Texas Oversize Curfew & Holiday Checker
Tell us your load width, where you are running, and when — and see whether TxDMV oversize travel rules allow the move, restrict it, or prohibit it.
When can an oversize load move in Texas?
Oversize travel in Texas is not simply a matter of the road being open. A permitted oversize load may only move inside the daylight window the state allows, and that window closes in the big-city rush hours, closes at night, and closes for the biggest loads on six holidays a year. The checker above applies those rules to your load. This guide explains where the rules come from, so you can plan a move that stays legal from departure to delivery.
The daylight rule: 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset
The basic rule for a permitted oversize load in Texas is the daylight rule: travel is allowed from 30 minutes before sunrise until 30 minutes after sunset. That is the window for the whole trip, not just part of it — a load that is still on the road when the window closes has overstayed it, so plan the route and the day so the truck is parked before the light runs out.
Weekends are included. The daylight rule applies the same way on Saturday and Sunday as it does on a weekday, and there is no separate or stricter Sunday rule for oversize loads. If a load would be allowed to move at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday, it is allowed to move at 10 a.m. on a Saturday as well. Remember that the window itself shifts through the year: in winter the sun sets early and the legal travel day is short, while in summer it stretches long into the evening, so check the actual sunrise and sunset for the date and route you are running.
The night exceptions: overweight-only loads and small oversize loads on Interstates
Night travel is closed to most oversize loads, but there are two exceptions worth knowing. First, a load that is overweight only — legal in width, height and length, but over the legal weight limit — may move continuously, day and night, because it does not create the clearance and visibility problems of an oversize load. Second, loads up to 10 feet wide and 100 feet long may travel at night, but only on Interstate highways.
That second exception is easy to misread. It is Interstate-only: a load within those limits that leaves the Interstate for a state highway, a farm-to-market road or a city street at night is no longer covered. If your route cannot stay on Interstates for the whole night move, do not count on it. And a load over 10 feet wide or over 100 feet long has no night exception at all.
Metro rush-hour curfews: 7 to 9 a.m. and 4 to 6 p.m., Monday to Friday
On top of the daylight window, the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV) publishes rush-hour curfews for TIME permits in the major metros: oversize loads may not move from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. or from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, in Houston, Dallas–Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio and El Paso. These are weekday curfews — they do not apply on Saturday or Sunday — and they apply in addition to the daylight rule, so the morning curfew can eat the first two hours of an otherwise legal daylight window.
Whether a curfew applies to a particular load depends on its size, and the size trigger is city-specific: some metros apply the curfew only to loads above a certain width, while others use different dimensions. That is why the checker asks where in Texas you are running, and why it is not enough to know the times — a load that is under one city’s trigger may still be caught by another’s. If your route passes through more than one metro, plan around the strictest curfew you will meet.
The six restricted holidays
Six days a year are restricted holidays for the biggest loads: New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. On those days, a load that exceeds 14 feet wide, 16 feet high or 110 feet long may not move at all — no daylight window, no metro exception.
The key word is exceeds. The holiday ban applies only above those limits, so smaller oversize loads are not caught by it: a load up to 14 feet wide, for example, may move on Christmas Day inside the normal daylight window, subject to the usual rush-hour rules only if it is a weekday. The checker reflects that split, so a holiday answer changes the result only when the load is big enough for the ban to bite.
The permit itself governs
Every guide, calculator and checker — this page included — is a summary of the general rules. What governs your move is the permit itself. The conditions printed on your permit override the general rules whenever they are stricter, and a permit can carry conditions for a specific route, a specific time or a specific load that no general guide could predict. Read the permit before you roll, and if anything on it conflicts with what you expected, follow the permit.
Planning a move? Use the Texas Permit Wizard to check whether you need a permit at all, the Texas Weigh Station Directory to find scales and inspection stops along your route, and the Trucking Tools hub for the rest of Trucking Mind’s free calculators and checkers.
Frequently asked questions
Can oversize loads move on weekends in Texas?
Yes. Saturdays and Sundays follow the same daylight rule as weekdays: permitted oversize loads may move from 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset. The metro rush-hour curfews do not apply on weekends, because they are Monday-to-Friday curfews.
Can an oversize load move at night in Texas?
Generally, no — oversize loads are daylight-only. The exceptions are overweight-only loads, which may move continuously, and smaller oversize loads of up to 10 feet wide and 100 feet long, which may travel at night on Interstate highways only.
Which holidays restrict oversize movement in Texas?
New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day — and only for loads over 14 feet wide, 16 feet high or 110 feet long. Smaller oversize loads may move on those holidays within the normal daylight window.
Do the rush-hour curfews apply to every permit?
No. The published 7–9 a.m. and 4–6 p.m. metro curfews are TxDMV’s curfews for TIME permits in the listed metros. Single-trip permits carry their own conditions printed on the permit — always follow what your permit says.