A Truck Driving Nightmare in New York City

As a young lad of 21 years of age, and only a few months into the first truck driving job of my career and only 3 months out of trucking school, you would assume that your first company would take it easy on you, right? Well, that's what I thought. Until I got the call - you're going into the Bronx.

They had to be kidding.

No, they weren't. I had to make a delivery in the Bronx. I had never been to New York City. Not once. I had heard the nightmares about driving there, but didn't expect to have to suffer through it just yet. I didn't know enough about NYC to be as scared as I should have been, and didn't know enough about trucking to know I probably should have tried to refuse the load.

So I went.

I got lost the first time when I encountered a now legendary (and since removed) sign that said "low bridge ahead - all trucks must take next exit". They had actually fixed that low clearance years before and almost everyone knew to ignore it. Well I hadn't gotten the memo. I got off the interstate in the middle of somewhere, I can't even remember where anymore, and got on the CB. I found out I could've ignored the sign, but now realized there was no on ramp to the interstate at the street I was on so I'd have to wander around trying to find one. There were no GPS systems at that time either.

After meandernig about terrified of hitting something or getting stuck somewhere I couldn't get out of, I found my way back onto the interstate, but soon found out the directions I had were wrong. I was back to wandering around the city and couldn't find my way. So I called the company I was delivering to again and they managed to get me to the delivery. I made the delivery and was told to head to JFK Airport to make a pickup that afternoon. I managed to find my way there and waited to load.

The Real Nightmare Begins

About 4:30 that afternoon I was loaded. To my delight I noticed that there was an expressway leading from JFK straight to the George Washington Bridge. There was another driver even less experienced than I was who was going to follow me out of the city. And that's when the real nightmare began. We got on the expressway and started cruisin. We noticed how low some of the bridges were, but we were able to get under them. Barely. For now. In fact, the guy following me said some sparks had come off the top of my trailer going under the one bridge. Yikes!!!

Traffic soon came to a hault - it was rush hour - and I noticed a car was trying to get my attention. He yells to me "Hey, this is a parkway! Trucks aren't allowed here! You're not going to make it under the next bridge!"

Holy SH*T!!!! What did he just say???? (sorry, but this time I had to swear!)

So we pull off the side of the road and within a few minutes some DOT workers pull up. Seeing us from a distance, and knowing our predicament, they pointed to a roadway about 100 yards away across an open field! The one guy says "That is where you're supposed to be. We're going to block traffic over there on that road and you'll have to cut across the field and onto that roadway."

What did he just say??? Unbelievable! This could not be real. I just couldn't believe this was happening!

But that was exactly what we did. We went bouncing straight across that field, fingers crossed, up onto the other roadway, and away we went. A few moments later they released traffic behind us, but we were out ahead of it and had clear sailing. Before long we managed to find our way out of the city.

Pure luck. Unbelievable.

I promise you there is nothing fun about driving truck in NYC. It's a nightmare. But with a ton of patience and a little luck, you just might make it through. Hopefully your first time will end as well as mine did, but without all the mess in the middle!

Until next time - here's more resources for ya: