Georgia truck height and width limits with permit exceptions

What the cited provisions say

O.C.G.A. 32-6-22(b) allows automobile carriers, unladen or loaded, a height of 14 feet on the specified Interstate and Defense Highway System and ramps or service streets providing reasonable access to it. O.C.G.A. 32-6-23 applies its width measurement when a vehicle operates on any street, road, or highway, with its stated exclusions, exemptions, and permit authorization.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}

Under O.C.G.A. 32-6-28(a)(1)(A), the commissioner or a designated department official may issue a written permit after a written application and a showing of good cause for a motor vehicle or vehicle combination and loads exceeding lawful weight, width, length, height, or combined limits. O.C.G.A. 32-6-28(a)(1)(A) ordinarily requires a transported unit that cannot readily be dismantled or separated, subject to that subparagraph's commodity, building, and boat exceptions. O.C.G.A. 32-6-28(a)(1)(A) prohibits a permit where operation threatens undue damage to a road or its appurtenances.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}

Who and what the provisions cover

O.C.G.A. 32-6-24(a)(2) defines a combination of vehicles as a semitrailer pulled by a truck tractor or a truck tractor pulling a semitrailer and trailer. O.C.G.A. 32-6-24(a)(4) identifies NHS as the National Highway System. O.C.G.A. 32-6-24(a)(7) defines a truck tractor as the noncargo-carrying power unit operating in combination with a semitrailer or trailer, except that a truck tractor and semitrailer transporting automobiles may carry motor vehicles on part of the power unit.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}

O.C.G.A. 32-6-25 exempts farming, agricultural, and forest management equipment, whether self-propelled or hauled, from the width limits of O.C.G.A. 32-6-23 and length limits of O.C.G.A. 32-6-24 without a permit when operated during daylight on a noninterstate public road by dealers, the owner, or the owner's agent within a radius of 40 miles of the dealer's or owner's property; vehicles hauling or transporting forest products are excluded. O.C.G.A. 32-6-25 covers self-propelled and hauled equipment but excludes vehicles hauling or transporting forest products; its exemption concerns width and length, not height.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}

Conditions and exceptions

O.C.G.A. 32-6-28(a)(1)(A) removes the dismantling limitation for cotton, tobacco, concrete pipe, and plywood loads no wider than nine feet, and round hay bales no wider than 11 feet, when moved outside the specified interstate system. O.C.G.A. 32-6-28(a)(1)(A) allows vehicles transporting portable buildings and vehicles no longer than 65 feet transporting boats on noninterstate roads to exceed the article's length and width limits regardless of dismantlability if a special permit is issued, but prohibits such a special permit for a load wider than 12 feet that can readily be dismantled or separated.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}

O.C.G.A. 32-6-28(b)(1) provides annual permits lasting 12 months, with ceilings of 100,000 pounds gross weight, 25,000 pounds single axle weight, 100 feet total load length, 102 inches total vehicle width, 144 inches load width, and 14 feet and six inches height, subject to paragraph (2). O.C.G.A. 32-6-28(b)(2) allows otherwise qualifying annual-permit vehicles and loads to apply for wider loads on the NHS: 14 feet from the load base to 10 feet above pavement and 14 feet and eight inches above that point.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}

Related provisions in the saved sources

O.C.G.A. 32-6-25.1 exempts width and length for cargo or container movements between and within wharves, storage areas, or terminals at Georgia Ports Authority facilities when operated by owners or their agents on noninterstate public roads within ten miles of the originating facility, accompanied by an escort with operating amber flashing lights visible from 500 feet.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}

O.C.G.A. 32-6-28(a)(3) requires permits aboard the applicable vehicle and available for authorized inspection. O.C.G.A. 32-6-28(a)(5) authorizes the commissioner or a designated department official to withhold a permit or impose seasonal, time, or other operating conditions when necessary to prevent undue damage to road foundations, surfaces, or bridge structures, and to require an undertaking or other security deemed necessary to compensate the state for injury to a roadway or bridge structure. O.C.G.A. 32-6-28(a)(6) permits refusal, cancellation, suspension, or revocation for just cause and immediate invalidation for violating operating restrictions.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}

O.C.G.A. 32-6-28(b)(4) permits six-month authorizations for tobacco or unginned cotton loads no wider than nine feet outside the specified interstate system. O.C.G.A. 32-6-26(h) independently prohibits crossing a bridge whose posted limit is below the vehicle's total gross weight with its load.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}

Source date and limits

The saved-source date is 2026-11-06. This entry is a statute-only account of selected supplied provisions, not verification of today's law or a complete treatment of the accompanying administrative rules. Judicial interpretation, individual permit determinations, and unsaved federal cross-references fall outside its scope. The supplied rule text is not used to reconcile differences with the statutory text.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}

The saved amendment notes for O.C.G.A. 32-6-28 identify March 4, 2024 as the effective date of the change to 84 feet in subsection (a)(1)(C)(iv), and July 1, 2025 as the effective date of the amendment adding local law enforcement inspection language to subsection (a)(3). O.C.G.A. 32-6-28(a)(8) specifies escort training program implementation by July 1, 2010 and enforcement beginning January 1, 2011. These source dates and historical dates serve different purposes. This dimensional-limit summary provides general reference information, not legal advice about a particular vehicle, load, route, or permit.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}

See also

On related publications

• Georgia truck accident statistics (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyers.wiki)
• https://truckaccidentlawyer.wiki/topics/georgia-truck-crash-law/ (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)
• https://caraccidentlawyers.wiki/reference/georgia-fault/ (caraccidentlawyers.wiki)