (2) escort vehicles are required for overall width over fourteen (14) feet, six (6) inches” — not over 13'6", which is what this page said before (sec. 1.5.4(A)(1)(a)) |
| Length 80'0" through 90'0" | 1 escort, same placement rule — precedes on undivided, follows on divided. The no-escort zone is “less than eighty (80) feet,” so exactly 80'0" already needs one (sec. 1.5.4(A)(2)(a)) |
| Length over 90'0" | 1 front + 1 rear escort. The bands are 80'–90' and over 90' — this page previously ran them to 95', which left every load between 90'1" and 95' short an escort (sec. 1.5.4(A)(2)(a)) |
| Overhang 15'0" or more — front or rear | 1 escort. Inclusive at 15'0": “No escort vehicle is required if overhang is less than fifteen (15) feet with proper flags displayed. One (1) escort vehicle is required if the overhang is fifteen (15) feet or more.” Placement follows the road-type rule, not the overhang side. The regulation says “overhang,” so a 15' front projection counts too (sec. 1.5.4(A)(3)(a)) |
| Overhang 15'0" or more to the rear, on a two-lane undivided highway, and width 12'0" or more | 2 escorts. All three conditions have to be true together (sec. 1.5.4(A)(3)(a)) |
| Cranes — intrastate moves, width 12'0" or more | 2 escorts. “Two (2) escorts are required for intrastate moves of width twelve (12) and over” — inclusive at 12'0", and a tighter rule than the general width table above (sec. 1.5.4(A)(5)(a)) |
| Buildings | 2 escorts plus a police escort from each city or town the move travels through (sec. 1.5.4(A)(4)(a)) |
| Height | No escort trigger established. There is no height-based escort provision anywhere in 290-RICR-40-00-1 — sec. 1.5.4 has none at any height. Legal height is 13'6" (sec. 1.4.19) and R.I. Gen. Laws sec. 31-25-4 caps at 162 inches, so height is a permit question here, not an escort question. This page used to show “height over 13'11" — 1 escort where best utilized”; I cannot find that in the regulation. Settle it with the RIDOT permit office |
Detailed Information
ESCORT PLACEMENT: Sec. 1.5.4(A) decides this by road type, not by which end of the load is oversize: “When one (1) escort is required, it shall precede a load on undivided highways and follow the load on divided highways.” One car, undivided road — it leads. One car, divided road — it follows. That holds for the width band, the length band and the overhang trigger alike.
WIDTH ESCORTS: Nothing below 12'0". From 12'0" through 14'6", one escort, placed by road type. Over 14'6", one front plus one rear. The old two-escort figure on this page was 13'6", and it is wrong — the regulation reads “over fourteen (14) feet, six (6) inches” (sec. 1.5.4(A)(1)(a)). Cranes are the exception: on intrastate moves they take two escorts at 12'0" and over (sec. 1.5.4(A)(5)(a)).
LENGTH ESCORTS: Nothing under 80'. From 80'0" through 90'0", one escort, placed by road type. Over 90', one front plus one rear. This page ran the bands as 80'–95' and over 95', which is the version on a lot of other sites; it puts one car on a 92-foot load that Rhode Island wants two cars on (sec. 1.5.4(A)(2)(a)).
OVERHANG: Under 15' with proper flags, no escort. At 15' or more — the trigger is inclusive — one escort, and its position comes from the road-type rule, not from the overhang side. The regulation says “overhang” without naming an end, so a 15' front projection triggers it the same as a rear one. Two escorts if the overhang is 15' or more to the rear and you are on a two-lane undivided highway and the load is 12' wide or more (sec. 1.5.4(A)(3)(a)).
HEIGHT: Not established. The escort regulation has no height trigger at all. Legal height is 13'6" (sec. 1.4.19), the statutory cap is 162 inches (R.I. Gen. Laws sec. 31-25-4), and above 13'6" you need a permit — but the regulation names no height at which an escort becomes required. The 13'11" figure this page used to print is not in the rule. Ask the permit office and take the answer off the permit face.
BUILDINGS: Two escorts, plus a police escort from every city or town the move passes through (sec. 1.5.4(A)(4)(a)). Budget the lead time — each municipality is its own phone call.
RESTRICTED TRAVEL: Daylight only, 1/2 hour before sunrise to 1/2 hour after sunset, and sec. 1.5.8 writes that for permitted vehicles generally rather than at a width threshold. Sec. 1.5.8(B) is narrower still on specified Interstates — sunrise to 7:00 AM and 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM — for mobile and modular homes over 12' wide, construction equipment over 13' wide, and cranes. No Saturday or Sunday permit travel at all (sec. 1.5.7), and none on the holidays listed above (sec. 1.4.15(A)).
Additional Notes
- "Oversize Load" signs, red/orange flags, and amber warning lights are required on the load and escort vehicles per RIDOT permit conditions.
- Permit conditions issued by RIDOT govern the specific move and may impose requirements beyond these general thresholds.
Source: 290-RICR-40-00-1, Rules and Regulations Regarding Overweight and Oversize Vehicle Permits (RI Dept. of Transportation, effective 01/04/2022) — secs. 1.4.15, 1.4.19, 1.5.4, 1.5.7 and 1.5.8, read verbatim. RIDOT's OS/OW permit portal publishes no rule text, so it is no use as a cross-check. Informational only, and Rhode Island is not a verified entry in my notes — always verify against the live RIDOT permit office before any move; permit conditions control.
