Perfect Parking Lot

that's tough to consider without a diagram.
Is this a single building on the lot?
Are you suggesting the truck come around the left side of the building in a clockwise motion (putting his passenger side towards the building)?
With him in the slow lane turning right into the driveway, you will need a 70 foot wide drive so his tractor can turn into the far part of it, and his trailer wheels will track across the near part of it.
Some shipper give truckers specific info such as approach the business from the opposite direction so he can turn wide across the on-coming lanes into the driveway, in this instance, your drive might only need to be 20 foot across.
Is your dock on the rear of the building?
Does the driver back his rig into the rear wall of the building, or does the dock face parallel to the back wall?
I think a truck with a 53' trailer needs about 5 traffic lanes, or about 70 feet, MINIMUM, to make a u-turn if he will need to turn around on your back lot to position himself for the dock or to exit the way he came in.
If he backs against the building, ideally, he would need about 200 feet to pull up (turning left) so he can back straight to the dock. Otherwise, by sending him clockwise, you are forcing him to do the unpopular and dangerous 'blind-side' back where he will pass the dock, manuvuer forward, then have to reverse at an angle to the building where he is unable to see the passenger side of his rig.
A truck also needs 4 lanes of traffic to make a 90 degree turn, so going around the rear corner of your building, he will need at least 60 feet which can be split between the side and the rear (a 15 foot alley would require he have another 45 feet beyond the corner before he has to turn the wheel), if he has 45 feet to use along the left side of the building, he can turn into a 15 foot alley to the rear).
I'm postive a paving company has an engineer that can tell you exactly what is needed - they will also have to advise you on the type and depth of material used for the lot, especially if rigs will be making U-turns, those trailer wheels come to a stop and pivot, each of the 8 tires pushing their 4,000 pounds downward as they do so.
I tried to do a simple drawing so you can see what I mean about the four different manuveurs, turning into the driveway, turning around the rear corner, making a U-turn, or doing a pull-up. I'll see if I can figure out how to attach it to this reply.

 

Am I correct in reading this to mean you want big trucks to back in around a corner of your building with the right side of the truck to the building? This is a "blind side back around a corner," and is one of the most difficult maneuvers a driver has to face. Your delivery drivers will NOT be happy with you if you build in a way that requires this type of docking.

 

Pauclar,

I'm just chiming in with my 2 cents and agreement with the others who have already offered up. Backing to the right is dangerous and to be avoided if at all possible. The driver can't see a hootin' thing, so even if he processes right, things can easily get broken.

Assuming Picasso's.. er.. bbmyls2go's diagram is anything like close to what you are describing, you are going to have a bunch of unhappy drivers delivering there.

I'm assuming the structure is already there, as is the parking lot? Is there any way at all to run a bit of pavement up the right hand side of the building?

If all else fails, is it possible for your shipping to go in and out via a straight (non-articulated) truck? It's a lot easier - and safer - to back a 27ft box truck to the right than it is a tractor-trailer.

 

Would it be possible for the big trucks to pull in alongside the building, turn past the building, then pull parallel to the building and back in to the dock, perhaps at a slight angle of 15 or 20 degrees? They would also need to be able to leave by completing the course around the building, but this would require much less room than many other docking procedures.

Another alternative might be for the truck to pull THROUGH the building -- but this would require offloading by hand assisted forklifts (men in the trailer).

 

Mack

Oh, absolutely. I was looking at a worst-case scenario where it's not possible to provide for 40 foot or longer trailers.

Then again, it occurs to me that the consignee can specify the delivery company. I'd think there'd be some company or other who drives nothing but straight, or maybe somebody like NPT (I think) who seem to tow nothing but pups.

On the gripping hand, if the BOL says plainly "Straight Trucks Only" and the carrier puts it on a 53, aren't they responsible for delivery anyway? The receiver can say "take it back and put it on a suitable truck", can't he?

Of course, if it's something he needs *today*, he's well and truly screwed. *Especially* if the load is palletized and he doesn't have a fork lift.

In which case, the consignee should rightly insist that any other shipments come via a different carrier, since the first one burned him.

 

Exactly,

In my previous life, any company I dealt with (if I had a choice) got two chances to burn me. The second time they did it, the file was flagged "Do not use".

I don't think it made a serious impression on their business, in and of itself, but we were never shy about answering requests for recommendations.

Yes, it took trial and error and time.. but in the end, we had companies that worked well with us.