Pay attention to low bridges

[Mr_D]

Gotta admit that 11'8" site is "interesting"!

Some of them just needed a little more speed or weight and they'd have made it!

[Jim18655]

Originally Posted by BirchyBoy

That site always amaze me. I've got to wonder though how much those hits put a strain on that bridge. How many hundreds or thousands of trucks have hit that over the years?

There was a contractor hauling an excavator on a low-boy in the Scranton, PA area and it hit a bridge. It caused enough damage the bridge had to be replaced causing tens of thousands of commuters to detour into the city. $1.5 million in damage and PennDot sued the trucking company for the damages

[Off Road]

You do notice how many of the trucks that hit that bridge are rental trucks. Lots of people rent a truck and are used to driving nothing bigger than a minivan. They are so busy watching mirrors, trying not to run over a curb, etc that they don’t think about truck height. I’m really glad I’ve never made a mistake while driving so I can throw stones at those who have. Surprised the state hasn’t installed a klaxon horn that goes off when’re an over height rig approaches.

[morleyz]

My F250 is just about 7' tall and I think I'd be nervous looking at 9' of clearance without a trailer. smh.

[CIDE]

I have a 2004 Chevy Express van and a class C built on a 2005 Chevy Express 3500 Van chassis; the cabs are identical. I'm constantly having to remember that I'm in the RV and not the van.

[garbonz]

My WGO fuse would even blink on the 11ft one, not so much on the 9er tho.

[jacmat]

I picked up my new motorhome in 2006 at Monaco's factory in Indiana. On the return trip to Canada looking at a map on NY state I took a shorcut in small county roads. But after approx 60 miles we came up to a low railroad bridge, approx 10 ft high, and the motorhome height was 12' 3''


The bridge was in a curve and the sign was only about 250 ft from the bridge. There was no roads to turn left or right, so I stopped pulled on the side of the road. It was rush hour, we had to unhitched to toad, backing was impossible due to traffic. finally a police cruiser came by and they stopped the traffic so I could back up. So the short cut cost us about 3 or 4 hours but no damages, but I gained in experience..

[ThePowells]

I had to take a road tractor to Nitro WV to switch out with a disabled one. I ended up at a 11-0 railroad overpass. I ended up having to drop that tractor, remove the exhaust pipe and lower the varishield to go get that tractor, brought it back and lowered the rear wheels to the ground to slide it under the bridge. Then I had to remove the air shield from the replacement and change the exhaust stack between the two.
That was a fun first trip with a large wrecker, and Salem Leasing did pay for having the corner of the cab repainted where the exhaust damaged it, especially since the tractor I was recovering could have been driven to where I had to hook up and nobody told us.

[SlowJoe]

That's terrible. It is easy to point and laugh, but anyone who is honest and drives big stuff, realizes that you are only one distraction from being in a situation where you could possibly do the same thing. I was bringing a load of equipment up I-95 for the university I work for and had a student riding shotgun with me. There was some sort of terrible wreck on 95 and we decided to go around it through the country because the back-up was hours long. We went under a railroad bridge in some town that was 13' 8" tall and we "supposedly" were 13' 6". That was the closest I have ever been and due to my length and the dip under the bridge, I was not sure I would make it. I told him to find the most direct way back to 95 after that!!!

[fpresto]

There used to be a bridge over the river in my hometown. It was on U.S. 50 which was a major east/west highway before all of the interstates were completed. The upper part was a mangled mess due to trucks hitting it. It was barely 12 ft. tall. Finally they built a new bridge that was I believe 12 ft. 6 inches and proudly put up signs stating 12 ft. 6 inches clearance. Then since they had a spanking new bridge they decided to repave the road. They put down 4 to 6 inches of asphalt. They never changed the signs. In a short time the new bridge top was mangled. The point is that signs are not always accurate.

[Motor7]

After watching that a "Low Clearance Avoidance System" seems like a good investment....

like this one?
https://giraffeg4.com/

Nevermind...you have to pull under the bridge to measure it......NOT.

[lynnmor]

Watch those detours. Last summer I was sent down a short detour that had a 10' underpass, luckily there was a convenience store/gas station right there where I could turn around. Judging by the marks in their gravel parking lot, hundreds of others did the same. Of course they couldn't put up a low clearance sign with the detour sign. Maybe they wanted to send business to the store.

[larry koenn]

Anyone know of an app that you could check for low underpasses in your travel area. I've looked and haven't found anything.

Thanks

[Pigman1]

Originally Posted by larry koenn

Anyone know of an app that you could check for low underpasses in your travel area. I've looked and haven't found anything.

Thanks

EVERYONE has that app. It's called EYE, BRAIN, BRAKE. If you're not thinking about height EVERY time you come on an underpass, you shouldn't be driving an RV!

Anyone been to Las Vegas with a pickup and let the valet parking attendant park it for you? About 3/4 of the parking garages are too short for my pickup (it has a cap). I have the pickup height posted on the dash, I make sure I tell the attendant it's too high for their garage, and there's an 8X10 sign on the steering wheel. Overkill? It only takes one OH, SH!*

Bridges aren't the only thing to worry about.