Oversize Load Holiday Restrictions by State: Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year 2026-27

Short answer: most of the lower 48 park permitted oversize loads around Thanksgiving (Thursday, November 26, 2026), Christmas (Friday, December 25, 2026) and New Year’s Day (Friday, January 1, 2027). The most common window starts at noon the day before and ends at sunrise, or half an hour before sunrise, the day after. Because Christmas and New Year’s both fall on a Friday, many states stretch the ban across the whole weekend, so plenty of loads sit from Thursday noon to Monday morning. Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky and South Dakota have no statewide Thanksgiving restriction.

The permit face wins. Before any holiday-week move, open your permit and read its travel-restriction section (it may be called time of travel, special provisions or holiday restrictions). If the permit and this page disagree, follow the permit and call the issuing office. Checked November 12, 2026.

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Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year 2026-27 at a glance

Three things matter this season:

• Thanksgiving week. The most common ban runs from noon Wednesday, November 25, to sunrise Friday, November 27. Some states run it through the weekend to Monday, November 30: Alabama, Connecticut, Maryland, Nebraska, Oregon and Pennsylvania all publish a Monday end. Others only bar Thanksgiving Day itself, such as Georgia, Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and South Carolina.
• Christmas and New Year’s are Fridays. States that cover a holiday weekend (Arizona, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wyoming, for example) block from Thursday, December 24, to Monday, December 28, and again from Thursday, December 31, to Monday, January 4, 2027.
• Who is covered varies a lot. Some states stop every permitted load. Others only stop loads over a set size (Texas: over 14 ft wide, 16 ft high or 110 ft long; North Dakota: over 16 ft wide), only loads that need a pilot car (California, Tennessee, Wyoming), or let overweight-only loads keep running (Nebraska, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin).

The two tables below cover all 48 contiguous states. The first gives each state’s rule and its official source. The second turns that rule into 2026–27 dates. Published means the agency posted the dated window itself. Computed from rule means we applied the agency’s written rule to the 2026–27 calendar. Check with agency means we could not confirm the dates on the agency’s own site, so call before you plan. Of the 48 states, 26 are published, 18 are computed from rule, and 4 are check with agency.

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Holiday restriction rules in all 48 states

On a phone, swipe the table sideways to see every column. Each row links the state’s own source. The last column links our field-by-field guide for that state, or its page in the JaloPermit Atlas if there is no guide yet. Office closures (Veterans Day, the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve) are not travel bans unless the row says so. They do mean nobody can issue or amend a permit that day, so order early.

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2026-27 dates by state

Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26, 2026. Christmas is Friday, December 25, 2026. New Year’s Day is Friday, January 1, 2027. Dates marked “computed” apply the state’s written rule because the agency had not posted that holiday yet. Where a state’s rule moves a weekend holiday to a weekday, it doesn’t matter this season, since all three holidays fall on a weekday. Times are local.

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Where official sources disagree

We found these conflicts between a state’s own documents. In each case the issued permit governs. If it’s unclear, ask the permit office before you move.

• California. The Special Conditions for Holiday Travel accompaniment allows travel from midnight or sunrise until noon on holiday days. Transportation Permits Manual chapter 1, section 104, says that when the holiday falls on a Monday or Friday, permit movement is not allowed on the holiday or the weekend next to it unless the face of the permit authorizes it. Christmas 2026 and New Year’s 2027 are both Fridays.
• Rhode Island. The rule (§ 1.4.15) lets you travel until noon on the day before a weekday holiday. RIDOT’s FAQ says no travel Wednesday through Sunday of Thanksgiving week, which also takes away Wednesday morning and Friday daytime.
• Ohio. Form OS-1A ends the ban half an hour before sunrise. ODOT’s dated notice says sunrise. Use the later time unless your permit says otherwise.
• Minnesota. MnDOT lists Thanksgiving as November 26 and 27 but words the window as “2 p.m. the day before the holiday to 2 a.m. the day after the holiday.” Confirm whether the ban ends early Friday or early Saturday.
• Delaware. The policy manual names Thanksgiving and the day after for regular permits. Its superload table runs from the Wednesday before through the following Monday. The exact hours are on DelDOT’s permit system holiday page, which we could not confirm.
• Georgia. The 2026 holiday schedule lists Christmas Day as a Thursday. December 25, 2026, is a Friday. Rule 672-2 bars travel on December 25.
• Wisconsin and West Virginia. We could not open WisDOT’s 2026 restricted-travel holiday list, and WVDOH’s newest posted list is for 2024. Both rows show what the rule or the older list says and are marked check with agency.

Louisiana’s rule bars most permitted loads on “certain designated holidays” but does not list them, so check with the DOTD Truck Permit Office.

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How to check your own permit before a holiday move

A state table tells you the default. Your permit tells you the rule for your load. Before a holiday-week move:

1. Find the travel-restriction section on the permit and read every holiday, curfew and time-of-day line. Some permits print the holiday window. Others refer to an attached provision or accompaniment, so read that too.
2. Check the permit’s valid dates against the holiday window. A five-day permit that starts on the Tuesday of Thanksgiving week may leave you only about a day and a half of travel in a state that closes from Wednesday noon to Monday.
3. For a multi-state run, check each state’s permit separately. One state may let you roll on Friday while the next is closed until Monday. Our guide to multi-state oversize permit trips shows how to line them up.
4. If the load needs a pilot car, check whether the holiday rule only applies to pilot-car moves (California, Tennessee and Wyoming work that way) and book the pilot car for the days you can actually run. See pilot car requirements by state.
5. When in doubt, call the issuing office before the office closes for the holiday.

For the day-to-day version of this check (rush-hour curfews, night limits and weekend rules), use our guide to checking curfews and travel restrictions on an oversize permit. For which loads may run at night in each state, see can oversize loads travel at night. For the rest of the permit, see how to read an oversize load permit.

If you have the issued permit as a PDF, the permit decoder on the JaloPermit homepage pulls the route, time-of-travel limits, pilot car requirements and dimensions onto one card so you can see the holiday and curfew lines quickly. Guests get three free decodes a day with no account and no card. Logged-in users get 10 free decodes a day. After those free decodes, each one is $3.50. There is no subscription. Compare the card with the original permit; the permit always wins.

JaloPermit, which publishes this guide, is a reading aid for issued permit PDFs. It is not a permit-filing service and it does not plan routes or provide navigation. The issued permit always wins.

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How we built this table

Every row comes from the state agency’s own permit page, dated holiday notice, administrative rule or statute, linked in the table and read on November 12, 2026. We did not use private by-state tables as sources. Where a state publishes a dated schedule, we copied its dates. Where it only publishes a rule, we applied the rule to the 2026–27 calendar and marked the row computed. Where we could not confirm a state’s current rule or dates on its own site, we marked it check with agency and linked its permits page instead of guessing.

We plan to refresh this page each December and June. If a state posts a new notice before then, the agency’s notice and your permit govern. For field-by-field help with a single state, 21 of the 48 rows link to a JaloPermit state guide, such as Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Questions about how JaloPermit reads a permit? Email support@jalopermit.org.

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FAQs