Abilene Motor Express....A New Place To Call Home

Beef, in Western Oklahoma.

 

Today, for the 2nd time in my truck driving career, I drove under a bridge marked with 13'5" of clearance.

Was trying to get to the freeway, and my GPS routed me down a back road that had a sharp hairpin turn to go under the freeway. Wasn't until after the hairpin turn that I saw the signs: 13'5".

Oh boy.

I eyeballed it, though, and it looked like it had clearance. So I inched forward a bit, got out, looked. It looked okay, so I inched forward a little bit more, etc.

Eventually got fully under the bridge.

Had about 18 inches of clearance. Not even close to clipping the truck or trailer.

Only thing I can figure is that 13'5" is the clearance on the shoulder, because the overpass has an arch support, so the shoulder clearance is lower than the clearance in the travel lanes. So all's well that ends well.

But friends I am here to tell you my stomach dropped as soon as I rounded that turn and saw those signs.

 

In New York?

 

I went under a bridge in Atlanta once that was not marked. I stopped and waited for another truck to pass under. I had an antenna on that truck that was about 13' 8", it scraped. About 1mph with the windows down.

 

First time was in Jersey.

This time it was Michigan.

 

Where is this 13’ 5” bridge in Michigan?

 

Been awhile, but I remember a lot of either low, or mismarked bridges in Detroit. Chicago is also bad for that.

 

I've seen a lot of arched bridges marked that same way and typically measurement that is for the outside lane due to most trucks staying in the right lane. Most times you can make it if you stay to the inside lane. If possible, I like to let another truck go underneath it so I can judge their clearance. I still would roll the windows down and creep forward just to be safe.