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.

Thanks for the story, too!

Tumbleweed

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?