1 small road. 2 BIG loads.

Discussion in 'Heavy Haul Trucking Forum' started by TripleSix, Apr 1, 2015.

  1. TripleSix

    TripleSix God of Roads

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    Where were you when you came head to head with another big load and the road wasnt big enough for the both of you? Share your stories guys.

    I was pulling a load up interstate 81. 14'4 tall, 12 wide, 50 ton. Nothing major. 81 was under construction in Pennsyltucky and my permit had me routed off 81 to US11 (I hate US11). Had to step off at Greencastle and my permit said that I had to call and notify the Chambersburg,PA police prior to coming through. I called and they told me to come on through. It was the typical small Pennsylvania town, houses and buildings built 4 ft off the sidewalk, lightpole and signs on the curbs and at every corner, narrow two lane and cars parked on both sides of the road. I was worried about pulling the wires down, because I am nearly a foot taller than legal and the power lines seem to be hanging low.

    Right in the middle of town, theres a right turn and an immediate left that you have to make. I set up for the right by swinging left, and then a big right. Had a couple cars that snuck up to the intersection that got a little ticked when they had to back up. They were livid when they had to continue to back up for me to make that immediate left. Went up a slight rise and at the top of the rise, I see a multiaxle coming south. "You have got to be kidding me!" He's carrying a piece that has to be 15-17 ft wide and probably 50 ft long. he had the PVC pile hanging over the front of the load to pick up the power lines. "Man, I thought I was having a bad day..."

    I stop immediately, because theres no way we both can fit on this road. His front car comes zooming up and stops in front of me and holds out a stop sign. I get out of the truck and tell the pilot car how useless and stupid he is. The driver was cool. In fact, he laughed. THEN, the Chambersburg police dept show up.

    Indeed. I wanted to tell the cop how useless and stupid he was but I didn't (you gotta pick your battles, and its certain defeat to make enemies on all sides...just ask Hitler and Napoleon). I opted for silence. I find that my silence aids in people who aren't use to thinking to realize that thinking is neccesary on their own. So, I walked over to my truck, leaned on the left fender and waited. The other driver leaned on to the front car and waited.

    (Why is he looking to me for leadership?)

    "What do you want us to do? I am open to suggestions."

    So, the cop had to knock on doors and get people to move their cars. I pulled over to the curb and the superload was able to squeeze by.

    "Good luck with that S curve through town, Trucker."

    It seems like every time I've ever pulled a permitted load through Pennsylvania Ive ran into problems.
     
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  3. dptrucker

    dptrucker Road Train Member

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    had left las vegas nv and was headed north on 93 when i saw a nevada trooper with light on heading towards me on same side( he was zigzagging). i pulled over and he passed me. another one behind me stopped and said to get off as much as i could. there were alot of drivers pulling those huge mining dozers and dumptrucks south. must of been 10 troopers escoting them.
     
  4. Oscar the KW

    Oscar the KW Going Tarpless

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    I cringe every time I gotta go thru that state, even when not that big, it seems to just be a hassle, there is always something.

    I was on a narrow two lane in Nebraska last summer, 14'6"W 14'11"H and 130,000lbs. Busy talking on the radio with my front car and up over a hill comes another pilot car headed south, he starts flashing his lights and I start backing out of it. He swerves at my car, and then comes racing up to me, he's all panicked that we both aren't going to fit, I said well how big is he?
    Well hell, that tells me a lot! I move closer to the top of the hill cause there is a bit of a wide spot there, hasn't rained in over a month so if need be I should be able to get off the road some. I can see him now, 13 axle slowing climbing the hill, and he's all of 20' wide, I grabbed the wide spot and let him slide on by.

    I don't know where they get some of these cars from, you're escorting a load and you don't have the foggiest idea as to the size of the load? Go back to McDonalds and flip burgers.
     
  5. Salad

    Salad Medium Load Member

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    I was a pilot driver for a few years before I got into trucking myself. I was lead car usually and I kept a notepad of the dimensions, weights, permit numbers, dot numbers, DL numbers of everyone on the crew just for the inevitable police inquiry. Those small town Sheriffs like to act like they've never seen a turbine propeller or bridge strut.

    When we were at a rest stop and I spotted another pilot driver, they just generally seemed clueless about the load. They all sort of had this attitude of "Well, the trucker is the one responsible for this." We got into so many squeezes it's hard to count them. Some of the worst ones were in Kansas, all that open flat dirt and no where to go.
     
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  6. TripleSix

    TripleSix God of Roads

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    Side note Excellent example of HeavyHaul ediquette. Give the bigger load the right of way.
     
  7. TripleSix

    TripleSix God of Roads

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    Kansas puts you on a narrow two lane and expects you to pull over at the first drop of rain. Where do you pull over?
     
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  8. truckdad

    truckdad Road Train Member

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    slide Hwy-1.jpg Mid 1999 I was moving a D-8N southbound Hwy 1 about 5 miles north of Ragged Point. 1 CHP about 1 mile in front, 2nd CHP in front of my pilot car, 3rd CHP bringin up the rear. 1st CHP telling all northbound vehicles over loudspeaker to pull over & stop til wide load passes. A German tourist in a rented motorhome says "Vas ist dis VideLoden"?? & keeps going. CHP telling me on CB to be ready. We meet as Im finishing a tight left curve. He keeps coming but has to stop, he's inches from a rock outcropping. I stop. 2nd CHP stops. Me and Wolfgang are looking at each other & 3rd CHP just RIPS into the guy for not pulling over threating to write a ticket but had to finish with the load.He was PI##ED. I felt sorry for the guy, he was almost in tears. I backed up a bit & he went by gently scraping the rock outcropping with the rented RV. This photo is not at the incident but a few miles south.
     
  9. haulhand

    haulhand Road Train Member

    It seems like a whole lot of these stories happen in PA. A few years back I was hauling a camp 15'4" wide 99'10" long and 15' high. I80 was under construction so they had us kicked off on 322 thru Brookville. We called the PD about 30 minutes before we got there and was told that if we had pilots to just bring it on thru and be careful, I was the lead load out of four so I told my pilot to go on thru and clear the town and the rest of the loads to spread out about a mile or two behind each other. Halfway thru town my pilot met a 12 axle hauling a dozer with no pilot cars and beings that he was halfway thru I had started creeping thru town myself, the 12 axle stopped and asked my pilot on the radio what we wanted to do as there wasn't enough room to pass and then they both looked at me to make a decision. Ultimately I decided to clear traffic behind me and bring all the pilot cars up from the other three loads and block off as much as we could and then I backed up for right at 2 miles to a spot that was wide enough that he could get around me and it was also where the other loads had pulled off. About a minute after we got the town cleared an officer pulled up demanding to see our permits as we had his town plumb pissed off and there was no way we should have been there he was quite rude until he called his commanding officer and proceeded to get an earful about not being there to help us get clear and that we weren't supposed to show up at the same time after that the PD came out and shut the town down so we could get thru as quick as possible and back on the interstate. I've started to cringe when they mention PA.
     
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  10. TripleSix

    TripleSix God of Roads

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    You mean it's not just me that does that?
     
  11. haulhand

    haulhand Road Train Member

    One time I was coming down the hill into Vernal, UT with all my axles on the ground and 15 wide. We met a Utah trooper headed up with all his lights on and then met another followed by a pilot car I knew turned out there was a 27 wide coming and the first trooper was supposed to shut the hill down but he didn't say a word to us and we were one curve up from a big wide pullout when he passed us. Luckily one corner down from us turned into a three lane with a right turn lane for the scenic view area. I pulled as far right as I could and stopped and the other load went as far right as he could and passed me with only about 3 inches between our loads. Even police escorts can be DA's

    Triple Six I'm sure we aren't the only ones that cringe about PA altho it doesn't keep me from going.
     
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