Low Bridges

[bsmeaton]

I've lived in Denver all my life, and I never gave a second thought to height.

Driving down I-25 this week from work, I started looking at bridge height - HOLY MOLY! They have some at 13' 0" on the outer lanes. I'm 13' 3" GULP. I would have never even thought to look on a major highway like that! I just drove down I-25 last week with Monty and never even looked.

Looks like the bridges were originally tall enough (center of arc), but over the years they have widened the highways within the bridge openings, with roadway now under the extreme low points on the outside.

Guess I better start paying attention a little more!

[msmoonsatx]

When driving near West Point last summer, this was dramatically reinforced. While driving in the outside lane we came on a sign that indicated a clearance under 12 feet in the outside lane. In New York traffic, I had to move fairly quickly into the center lane. They have a lot of arch type bridges on the secondary roads and it is very easy to get into trouble. Needless to say, some New York drivers probably had a few choice words for a crazy Texan.

[Cat320]

Brad, here is a list of low clearances by state: http://www.aitaonline.com/Low%20Clea...w%20Clearances

[bsmeaton]

Thanks for the link Bert - I just looked it up and I-25 Denver is restricted to 13' 0" and under. They offer a different route. I never knew that.

[Mudchief]

Thanks Bert, I am going to print that out.

[Wrenchtraveller]

Brad, that is why I put a little sign on my truck's rear view mirror with my height in both imperial and metric units. 13 feet and 3.96 metres because here in Canada we got metric shoved down our throats in the early 80s and there are several overpasses around here that would customize a Montana's roof line.

[sreigle]

Brad, is your satellite setup a dome on the roof and that's what makes yours so tall? Ours, same year/model is 12' 10".

[Steve and Brenda]

Looks like Brad has the same AC unit as we do, I measured 13'2" from the top of the front AC to the ground mounted to the TV. When my airbags are installed this month that measurement moves up to 13'4".

[sreigle]

Ahhh, it's the front AC. I don't have the second AC unit.

[Native Tex]

We have noticed too that in Alabama that some of the bridge markings have not been changed. I know for a fast that certain parts of I-65 have been stripped and then resurfaced with at least an additional 6 inches of black top and/or concrete. The signs still read 13' 6" but I'll bet they are only 13'. I just wonder how many more across the country are like this. Especially some that have been resurfaced many, many times. ????????

[sreigle]

Wow, O.V., that's a bad situation. You'd think the highway departments would keep them accurate to avoid any liability. What's a guy to do, other than allow a few inches for a fudge factor.

[ken]

When you have a satellite dome on top makes the Montana 13'4", you watch the bridge heights. Interstates normally are ok at 13.9 to 14' for truckers. Its the state roads in the northeast states that are lower. Bert's lists of bridges for truckers comes in handy when planning routes to travel.

[Ozz]

Yea, I am 13'4" to 13'6", depending on my air bag setup. With the trucks airbags and the hitch air bags I can raise up 4 to 6". I am pretty high anyway. Steve and Vicky noticed that when they came over and pointed it out to me.
I will lower the truck hitch now that I am home. I will use the electric hoist in my shop garage, the hitch assembly is HEAVY.
We were in San Antonio on I-37 going into town, there were 13'10 (or lower) bridges, the problem is that the time you see the bridge signs, it's too late, unless they post them in advance, AND you are paying close attention.
Plan ahead.................

[happy campers]

Do you think that following a truck route would be OK as most of the van trailers require a minimum of 13'6"? I haven't been out east that much.

[sreigle]

I can't speak for New England as we've not been there yet. We're at 12' 10" and tend to prefer US highways and sometimes state highways. I just check the Motor Carriers Atlas and/or my Streets and Trips low clearance file and then we take off. We've not had a problem so far and that includes most of the eastern U.S.

I did just find after planning a route to the NE rally that US 222 just north of Quarryville, PA, has a low clearance bridge at 10' 1". So I changed my route to a few miles west, state highway 272, to get to Lancaster. The map appears 272 is a shorter route anyhow. That bridge is also on the online site (Lonnie?) posted. Sorry, I forgot already who posted that but it's an excellent reference.

[bsmeaton]

quote:Originally posted by sreigle

Brad, is your satellite setup a dome on the roof and that's what makes yours so tall? Ours, same year/model is 12' 10".

Steve - we got the low profile dome, and it's actually lower than the front AC (not by much though).

Looking at Berts list, I-25 downtown Denver has the lowest bridges in the state. That's after 5 years of highway construction that replaced a large portion of the bridges. RVrs beware!

Brad

[jretz]

Even with my rig at 12'7" I am concerned about overpasses at 13'. What if I hit a little bounce in the road and my measurements or their's are a little off? Their goes my 3" of clearance, if that is really how much I have.

[Fire5er]

I use a map on my Microsoft Streets and Trips that shows all the low clearance bridges. I found it online one time from a motorhome web-site. Works for us to pre-plan the next days travel plans.

[sreigle]

That file for S&T is at http://www.discoveryowners.com/cginfolinks.htm . They also have one for Street Atlas and CoPilot Live and maybe some others.

A hint, if I may, for S&T users. The file is a text file. If you open it with notepad or other text editor and insert a heading line, then you won't have to select column headings when importing it. All you have to do is click a couple of buttons, like Next and Finish. After that I doubleclick the pushpin line in S&T and then the down arrow for symbol and select a symbol to make the low clearance areas stand out. I use the red stop sign. The header line to insert --

Latitude, Longitude, Name

Insert that line as the very top line. I think this works for Street Atlas, also.

[genecurp]

Great info about the Mapping software add-ons for low clearance.

For us lower tech types, you can get trip routing from Good Sam. When you enter your selection criteria, you can specify to avoid low clearance.

I use the aita web site, a Truckers Atlas and Good Sam to plan my routes. Don't wanna stay on inter states all the time. (I-25 not in the running, of course.)
I am 13'2" at both my front AC and the front Vent Cover.