high centered double drop trailers & neck extension question

I must be missing something. What exactly will PA put you in jail for? Running into difficulties with a big load? Hasn't happened to me. I was routed across I78 and then told to get off the road by HP and take a detour because of a traffic accident. Went through the little towns and couldn't not make a right turn to get back to 78. Cops show up pissed off, and they may yell. I wait for them to finish and they get extremely frustrated and they scream at me to do something. Real calm, I asked the cop, "What is it that you want me to do? I am open to suggestions." The cop looked at the turn, then at my load, the size of the street I was suppose to turn on. And he had to sit down and think...

Had a load come up 81 where I had to exit off at Greencastle and go through Chambersburg, PA. I you're really big, or long, you're going to have problems in Chambersburg. Not only did I have problems, but I met another oversize and there wasn't enough room for us to pass each other. Gridlocked the whole town.

It happens. Problems will arise. If you're pulling loads wider than 12 feet (and 12 feet is nothing!) on an Rgn, or long loads, eventually, you're going to run into something that you can't get around. Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, New York, Connecticut too.

You know, it's funny, this job forces drivers to change. The weight of the loads, the height, the size...you start out a certain way, with a certain driving style. It's either keep calm or meltdown. When you gridlock a town and the local cop runs up and threatens you will jail time, you don't panic...after all, that will only prolong the gridlock.

 

YOU broke the law. Not the cop who told you to go that way. YOU were permitted to take a prescribed route. YOU deviated from that route. A "law enforcement officer" does not make laws, they do not dictate what roads you can drive on, the simply enforce existing laws.

In the future its probably best to just show the officer your oversize permit and say "I am permitted to take THIS route and THIS route only". Who pays for the damage if you rip the roof off a D-10 when a cop tells you to take a different route? Who pays for the tow truck when you high center on a train track that he told you to go over?

I was stopped by CHP on I-5 because of fog a few miles ahead, he told me to get off the ramp and make a left to park in a dirt lot. As soon as I told him I would have to order a new state permit and a county permit to do that he said I didn't need one. He already had my state permit so I asked him to put his name and badge number on it in case something went wrong... He said "what do you think is going to go wrong in a half mile"? I said "maybe nothing but I'll let you know after I knock down that bridge you want me to go under".... For LEO to re-route you, there must be a declared emergency (in California and Arizona).

 

The road was shut down. I called the state. Permit office. They told me to follow the detour thats set up. They told everyone else pulling an oversize to do the same thing. We all met up on a little two lane road to the south of 78 that runs parallel to the bigroad.

Edit

Forgot to mention, I had called the state before I got to the detour. I was wanting another route around instead of the detour and the state told me to follow the detour set up by the HP.

 

What we are instructed to do with the air override valve is only add about 3/4 of what we can then try to get over the tracks. The thought being is that if you air up all the way and get stuck you are stuck. If you only go up 3/4 of the way and get hungup you can add what you have left and get yourself back off.

 

Ok, let me ask you...this is both with & without an override valve...answer honestly;

if you only raise it 3/4 of the way, and you still get hung up...you still have a little more you can raise it. How brave are you while hung up on a set of RR tracks to be on/under/or bent over monkeying with your air suspension while "stuck" on a set of tracks?
Remember, I don't care how big your truck is, I guarantee the trains gonna win!

BTW, my answer "H E double hockey sticks N O ! ! !

Raise it, as much as required or all the way...make a very honest assessment, "Yes I WILL make it", not can, not think, not should...or reconsider other options. Calling the rail company and informing the, what your doing and then advising them of the results is an option...it may save you from an undesirable outcome.

 

I guess things are different on the other side of the country. I absolutely would not move an inch without a signed addendum or at least an e-mail from someone at the state.

 

you ou know how it is...every state has their own way of doing things. Sometimes it even seems like every weigh station has a different way of doing things,

 

No but I get their name, id number or in the case of Wyoming, their badge number and document the date and time right on the permit.

 

This is what I do as well...most of the states will email me an amendment...some don't

 

Trains don't really mind shutting a train down ahead of your fowling. But get very very upset when you don't tell anybody and they have to lock up that train and put flat spots on their wheels.. Alway call if you foul their tracks .. Like the first thing you do.. Also if you look in the vehicle code book fouling a track is a big point ticket. If nothing.. Over inflate your tractors airbags, unless you were going like a bat out of hell, it shouldn't take much to overinflated and back up.. Then figure out how to cross the tracks.. Even your outrigger boards might help laying across the tracks.