Height restricted Hwys

[pbuck]

Does anyone know a site or a way of checking hieght restrictions. I am a new 5er hauler and don't want to get caught in front of a 12' overpass with a 12'9" 5er :o

[Englishman]

If you are a member of good sams thier travel planning tool give the hight clearance on highway. Also list gas stations.

[KanTC]

U.S. Low Clearances/Bridges, etc... listed by state.
Has info for Interstates, State Hwy's and secondary roads.

http://www.aitaonline.com/Info/Road/Low%20Clearances.html

Terri, the Chevy co-pilot :)

[antiqfreq]

Our Rand McNally truckers edition has heights on all states.
We needed it in Albuquerque and another city in Missouri (forget the name)
but the bridge was only 10' high!

Jo

[pbuck]

:bdance:
Good info thanks.

[Outbackmel]

KanTC; thank you for this important link. I am POSITIVE it will be helpful in most cases.

It only takes one unpleasant experience. We had one in Louisville 2 years ago.
Heading for the RV convention and a local KOA, 6 miles from the event, KOA warned about a low RR overpass on the backside of the campground. I was following GPS, it was a very bz turn off and I made one bad turn and there was the overpass right smack in front of me. FORTUNATELY an empty concrete lot; complete with trash etc allowed me: "give me 40 acres and I'll turn this rig around" ;) and we got back on track.

I often go off the highway and thru towns. I have no fear, BUT, as "PBuck" states above .... best if you do not get caught. Asking your wife to be on top of your RV and yelling "ok; clear" makes for a long day ;)

[hankpage]

Asking your wife to be on top of your RV and yelling "ok; clear" makes for a long day ;)

You could ask my wife till you were blue in the face ...... so guess who's gonna be up there yelling "Clear" :yawn: ..... I'll stick to the interstates when at all possible and let Ethel yell "Recalculating". Travel safely, Hank

[Devildogmom]

You could ask my wife till you were blue in the face ...... so guess who's gonna be up there yelling "Clear" :yawn: ..... I'll stick to the interstates when at all possible and let Ethel yell "Recalculating". Travel safely, Hank

We 'FONDLY' named our GPS, Bernice. :wave:

[Johnnyfry]

There are "trucker specific" GPS sets sold at truck stops which purport to warn of low clearances on the route. I have not tried one of these, however.

There is also an inexpensive database which can be loaded into some GPS units. I did purchase this and loaded it into my Tom-Tom GPS. I would not give it high marks, however, because it is cumbersome to use in practice.

John

[hankaye]

Howdy All;

Way back in the 1990's a large trucking co. used to have a dispatcher sitting at the office of the City of Chicago's Hiway Dept. Their job was to keep up with the re paving jobs the tended to "lower" bridges. If we went to Chi. and didn't get routing from the bridge disp. and ended up hitting a bridge you were looking for a new job.
Point of that tale is this. Even the new programs can not keep up with all of the changes. If you find yourself faced with the decission to either take a 'short-cut' thru town to save time and $'s or go around town. Go around.
If you get a trucker's map book (R-McN), the roads that are high-lited are the
"National Network"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Highway_System_(United_States)

All of the basic Height, weight, & length rules are set down so the semi-trucks can get around. Their "basic' height is set for getting under a 13' 6" bridge.

Take some time and get on top of your trailer. Find the highest piont. use a long streight 2X2 and a level. Attach your tape measure to the bottom of the 2X2, have a friend or DW/DH, read the distance from bottom of 2X2 to the ground (works best on a level surface). I prefer to add 1' as a safety measure.

hankaye

[cumminsdad08]

We 'FONDLY' named our GPS, Bernice. :wave:

i named mine Bib (stands for B*** In the Box).

[hankpage]

I have been using POI Factory (http://www.poi-factory.com/) for a few years now to add "Points Of Interests" to my GPSs and have found their downloads very helpful. (Such as : Rest area locations, FlyingJ, WallMart and most important WINERIES and also BEACHES )

Anyway, I just installed "Low Clearance" alerts for US and Canada. There are none in my area but I am anxious to see how it works on our next trip. One problem they warn about is that it alerts by Lat. and Long. so if you are going over the underpass in question you will still get the alert. They even have the voice files to go with most alerts. "Warning! Low clearance ahead" or "Rest area ahead" and so on. I have found the Rest Area POI very handy in the past as it will show direction and distance to rest areas and tell if access is from what side of highway. JM2¢, Hank

[hankpage]

I checked the info for the nearest low clearance and this is the info the Garmin gives .... 10' 11" Railroad underpass ..... W Front St. Red Bank, NJ 07701 ... Detour signs posted both sides.
Rest areas has been updated to include what is available at rest area .... phones, bathrooms, dog walks, etc.

[jbsmith]

I'd stay away from the Gregson St railroad bridge in Durham, NC (35°59'56.58"N, 78°54'36.56"W (http://maps.google.com/maps?q=35%C2%B059'56.58%22N,+78%C2%B054'36.56%22W&hl=en&ie=UTF8&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=48.956293,93.076172&vpsrc=0&t=h&z=16)) with a fifth wheel!!! There are some pretty spectacular videos on 11foot8.com demonstrating what this low bridge can do to a tall vehicle...some involving fifth wheels (1 - Fleetwood Dakota (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7IlRbECGf8&list=UUXX0RWOIBjt4o3ziHu-6a5A&index=1&feature=plcp), 2 - KZ Durango (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCvPqaSyOos&list=UUXX0RWOIBjt4o3ziHu-6a5A&index=16&feature=plcp)) crashing into the bridge, stripping off vents, AC units, etc.

Keep in mind that the signage may not always be accurate if the road was recently resurfaced, road crews didn't update the sign, or they just measured wrong.

[hankaye]

Howdy All;

Road Maint. crews are well known for "lowering" the bridges and NOT
changing the signage...

Keeps life intresting.....


hankaye

[mhs4771]

Everything I have seen, on-line and hard copy will give info on major highways and most secondary roads, but if you get on a lesser traveled road you're traveling at your own risk. We were on our way to a camp out with our Good Sam group at a State Park, were on a semi-major highway, had checked the route and everything looked fine, till we get to a RR overpass with an 12'6" sign. We turned around an backtracked and were able to get around it without a major detour. But this overpass did not show up on any data base I could find anywhere. So just be forwarned.

[captbob]

I have been using POI Factory (http://www.poi-factory.com/) for a few years now to add "Points Of Interests" to my GPSs and have found their downloads very helpful. (Such as : Rest area locations, FlyingJ, WallMart and most important WINERIES and also BEACHES )

Anyway, I just installed "Low Clearance" alerts for US and Canada. There are none in my area but I am anxious to see how it works on our next trip. One problem they warn about is that it alerts by Lat. and Long. so if you are going over the underpass in question you will still get the alert. They even have the voice files to go with most alerts. "Warning! Low clearance ahead" or "Rest area ahead" and so on. I have found the Rest Area POI very handy in the past as it will show direction and distance to rest areas and tell if access is from what side of highway. JM2¢, Hank

This POI can also be downloaded to Microsoft streets and trips if your using a computer for your planning or traveling

[campingcpl]

We have been using the route1 POI from the lowclearances.com (http://www.lowclearances.com/) web site. It cost about $15.00 a year but you get regular updates and is completely customizable to the hight of your trailer or 5th wheel. I have tested this on some of the back road low clearances in our area and on our trips and have been impressed with it. They boast that they have one of the largest data bases for low clearance (3600 and counting) of any other data base. The only down fall and this seems to be a common problem with these POI's that it will show a low clearance even if you are going over it. We use a Garmin but it is compatable with several other brands of GPS's.