Adventures in low bridge height

A lot of those bridges you can only get one set of axles on at a time. My justification for crossing them is that no group is over the specified limit

 

Plus the weight limit is only half of what the bridge has been determined to support because it has two travel lanes .

and the engineers as far as I know , after determining the safe weight a bridge will support , cut that weight in half for safety, then cut that weight in half again if it’s a two lane bridge because at some point two trucks will be on the bridge at the same time .

 

Yes glad you were able to get yourself out of a bit of a pickle. At least you had the good sense to stop get out and check the height. Perhaps its not a road that has had many issues with Trucks, some places will put up a pole prior to the bridge with the high with pipes connected to chains so if you hit this it warns you of the up coming low bridge thus saving you actually hitting the bridge. Seems like the local council have yet to address this issue maybe you can also call this to their attention as well.

 

You did good. Stuff like this happens.

Id suggest getting a truckers GPS like a garmin. I have an atlas. I get a new one every few years. I never use it. I dont spend more then 10-15 mins trip planning including locating the best truck stops and fuel stops and rest areas and places I shouldn’t have problems parking for the night on truckers path.

Just remember its going to be the “first” mile or “final mile” that youre going to get in trouble most of the time so zoom in on those and make sure garmin isn’t sending you through some old town to save you 3 minutes going to the next exit. Garmin will do that to you in Pennsylvania all the time.

I had the cops hold traffic for me once. I didnt call him he just appeared. However I was really jammed up and he did save my bacon cause I decided to not cross a railroad tracks when saw how humped it was and it was covered in deep scars. Just then a local coming the other way yelled from his window to not try it trucks get stuck there all the time. Well, long story short, the cop was screaming to turn the wheel this way and that way and he was getting upset when I was ignoring him. Finally I climbed down walked over and had to explain what I needed to do to get turned around and he just yelled well do it. I finished my 90 point turn got turned around and there was 3 cops there by then. I was tempted to just drive off but pulled to the side and walked back for my lashings. The first cop just kinda laughed asked if I was supposed to be on that road. “I dont think so” I said lol. He laughed again and said I dont think so either and I was lucky I didnt try and cross the tracks. I said thanks for your help and walked back to my truck.

That wasn’t really final mile but was when I missed the turn in for the receiver and was trying to work my way back so it was final mile related.

You gotta mostly check those first and last miles to and from the highway and interstates. Especially in the older cities on the east coast. They have old industrial areas in the middle of neighborhoods that were built in probably the 1920s.