high centered double drop trailers & neck extension question

As a rule I do not advocate, encourage, suggest or practice freestyling. HOWEVER when I call the permit office in Texas to advise them of the impending grounding of my trailer and she asks me "do you know a way around?" to which I answer, yes I do, we go though this every trip through her and her response is "well go that way then, have a good day". Then the very next trip on the same exact route with the same impending grounding going the other direction I call the same permit office, get the same nice lady who again asks "do you know a way around it?" and so the same thing happens again only this time she actually sent me a revised permit. Then low and behold, construction on the overpass that's barely 13' wide and I'm almost 15' wide. No way to get through, no way to go the original route without grounding twice and a phone call to the State Patrol dispatch yields me a "What do you want me to do about it?" from the captain on duty that day. It's a Saturday morning so no permit office, no help from the highest of authority in the state and there I sit alongside a 24' wide roadway with a 15' wide box containing a state of the art flight simulator that costs just over $33 MILLION dollars. So I have a couple options, sit there blocking half the road till Monday and probably get hit in the middle of the night or "freestyle" my way around it.

Again, I'm not advocating running out of route or freestyling but I have been at this for 24 years, haul oversize every day, have never had a ticket, accident, damaged freight or problem with permits.

And yes just today alone I got to a place I couldn't get under, a place I couldn't get over and a place I couldn't make the turn on the permit. But I have the best of the best for a pilot/high pole and he was able to assist me through all of them.

 

catalinaflyer, in my humble opinion, you're not freestyling, you're handling the situation properly. Contacting the permit office and receiving a verbal authorization with a name, is authorization in my books. Sometimes it's a fluid situation and there is nothing more that can be done when...SURPRISE...and you're on the road and into the high end entertainment.
Contacting the police on a Saturday and getting that type of a response is doing your due diligence...asked for assistance, and advised of deference to your expertise.
Sounds to me sir, that you've got it under control.

IMHO, freestyling is;
-running into an issue & just doing as you please without notifying or requesting assistance
-having a permit & disregarding it to just do as you please

 

What states will that work in. I think PA will put you in jail. Please tell if you did that in PA.

 

I took a super load to Pittsburgh, 6 or 7 years ago. The ComData Pilot Car driver led me off the big road, well enough. But, as soon as we left the exit ramp, he made a wrong turn, with me yelling at him on the radio. A PA highway patrol car must have been sitting in a retail center, listening to his CB, because he was there before I had gone a full block.

I asked for his help in getting turned around and was greatful for it and there were no citations. I'm confident he was still listening to his CB, as he stationed himself along my route, a few blocks from where I turned around.

A couple of miles later, the ComData Pilot Car driver missed another turn, but I refused to follow him, so he had to catch up. Later, I learned that he was known to drink.

 

You think they will put you in jail for asking for help??????????????

 

Taking a 15' high load through Montreal and the pilot stops to ask directions from a pedestrian.

 

do you guys record the phone conversation with the permit office when going out of route?

 

Say it ain't so! lol.. I've only been to Toronto, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Looking at a Google map zoomed to 10 miles, I can see how someone could get screwed up, there... ㋡

 

Maybe not jail but try asking California Highway Patrol for help after you make a mistake. The first thing they will say is DONT MOVE until you have all the proper permits... Then they start writing tickets.

Try calling the permit office in Sacramento and asking for a "verbal" approval to deviate from the original route after you make a wrong turn.

Here is the best one that out of state drivers like to do in L.A. Try backing a mile down the shoulder of the 405 when you realize you forgot to get in the left lane and take the 118.