OldTroubador's blog post - Low Bridge, Everybody Down

Low bridges, the bane of every transportation specialist since the Erie Canal. In this country, most were built when tractor trailers were much smaller and lower than they are now; at 13'6”, the modern trailer just won't fit under a bridge built 50 years ago. I've had a few brushes with low bridges and heard some stories that were even better.
A few summers ago, I was headed north through the Panhandle of Texas. As I rolled into Dalhart, TX, I was confronted with a bridge that was posted at 13'4”, two inches lower than my trailer. I stopped to think about this, then decided to ease up to the bridge and see if I could slide under. I crept up and then put my truck in the lowest gear. I stuck my head out the my window and twisted around so I could see the top of my rig. Slipping the clutch, I crawled under the bridge. Hallelujah, I fit!!! I pulled myself back into my seat and slid the gearbox into second gear. Inching forward, I kept an eye on my roofline through my mirror. I kept easing along until my trailer was out from underneath the bridge; I started grabbing gears and got out the area quickly. I later learned that the posted height was applicable when trains were crossing the bridge or when it was buried under snow. I have since found another route around Dalhart and its low bridge, not willing to tempt fate anymore, at that location. As the man once said, sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.
As I said earlier, many of the low bridges are found in older cities. In some places, the road bed has been carved to allow trucks to pass underneath, but most haven't. Chicago is infamous for these as are Pittsburgh, Boston, and Cleveland, just to name a few. In order for a driver to get into downtown Pittsburgh, he must travel through the Squirrel Hill tunnel or the Fort Pitt tunnel, or both. They are listed at 13'6” and the first time I had to pass through them, I questioned my customer at length about getting through them safely. After a number of assurances (by which point, I am sure my customer was getting a little upset with me), I headed that way. I saw dozens of trucks driving along, seemingly without a care, so I followed. While under the Squirrel Hill tunnel, I looked up in my mirror to see just how much clearance I had – I will never do that again. If a roof rib had been bowed up just the slightest, if I hit one little bump in the road, I would have shredded the roof of my trailer. I talked to a driver at my destination and told him what I saw. He laughed and said everyone looks, just one time, and is as shaken as I was by what they saw. We both agreed that ignorance really is bliss, in a situation like this.
Many of the low underpasses that one sees are on small country roads. In Pennsylvania, it is not unusual to see bridges listed at 10, 9, or even 8 feet in clearance. I often wonder if the people who buy these large motorcoaches or travel trailers ever consider bridge height when they make their purchase. If they live behind one of these low spots, they will never get them home; I don't have much faith in them being able to back up along a back road either, to find a new route or storage location for their pride and joy. Many roads also will not allow any towed vehicle or high clearance vehicle on them; I'm thinking of the parkways in lower New York state. I could go on about how some of these folks think that the rules that govern large vehicles don't apply to them, but I won't. I will, however, say that just recently, I saw a motorcoach traveling down the highway and that the owner had forgotten to lower the satellite antenna. I would have liked to be at the next 14-foot tall bridge when he went under at 70 miles per hour.
Many entities are now replacing some of the older bridges; the low heights make them susceptible to being struck by taller vehicles and the upkeep on them is prohibitive. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has, over the last five years, been replacing many overpasses on the turnpike. These old bridges were beautiful stone arches. The biggest downside to them was the lack of suitable height over the shoulders of the highway; many were in the 11-foot range. Also, the Commission has been widening the turnpike wherever possible; the new bridges were necessary to accommodate the extra lanes of concrete. Unfortunately, this has detracted from some of the charm of traveling this historic highway across Pennsylvania.
And no matter how tall the clearance is, there is usually a load coming down the road that is taller than the bridge it has to clear. There are a few ways that trucking companies deal with this. One is to route the oversized load on roads that have no clearance issues at all. This is usually a last resort because it sends the loads on roads that might not be designed for heavy trucks. It also means that on many of these roads, utility crews need to accompany the convoy and detach then re-attach the power lines that stretch over the roadways. Also, tree limbs arcing over the path would need to be removed. Another avenue for these loads is to take the exit ramp up to the obstacle bridge, then down the entrance ramp on the other side, returning to the highway. Most of the interstate highways have older US highways that run parallel; these are kept clear of low-hanging obstacles for the purpose of detouring the tall loads when needed. One newer commodity has taken a novel approach to the height problem. The towers that hold the wind turbines are huge carbon fiber cylinders. The size of these would make it prohibitive to transport them on a flatbed, even one that has a dropped deck. The tractor is attached to a short trailer that has hydraulic arms on it, a similar unit is positioned at the rear. These arms are attached to the cylinder, then lift it off the ground; the rear unit is steerable by remote control. When confronted by a low bridge, the convoy comes to a halt, then the arms are lowered so the tower is just barely off the ground; crew members are placed to watch the load as it creeps under the overpass. After reaching the other side, the unit is again raised to normal traveling height and the convoy proceeds to the next low bridge. Oversized loads such as these command a pretty penny on the market. Much of it is to pay for the specialized equipment used, much goes to the drivers. And the drivers of these loads earn every bit of their pay.
Two of the best stories I heard from my father. One he witnessed himself, the other he got from the news, but there were plenty of witnesses for it.
Scene: Suydam St., New Brunswick, NJ. Early 1970's. Time, afternoon rush hour. Suydam St. runs from Livingston Ave. to the Cook College campus of Rutgers University. Dad was on his way home from work one afternoon, on Suydam. In the right lane, a few places in front of him, was a tractor trailer which had come to a stop because the driver realized he might not make it under the railway bridge ahead. The driver stood with one foot on the fuel tank as he slipped the clutch with his other and eased under the bridge. As soon as the driver saw that his tractor would clear the bridge, he jumped back in his seat, grabbed a gear and kicked the accelerator. And quickly came to a stop as the top two feet of the trailer smashed into the side of the bridge and was wedged underneath. In a momentary fit of panic, the driver slammed the gear shift into reverse, dumped the clutch – and backed over a Mercedes-Benz that was following the truck, just a little too closely. I have a feeling Dad will still be laughing about that for years to come.
The other incident was just last summer. There is a trucking company in Scranton, PA, that shall remain nameless (Bravo Oscar Lima Uniform Sierra). They do a lot of work in the northeast area of the country with vans and refrigerated units. They had recently started doing flatbed and drop-deck work locally in that area. One evening, a driver for said company was dispatched to pick up a track-hoe excavator from a construction site. It seems that the arm of the excavator was not lowered all the way; the driver was grabbing gears and rushing to get back to the yard when he went underneath an overpass that carried a major cross street on it. The raised elbow of the track-hoe slammed into the crossmembers under the bridge; the driver kept on driving. A couple of citizens following witnessed the accident and called the local police. They arrived to listen to the witness statements and assess the damage. Then PennDOT was called to look at the bridge – they immediately shut down the crossroad and ordered the bridge replaced. The crossmembers that were not totally broken were fractured so badly, PennDOT had no choice. The next day, there was an interview on television with the owner of the trucking company, his corporate attorney, and the driver. The driver was looking absolutely miserable, the owner and lawyer were smiling and double talking for all they were worth. That did not stop the state from charging the company for the replacement of the bridge, which just re-opened a few months ago. I never heard if charges were levied against the driver, but I am pretty sure he is polishing beer mugs in some downtown bar now. And the trucking company is now the proud owner of, not just a bridge, but also a track-hoe that is no good for anything but the scrapyard.
I am going to leave you with a video of what NOT to do when confronted by a low overpass. Many thanks to 12-Gauge for sending me the link to this.
Backstory – the person filming this supposedly offered his assistance to the driver. That assistance was caustically rebuffed; the driver then proceeded to film the escapades.
Legal Disclaimer – I do not know this driver. I did not train this driver. I am sure he is now flipping burgers somewhere, at least I would hope so. Or maybe he was hired by a trucking company in Scranton that needed a replacement driver.