WTH is up with NYC bridge heights?

So I had to make a trip I've never done before, Brooklyn to the Bronx. Typically I am in and out asap in NYC. Both of my gps told me to f off and die. The truck GPS tried to route me thru new Jersey, and now I know why... I was on truck routes, and all of a sudden the bridges say 12'8" clearance. WTH is that crap? Here I am in the middle of a 40mph highway, snailing my truck under a bridge checking for clearance every few inches, only to have plenty of room each time.
Why are all the bridges marked wrong?

On the last bridge a guy in a car stopped next to me said he drives truck and to just go, he runs 14' on that route every day. While this was happening another reefer passed me on the low side of the bridge at 50mph and didn't even blink... And cleared.

I had seen this one the cbx on 95 where it says something stupid like 12'8" but never saw anyone hit it so I learned to ignore it.

 

from what i recall, NY measures the over pass from the curb, not street level so as to account for snow on the roads come winter.

if it's an interstate, i just went under them..

a state route, or road off a main street, (like any road off of NJ's Rte 17/Rte 1-9....??) you had better believe those signs.

 

Ny the bridges are at least a foot taller than marked. Sometimes 2ft+ taller. I've made it under 11'7 on my food service route and still had plenty of clearance

 

Some say it's from the curb others say it's a buffer for snow pack. I wish they would stick to one system.

 

I was always told it’s the height the wires used to be at for the trains. When they got rid of the wires they never changed the signs.

 

I've been driving NYC for 20yrs. I can tell you that if the height sign is yellow it's at least 2' more than marked. If it's a height sign is white, it's at least 1' higher than marked. Simple answer, NYC is a bunch of ########.

Best advice I can give driving NY's 5 boroughs is if the overpass/bridge looks like it's been hit/damaged, it's less than 13'6". If it looks like it's never been hit, it's more than 13'6".

I've been under 12'1" marked with 13"6" no problem.

You can run BQE/Gowannas/278 combo with a 13'6" end to end in any lane in either direction without hitting anything regardless of the low height signs.

BTW, F...K NY.

 

I would also suggest if you're going to travel through the boroughs that you buy the regular laminated map book of the 5 boroughs.

Those crazy Bridge signs are just another part of the adventure of traveling through New York... or should I say insanity?

 

“Hub height”, about a foot off

 

NYS bridge heights are marked 12 inches lower than actual clearances , over the entire state, I was told decades ago it was an attempt to avoid lawsuits.

 

I live in CT and this are is death valley for trucks. All I do is truck these roads and it's absolutely horrible. The cbx is the devil's urethra and the Major Deegan is no better. The worst is 278 BQE and 678 van wyke. $110 toll E-ZPass for GWB, Verrazano, Goethals, Whitstone and Throgsneck I-295. Welcome to the Northeast.