Rant on low bridges

I81 south bound, Watertown NY.

 

I got off the the pa. turnpike EB Carlisle Pa to 11 S. and soon as I round the onramp theres a bridge that I thought looked a little low, looked all over and couldnt see a sign, which seemed goofy not to have posted on a busy road with truck traffic, slowly rolled up to it and under it, but it made me nervous.

 

I believe there is some leway in the hieght, i run 95 in CT with a hieght of 13'8 and make it under every bridge and there are quite a few marked between 13'6 and 13'8.

 

yeah had an experience in chicago as well,could not get under the via duct that ran parallel with chicago street. Anyways, after my little freak out passed I seen a slew of cops cars on this one corner with one guy walkin into a little deli/restaurant,so I figured they were all eating there. So I parked my truck...blocking part of the street and went in and talked to the first table I had seen. Well, they set me on the right course,better yet they came out stopped the traffic and allowed me to flip my truck around so I get goin in the right direction!!

You need a low bridge map for the city of chicago,they are hundreds of them not listed at the front of rand mcnally

 

Speaking of bridges, my company gave me a route to follow but I came up to a sign before this bridge that read "No Trucks Over 32,000 Pounds" or words to that effect. I was thinking 'hmm isn't the tractor and trailer dog empty about 33,000 lbs?'. Plus light load, I was over that anyway. So I went halfway across the state to go around it lol.

 

Hate signs like that. Or one in Virginia I saw "Only 1 Truck can cross at a time". So I guess if there is an oncoming truck you're expected to take turns either because of limited weight or width.

Anyway the need to make behemoth tractor trailers crawl through these tiny towns baffles me. I just delivered to an aluminum supply site but apparently big trucks aren't wanted in town so I was routed to come in the back way on these crappy county roads barely able to take the turns. If there was heavy snow it looked like a great place to get stuck.

Is there really no better solution for small town distribution?

 

the straight truck i usally drive is 12'6" was in for service and they gave me a rental unit that sat 13'1". i was in chicago on the north side and about 1 block from my pick up was a bridge marked 13', i wasnt taking any chances so a backtracked about 10 miles to find clearance that was high enough

i also ran into low bridges in a tractor trailer up in Milwaukee that i had to detour around

 

Ever notice that in the Chicago based TV series "Wrecked" it's always the same underpass they're rescuing 18 wheelers from? Dang, I'd just park the wrecker there and wait.

 

getting around Chicago i a truck is not hard , all you have to do is call the routing service that the city has. they will give you directions to get in to your location and back out.

 

I gotta wonder how much work it would be to "scup" these roads under the bridges deeper. Gotta be easier than raising an existing rail-road or bridge right?

I know all about the NYC bridges and their weird logic. But I encountered one up on the NY/NJ border,,, maybe it was Port Jervis? Looked low, said it was low, but it was the only road that went though. Took it down to a creeper gear and rolled though in idle with my head out the window looking up.

I cleared it fine, with every other truck in town (heck, half the TOWN) watching me. "Newbie!"