North Carolina weigh stations: locations, who stops, weight limits and fines

The short version

North Carolina has 8 permanent weigh station locations, all on interstates: I-40, I-85, I-95, I-77 and I-26. The State Highway Patrol's Motor Carrier Enforcement section runs them. [1][2]

If your truck, or truck and trailer together, has a manufacturer's GVWR of 10,001 lb or more, you must pull in when the station is open. The same goes for any vehicle carrying placarded hazmat. [2][3]

The basic limits are 20,000 lb on a single axle, 38,000 lb on a tandem, and 80,000 lb gross under the axle-group table. On interstates, NC allows no weight tolerance at all. [4]

Overweight fines in NC are civil penalties charged to the owner or registrant, not criminal charges. They are figured per pound and get steep fast once you are more than a couple thousand pounds over. [4]

Where the 8 permanent stations are

The Highway Patrol lists each station by county, rough location, scale type and phone number. It does not publish directions or mileposts. The directions below come from PrePass's announcements of its NC bypass sites, so treat them as a guide rather than a full list of open ramps. [1][9][10]

Asheville (Buncombe County): I-40, about 12 miles west of Asheville. Two fixed scales. Phone (828) 667-2820. PrePass names the eastbound side as a bypass site. [1][9]

Hendersonville (Henderson County): I-26, about 7 miles north of Hendersonville. Two fixed scales. Phone (828) 693-9712. PrePass names the westbound side. [1][9]

Statesville (Iredell County): I-40, about 6 miles west of Statesville. Two fixed scales. Phone (704) 878-4249. PrePass names both eastbound and westbound. [1][9]

Mount Airy (Surry County): I-77, about 3 miles south of the Virginia line. Two fixed scales. Northbound phone (336) 415-3370, southbound (336) 415-3356. [1]

Charlotte (listed under Mecklenburg County): I-85, about 10 miles southwest of Charlotte. Four fixed scales. Phone (704) 392-6960. NCDOT's January 2023 parking plan says a new northbound station had recently opened on I-85 in Gaston County. [1][8]

Hillsborough (Orange County): I-40/I-85, about 15 miles west of Durham. Four fixed scales plus ramp and mainline weigh-in-motion. It is the only NC station the Highway Patrol lists with weigh-in-motion. Phone (919) 563-6108. [1]

Lumberton (Robeson County): I-95, about 10 miles north of Lumberton. Two fixed scales. Phone (910) 618-5548. PrePass names the northbound side. [1][9]

Halifax (Halifax County): I-95, about 18 miles south of Roanoke Rapids. Four fixed scales. Phone (252) 445-2122. PrePass names the southbound side. [1][9]

The Highway Patrol's list doesn't give opening hours. To ask about a specific site, call the station's number. [1]

Who has to pull in

Under G.S. 20-118.1, you must enter a permanent weigh station or a temporary inspection site when signs or an electronic transponder tell you to. That applies to any vehicle or combination with a GVWR of 10,001 lb or more, and any vehicle hauling placarded hazmat. [3]

The threshold is the manufacturer's rating, not what you actually weigh that day. A pickup pulling a trailer counts when the combined GVWR reaches 10,001 lb, even if both are nearly empty. [2][3]

A red light on your transponder carries the same legal weight as an open sign. The statute names electronic transponders right alongside signs. [3]

There is one narrow exemption: a privately owned, noncommercial horse trailer built for four or fewer horses does not have to stop while hauling horses, unless an officer directs it to. [3]

Away from a station, an officer can stop and weigh you, or send you to a scale within five miles. If you are overweight, the officer can hold the truck until the extra weight is taken off. The state is not responsible for cargo that gets removed. [3]

Refusing to be weighed, or refusing to remove an overload, is a misdemeanor under the same statute. [3]

NC weight limits

A single axle may carry up to 20,000 lb, and a tandem up to 38,000 lb. In NC law, a single axle is any wheels whose centers fall within 40 inches of each other. A tandem is two or more consecutive axles spaced more than 40 inches and no more than 96 inches apart. [4]

Any group of axles is also capped by a table based on how many axles it has and the distance from its first axle to its last, measured to the nearest foot. The table tops out at 80,000 lb gross. [4][15]

Look up your exact axle spacing on the Highway Patrol's axle grouping weight charts before loading close to the limit. It is the same table as the statute, laid out so it is easier to read. [15]

Two consecutive tandems may carry 34,000 lb each without penalty when the first and last axles of the pair are at least 36 ft apart. [4]

Federal weight allowances also apply on NC roads unless a road or bridge is posted. Idle-reduction equipment can add up to 550 lb. Natural gas or battery-electric power units can add up to 2,000 lb, with an 82,000 lb gross maximum. [16][4]

No exception lets you go over a weight limit posted on a bridge. Posted light-traffic roads, meaning state roads other than interstate, US or NC routes that NCDOT signs with lower axle limits, also have their own limits. [4]

The 10 percent tolerance and heavier-load exceptions

NC allows a 10 percent tolerance on the axle-group table. It never applies to the single-axle limit, the tandem limit, or the 80,000 lb gross cap. It also never applies on interstates, on posted bridges, or above the weight your truck is licensed for. [4]

If your gross is legal but one axle is a little heavy, the law lets you shift the load without a penalty. That applies when the single axle is no more than 21,000 lb or the tandem no more than 40,000 lb. [4]

Farm and forest haulers get the biggest exception, as long as they stay off interstates and within posted bridge limits. It covers crops headed to a processor or market, livestock and live poultry, feed, farm supplies, logs, wood chips and other residuals, and Christmas trees moving from the field. [4]

A qualifying farm or forest truck may run up to 22,000 lb on a single axle, 42,000 lb on a tandem, and 90,000 lb gross. A five-axle combination at least 48 ft long, with at least 11 ft between the first two axles, may run 26,000 lb single, 44,000 lb tandem and 90,000 lb gross. [4]

Off interstates, metal commodities and construction equipment can run 22,000 lb single, 42,000 lb tandem and 90,000 lb gross. Bulk soil, rock, sand and asphalt millings from a site with no certified scale get up to 4,000 lb over the gross limit. [4]

Ready-mix concrete trucks have their own limits and no tolerance. The drum must come to a complete stop when the truck is weighed. [4]

What overweight costs

For an overweight single or tandem axle, the penalty is 4 cents a pound for the first 1,000 lb over, 6 cents a pound for the next 1,000 lb, and 10 cents a pound after that. Each limit you break is penalized separately. [4]

For an overweight axle group, it is 2 cents a pound for the first 2,000 lb over, 4 cents for the next 3,000 lb, and 10 cents for every pound past 5,000. [4]

Here is an example using that schedule. A tandem at 40,500 lb is 2,500 lb over. That comes to $40 for the first 1,000 lb, $60 for the next 1,000, and $50 for the last 500, for a total of $150. [4]

Another example: an axle group 6,000 lb over its limit costs $40 plus $120 plus $100, for a total of $260. Break two limits on the same truck and the penalties add up. [4]

Penalties are cut in half for certain loads, including seafood, farm crops, meats, poultry, livestock, forest products, recyclables, garbage and Christmas trees. Dump trucks hauling bulk soil or rock within NC from a site with no certified scale also pay half on gross or axle-group violations. [4]

Permitted loads that break their permit's terms face much bigger numbers. The axle-group penalty for a permit violation can reach $10,000, on top of a flat penalty of $100 to $1,500 depending on what was broken. [4][6]

Bypassing the scale: PrePass and Drivewyze

North Carolina uses PrePass. PrePass says its Hillsborough site on I-85 has been running since 2015. Seven more NC sites went live in January 2018, and it approved Charlotte southbound on I-85, Gaston County northbound on I-85, and Mount Airy northbound on I-77 by 2019. [9][10]

NC requires every fleet to have a photo of its truck on file with the state before it can bypass. One photo covers each make and color. It must be a well-lit side view showing the whole cab. [9]

Drivewyze PreClear is now sold as Fleetworthy Weigh Station Bypass. Fleetworthy's coverage map marks North Carolina as covered, but it does not say which NC stations work with it. [11]

A bypass only lets you skip the scale when you get the green signal. A red light means you must pull in, the same as an open sign. [3][9]

What gets checked at the scale

Weight is only part of it. The Highway Patrol's commercial vehicle troopers also do driver and vehicle inspections, audits, CDL enforcement, fuel tax checks and portable weighing. They patrol low-weight and posted-bridge roads too. [2]

The violations the Highway Patrol lists most often are no annual inspection, no medical certificate, logs not current, missing warning triangles, hours-of-service violations, lights and turn signals, brake pushrod adjustment, bald tires, no fire extinguisher, speeding and following too close. [2]

Radar detectors are banned in commercial vehicles of 10,001 lb or more. A driver found with any alcohol aboard, including non-alcoholic beer, is put out of service for 24 hours, and the truck can be impounded. [2]

Most roadside checks follow CVSA inspection levels. Level I is the full check of driver and vehicle. Level II is a walk-around that doesn't go under the truck. Level III checks only the driver and paperwork. Passing a Level I or Level V with no critical violations earns a decal good for three months. [12][13]

CVSA's International Roadcheck ran May 12 to 14, 2026, focused on ELD tampering and cargo securement. Across North America, 19 percent of vehicles and 5.8 percent of drivers inspected were put out of service. The top driver out-of-service violation was having no medical card. [13]

CVSA's Operation Safe Driver Week ran July 12 to 18, 2026, focused on reckless and careless driving by both car and truck drivers. [14]

Size limits and oversize permits

NC's legal limits are 102 inches wide and 14 ft high. A single vehicle may be 40 ft long, and a two-unit combination 60 ft. A tractor with a trailer of 53 ft or less has no overall length limit. [5][7]

The state does not have to raise bridges or other structures for vehicles over 12 ft 6 in. If a truck taller than that damages one, the owner or driver is liable. [5]

Loads of rock, gravel or stone on trucks licensed over 7,500 lb must sit 6 inches below the sides and be covered. [5]

You need an NCDOT permit if you are over legal weight, wider than 8 ft 6 in, taller than 14 ft, or longer than the length limits. Permits are handled online through NCDOT's permit system. Faxed applications stopped being accepted on August 1, 2025. [7]

NCDOT's Oversize/Overweight Permit Unit is at 1-888-221-8166 or (919) 814-3700. Its card processor changed on June 1, 2026, and saved cards did not transfer, so re-enter your card before your next permit. [7]

A single-trip permit costs $12 for each dimension over legal, plus $3 per 1,000 lb over 132,000 lb. Most annual permits cost $185. Driving without a required permit, or leaving the permitted route, carries a $500 civil penalty. [6]

Parking at weigh stations

Don't plan on sleeping at a weigh station. NCDOT's 2023 truck parking plan says most station lots are big enough for patrol cars, but not for truck inspections, impounds or even short-term parking. [8]

The same plan says the I-26 and I-77 stations are too small for more than two or three trucks overnight. It names only the two Hillsborough stations and the Gaston County northbound station as having room for overnight parking. [8]

NCDOT recommended trying truck parking at some stations, with signs showing open spaces and whether the scale is open. As of September 2026, we found no sign that the idea went beyond a recommendation. [8]