Rand McNally Navigation - Weight Restrictions

[Renipladlo]

Ok, Get two things: Good Sam Road Atlas, for RV's, with Flying J/Pilot, GS Campgrounds and private highlighted. All truck routs are highlighted, little blue Picnic Tables for rest stops. Spiral Bound, I get a new one every other year. Companion that with the Good Sam Campground Directory (on sale 8.95 or was). The CG directions for each park are rock solid. Using the map/directory, drove across the country alone towing my jeep. Planned route, fuel stop and campground night before. Made note on sticky pad, and pasted to the dash. Then if I could not remember had exit numbers, CG directions on the sheet of paper. Call CG you plan to stop at the day of arrival in AM, to make sure they have space for you. Now I have ordered new coach with the Xite nav option. But I never trust GPS, although my Magellan RV-9365 has been 95% accurate. I write it down after checking map, and verify with directory. GS has good maps and directory, been doing it for as long as I have been RV'ing (1983).

[FLJOE]

Originally Posted by flyboy013

Well it happened to me again. Yesterday I drove from Little Rock to the ACE South Abutment Campground just south of Memphis. I plugged in the destination into the Xite Rand McNally navigation system and reviewed the route. I didn’t see any issues. When I was about a mile from the campground, the navigation system started complaining about a weight restriction ahead for which I was overweight. About 3/4 of a mile later there was a 20 ton weight restriction sign. A quarter of a mile later was the entrance to the campground. We proceeded and all is well.

I was out exploring today and found that the weight limit extends from a quarter of a mile before this campground, past the dam, for a total of about three miles. There’s one or two bridge for the dam spillway, but the bridge(s) look to be in great shape. I’m not sure if the weight limit is due to the road itself or the bridge(s), but I suppose it doesn’t really matter.

I’m a little disconcerted that I was unaware of the weight restriction until I was one mile from my destination. Had I come in from the other side the route would have taken me three miles on a weight restricted road.

I’ve searched the internet and cannot find any information about the road (MS-301) having a wait restriction. My search has included the recreation.gov site which contains information on the campground and how to get here.

How was I supposed to know about this restriction before arriving here? Obviously the navigation system knew of the restriction, but didn’t inform me until I was one mile from my destination. That doesn’t help me much! Recreation.gov doesn’t doesn’t tell me that there’s no way for a 20+ ton coach to legally get here, but it allows a 45’ class A motorhome make a reservation (many of which are going to be 20+ tons).

I really want to ensure I’m driving legally, and any help on where I could have found this would be appreciated. I found a Mississippi website which shows weight restricted roads, but MS-301 doesn’t appear to be shown, so I’m going to assume a truckers Atlas May not either, but I’ll have to admit, I haven’t checked as I don’t have one.

Spend the $8 or $10 for a paper trucker's atlas. They are updated every year and show "dedicated" truck routes. If you continue to rely on any GPS you will always take a chance on getting into route trouble.

Any Pilot, FlyingJ, or Loves will have them. You can buy the large fancy one or the cheaper paper one, but you really need to get that first one and get familiar with it. I consult it prior to a day's travel so I know and trust my route. My two GPS units I'm running are just guides.

[Renipladlo]

According to the GS Road Atlas, MS-301 ends truck route at Arkabutla, splits and goes east/west. If your destination was past that point, you were on a road not suitable for trucks, hence not for a large RV. The campground, should have informed you of the weight restriction since they are located inside it's boundaries, hmmm, maybe I would not stay there again, you know, customer service and all that. Now, if I have that destination wrong, then the CG not telling you is still wrong. The atlas shows all roads, not suitable for a large truck, so you are covered. Sounds like GPS knew what you did not. Again, please reread my previous post, GPS's are tools, maps are tools, but the sellers of the maps have had lots of years to get the bugs out, GPS make lots of mistakes.

[flyboy013]

Originally Posted by Old-RVer

According to the GS Road Atlas, MS-301 ends truck route at Arkabutla, splits and goes east/west. If your destination was past that point, you were on a road not suitable for trucks, hence not for a large RV. The campground, should have informed you of the weight restriction since they are located inside it's boundaries, hmmm, maybe I would not stay there again, you know, customer service and all that. Now, if I have that destination wrong, then the CG not telling you is still wrong. The atlas shows all roads, not suitable for a large truck, so you are covered. Sounds like GPS knew what you did not. Again, please reread my previous post, GPS's are tools, maps are tools, but the sellers of the maps have had lots of years to get the bugs out, GPS make lots of mistakes.

Thanks for checking the GS Road Atlas. I haven’t used it in the past and did not expect that it would have details on such a small road. Now that I know, I will definitely get it.

Approaching from the southwest, the campground was just past the weight limit sign, but fortunately there was no travel across a weight restricted bridge, etc.

The campground reservations are run through Recreation.gov. The page for the campground provides directions from the northeast and includes about three miles of weight restricted roadway. The website doesn’t listed anything about these restrictions.

https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/233684

Additionally, the campground is not staffed, although I expect that the one FHU site is a camp host.

So I would have not only needed to check the Altas before traveling for the day, I would have had to check it before making reservations as there is no way to get here without traveling some portion of a weight restricted road.

Thanks for assistance. It’s definitely a learning process.

[Toltec]

It appears the the last issue of this guide was in 2017.

[Renipladlo]

My copywrite date is 2018, but it's newer than the one in the RV. GS/RM put out a new one annually. I usually upgrade every other year. I have the 2016 (most likely CW 2016) in the Livingroom, in case we want to check something, keep the 2017 (CW-2017) in the RV, and the new one is in my stack of stuff to swap out once we get new one home. Then will give the oldest one to thrift store, put the next oldest in the LR, and the new on in the RV. I won't say for sure, but I know the store has the newest version, have not checked their website. Never found it on Amazon. But the RM Truckers atlas is there, cheaper than a truck stop, but the GS one is better for RV, as it shows lots of stuff particular to RVs.

As an aside, the WX where you are is going to be bad, hope you have dedicated WX alert radio. One saved my life in AL several years ago, woke me up with time to hit the road and get away from Storm.

[lwmcguire]

Originally Posted by Old-RVer

According to the GS Road Atlas, MS-301 ends truck route at Arkabutla, splits and goes east/west. If your destination was past that point, you were on a road not suitable for trucks, hence not for a large RV. The campground, should have informed you of the weight restriction since they are located inside it's boundaries, hmmm, maybe I would not stay there again, you know, customer service and all that. Now, if I have that destination wrong, then the CG not telling you is still wrong. The atlas shows all roads, not suitable for a large truck, so you are covered. Sounds like GPS knew what you did not. Again, please reread my previous post, GPS's are tools, maps are tools, but the sellers of the maps have had lots of years to get the bugs out, GPS make lots of mistakes.

Certainly great points

When I pick a route if there are weight restrictions a black high lighted box appears at the bottom of the screen

You have to acknowledge it

I haven't owned a 100% accurate GPS yet and have several built in and many ha d held

[FLJOE]

Originally Posted by flyboy013

Thanks for checking the GS Road Atlas. I haven’t used it in the past and did not expect that it would have details on such a small road. Now that I know, I will definitely get it.

Approaching from the southwest, the campground was just past the weight limit sign, but fortunately there was no travel across a weight restricted bridge, etc.

The campground reservations are run through Recreation.gov. The page for the campground provides directions from the northeast and includes about three miles of weight restricted roadway. The website doesn’t listed anything about these restrictions.

https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/233684

Additionally, the campground is not staffed, although I expect that the one FHU site is a camp host.

So I would have not only needed to check the Altas before traveling for the day, I would have had to check it before making reservations as there is no way to get here without traveling some portion of a weight restricted road.

Thanks for assistance. It’s definitely a learning process.

I probably do a few more minutes of pre-planning than most due to my length (73'). No matter if you get a GS atlas or a regular commercial trucker's atlas you will be ahead of the game.

In the situation you described where there is no actual person to talk to when making the reservation you still may additional information. I pull up Google Earth and look at the actual campground and even sometimes the surrounding area including roads leading in. The few minutes it takes on the computer prior to making reservations can answer a lot of questions.

We are currently in a State Preserve park in northern Florida that we made reservations on line at 11 months ago. You have to use their state site to make advance reservations. Google earth gave me the additional information I needed.

[rk911]

this thread caused me to take a look at our trucker's road atlas and i found it was 3-yrs old. time to replace it. we use the Xite RM RV GPS but keep the atlas out as a Plan B.

the one i have has paper pages and is spiral bound so it lays flat. all i can find are ones that are spural bound but with laminated pages. i like to mark the route with a yellow highlighter but am wondering if a yellow highlighter will work on a laminated page. anyone know???if.

[tnedator]

I just checked and both Arkansas and MS, so presumably many other states, have interactive sites with posted weight restricted bridges. That said, I can't find one near where I think you were going.

Mississippi Department Of Transportation | MDOT

[flyboy013]

The restriction wasn’t for a bridge per se, it was for a several mile stretch of road which is on both sides of the dam. The RM nav system is getting this info from somewhere, I just don’t know where to look. I plan on picking up the GS Road Atlas, but I’m not sure if it’s going to list the specific weight limit. I would be overweight for a 20 ton limit, it not 25. Seems like I would need to know the specific limit and not just whether the section of road is a truck route or not.

[FLJOE]

I doubt a GS Road Atlas would help much in that case. Actually unless that roadway happens to be a designated highway I doubt if even a Motor Carrier Road Atlas (trucker's atlas) would help.

There are county and local roads that could have different weight restrictions for different times of the year. In the situation you are describing local information from the campground or local sheriff's office could be your only reliable source.

[flyboy013]

Well, it happened again. The other day I was on my way to Holly Point Campground in Wake Forest NC. We approached on SR 98 which is a truck route. We then made a left turn onto New Light Road for the final 2 miles. As soon as we turned onto New Light Road there was a sign that indicated a 6.5 ton single axle weight limit. At this point it was too late and I proceed to the campground. The Rand McNally navigation system didn’t give me any warning. My guess is that its partially due to the fact that the navigation system only know about my total weight and not per axle weight.

There were other Class A motorhome at the campground (including a DSDP parked across the road) that must have encountered the same weight restrictions. After searching the web for information on the weight restriction and finding none, I contact the North Carolina Department of Transportation. The engineer that I spoke too was very helpful and took the effort to run the issue to ground. Apparently the road has been designated a “light-traffic road” with an axle weight limit restriction. The law provides exception for the transport of seafood, meats, live poultry, agricultural crop products, forest products, livestock, as well as the transportation of recyclable material, garbage, sludge, apples, Christmas trees, water, fertilizer, pesticides, seeds, fuel, fire trucks, tow trucks, etc, etc, etc.

No exception for motorhomes.

The engineer spoke with others in his office, as well as the park ranger, but no one seemed to be aware of the restriction for motorhomes utilizing the campground.

The engineer indicated that many of these “light road” designations are old and probably should have been removed when the road was upgraded. He didn’t see any reason as to why this road should be restricted and indicated that he would have the signs on the road approaching the campground removed and conduct a thorough review of other roads with such a destination. I suggested that he recommend adding motorhomes to the exemption list. He agreed that it probably should be added.

While it's nice that the state is willing to take action to correct the issue, it still doesn’t help me stay within the law. Technical I drove on the road illegally and I had no way of knowing about this restriction ahead of time. I’m trying to be a good driver, but its hard when there’s no way of knowing the law ahead of time or worse yet, you don’t know ahead of time AND there’s no way to get to your destination because its within a weight restricted area.

[Jtrving]

I had a similar issue in a rural area in PA this summer. When I stopped and called the campground before proceeding, they told me that those signs were there to basically keep tractor trailer traffic off of the road around there, not because the bridge structure couldn’t handle it. Interesting.