How many times have you ducked going under an overpass that did not appear tall enough to let you travel underneath it with your trailer? I’ve done it a couple of times and always had a good laugh when a voice would come over the radio asking, “Okay. Who ducked?”
What’s even worse? Getting directions from people whom I wonder how on earth they make it to work! It’s annoying and even more aggravating when you’re driving a large car and this happens. Unless they’ve been in a big truck themselves, they have NO IDEA what kind of trouble a rig can get into when directions are wrong.
Hubby and I had a load of frozen food going into Chicago one July. God, it was hot! I just happened to get to drive during the day because hubby wasn’t feeling too well. I had stopped long before getting into town in order to get directions. As most of you know, Chicago was absolutely chock full of underpasses which, until the mid-1990′s, were usually too low and routes around had to be found. I knew this. So, I made sure that I asked the receiver, endlessly, about underpasses that were en route, and he patiently told me every time that they had all been “dug out” to allow the big rigs.
I’m confident as I make my way through Chicago traffic, which is fairly heavy in mid-morning and hubby is feeling good enough to sit in the jump-seat and “side-seat” drive. However, he makes it known to me that he does not like the route and I assured him that the receiver assured me that this was right. We had already negotiated two or three underpasses successfully.
Just a few blocks from delivery, traffic had thickened and the smooth flow of traffic came to a stop at a red light. So, I stop…under an overpass. And what happens to a truck when you hit the brakes? Uh-huh, you got it. They fill up with air…which does what to the trailer? (Groan)
So the light changes to green and I step on the go-pedal…and move a little bit, but it seems like the brakes are on. We aren’t going any further and can’t figure out why. Hubby moans loudly in protest and gets out of the truck. People are starting to honk because I’m not moving. Hubby comes back a couple of minutes later, madder’n a wet hen. He yells at me that we aren’t going anywhere for awhile.
Now, I’m getting angry simply because I know I didn’t do anything wrong, least of all, getting yelled at. I holler right back and ask what the *$%@ is it?
When the brakes filled up, the trailer came right up to the underside of the overpass and when I got that little bit of forward motion, the ridge along the top of the back doors hung up on the back side of the overpass and pulled the door frame partially from the truck! God, it’s hot here in July! And we’re toting frozen food! A couple of cops pull up and of course, they want to talk to the driver! I’m just waiting for one of those “where are you delivering the bridge” jokes. But things don’t get that far because there are too many hotheads out there trying to get around me and the traffic has just quadrupled in the last 10 minutes.
I don’t remember how we got that big truck out of there, but it took most of the day. From that day forward, I NEVER took the receivers’ word for underpasses again. And any time we had to deliver in Chicago, I called the police department to find out which underpasses were high enough!
About Author Tumbleweed
Hello, to all of you! I'm glad to see that you took some time out of truckin', or hopin' to be truckin' or even done with truckin', to stop in.
I've done my truckin'. I had several years "on the CB" before I even got to truckin', and that dad-blasted radio is the reason I've paid my dues. Me and my big mouth, that's what I get. I used to work about an hour from a very big city and I was always chattin' with the drivers and helpin' them get to places in town that they were trying to get to. I could get them around all the construction and any events that might be taking place at the fairgrounds or the convention center. Every now and then I'd stop and have coffee with one of the drivers. The last time I did that, we ended up talking for four hours! Two weeks later I was on the road with my future hubby.
Hubby had been driving big trucks for about seventeen years, by then. He's had the opportunity to drive the "double-stick" shift, he's hauled swingin' meat, gasoline, produce, dry goods, lumber, car engines, you-name-it. Then, I got to do it, too. Of course, I did know how to drive a straight stick and I think that helped some. I actually tried driving the big truck like it was a really, really big 5-speed. Took a little while to get used to double-clutchin', but once I got the hang of it, then I wanted to do it in the 5-speed, too. Geez.
I've been in Kenworths (KWs), Peterbilts (Petes), Western Stars (Star Cars), International Harvesters (IH's), and I think I even drove a Volvo once. My favorite truck as far as looks go…Western Star, hands down. But as far as driving and comfort, I go for the Petes.
Those of you who are or have been truckin' will understand what I give up in this blog. Those of you who haven't yet will get a little bit more education, maybe a laugh or two, and hopefully a little insight as to what you're in for. And if I know anything about truckers, it's that they love to talk about their experiences out on the road...the good, the bad AND the ugly. Come on in and let us hear from you. You don't have to start blogging, just add your own experiences for everyone to share.
I've been off the road now for nine years and for the most part, I don't miss it. However, I wouldn't trade the experience for anything in the world. Truckin' is a life unto itself. Now, I'm livin' in the southwest with my hubby and takin' things one day at a time. I like it like that.
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Most Recent By Tumbleweed
Yikes! Being from Chicago, I know all about the imapatient drivers and the low overpasses. Too bad that light didn’t stay green for ya!
Too bad that overpass wasn’t HIGHER! LOL!
If stepping on the brake filled them with air and raised the trailer why didn’t taking your foot off let the air out and lower the trailer? FYI I haven’t entered training or read about air brakes so it could be a simple thing.
After pulling forward with the trailer scraping the bottom of the overpass, the trailer became “hung” or stuck on the overpass. I just wish I could remember what the guys did to get that trailer out of there, but I was told to stay in the truck. Hubby was NOT happy! LOL! I can laugh about it now, but he was mad at me for a WEEK after that!
Yup, Chicago is not nice to big trucks. So many bridges have been “dug out” and we can get under them but no one considers your example or ice/snow on the road and even worse is that new pavement or asphalt that is there. Now can you go under that bridge? When you do ask the “right” people for directions some still do not understand BIG TRUCK and they tell you the other trucks make it thru—flatbeds, tankers, garbage trucks and etc…. Yes, you have to be really careful for your first visit anywhere until you know you can get there on said route.
Sounds like something that happened to me (except I refused to go under an underpass that seemed too low..)
You know how those greyhound buses look like they’re as tall as a semi? it was hard for me to tell because they’re always flying past me so fast
(they’re governed 10mph higher than i was, and i did a lot of western loads). The tallest ones are 12’6 (as in, TWELVE FOOT SIX INCHES). Some are shorter than that. (I asked a bus driver)
I was working for CRST and was at the carlisle terminal, and i had a new co-driver coming in on a bus. I was instructed to bobtail to the Harrisburg bus station to pick him up. Makes sense. So i asked the shop foreman how to get there, and also called the greyhound station themselves. Both of them told me the route, but neither knew the exit number. There is this bridge that is clearly marked as 13’0 in front of the bus station, and both instructions told me to stop before i get there. Which left me an issue…WHERE DO I PARK? And obviously i had to be there before the co-driver so he would be P-O’d at me.
Oh, CRST bobtails are about 13’5.
First of all, i ended up going the wrong way. I didn’t see a “cameron street”, but i saw a big sign “BUS STATION –> THIS EXIT” and got off i-81 there, “oh maybe thats it”. So i’m on a 1 way street and eventually come up to a sign “12’6 LOW CLEARANCE BRIDGE AHEAD ALL TRUCKS <– THAT WAY”. on a one way street. SO THEN WHAT? And yes, i got out of there, and didn’t even waste very much time. I learned a big lesson that day.
So i take the right route there, and get to that overpass, which even has a big sign “BUSSES ONLY, ALL OTHER VHEICLES MAKE NEXT RIGHT”, where the next right is just a parking lot. I pull over in this parking lot, park, and get out of the truck. An angry security guard tells me i cant park there, cause someone else parked a truck there and then got on a bus and left it.
And he tells me that all the other trucks go under that bridge. Anyway, i refused to go under the bridge and he told me i could park in a parking lot across the street for an hour. All was good. I’m still not quite sure what would have happened if i went under that bridge. It did look taller than 13’0…but thats not something for *me* to find out. someone else can do that 
And the co-driver, who just got out of training, is all cocky that i made him walk for a block. “The bus fits under it!”…..and all his bags were on wheels….
Some people will never learn i guess. I never even pulled a load with that guy, he turned out to be easily described by words i won’t use here.
But that other bridge, on the wrong road? What a pain. The next over one way street wasn’t a truck route, or the next one, or the next one, or the next one, or the next one, and i stopped and asked for directions and it was at some arab gas station where apparently the man had never heard of a truck.
I don’t remember what i did, but i sure didn’t hit a bridge.
I hate eastern cities.
And what is up with the pennsylvania turnpike (i-76) bridges?
Great response on trusting your gut instinct, Leslie. Sometimes you just gotta go with what YOU know instead of what OTHERS think you should know. After all, it all comes back to you, even if someone else told you it was “okay”.
Thanks for the story, too!
Tumbleweed
A little late for my reply but you have to go with your instincts. As Tumbleweed said, it will be your fault. I came to a screeching halt out on a highway one day nowhere near a town and had people pissed at me on a 2 lane highway.
Sign for the bridge said 13’6′ or was it 5′??? Guess it does not really matter as how can a 13’6′ vehicle fit?? And it also looked really short. I did not like this at all. Another semi approached me and cleared it and at that time, one of the local people stopped to tell me that it really is OK to go under it. So all ended up well.
But I would rather stop and hold up traffic verses stopping the hard way and doing lots of damage to my unit and the cargo. It is you that will have to explain to your employer what happened.
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Wouldn’t putting the cab bag switch in the dump position give you that extra few inches work or even the suspension dump switch
It would, but most company tractors don’t have that type of switch installed. Owner-operators might, and I have worked for a company or two that did. It’s handy as can be sometimes. But most companies don’t have em installed.