HELP! Low tunnel question

[maddawg46]

My motorhome is 13 ft. HighTo the top of the air conditioner. I measured it. I got a Trwuckers atlas that lists low tunnels and bridges. The highway I plan on going has one **** tunnel that seems too low. In the atlas it calls out two dimensions. Maximum 13.10, minimum 12.9. I assume that this is the dimension of the tunnel itself. The middle is 13.10 and the right side is 12.9. IS THAT CORRECT?

I don't want to rip off my air conditioner. I should not have waited until the last minute to look at this atlas. I guess I should talk to a trucker.

[JumboJet]

Do you continue if you are 11' 4"? I did. Made it. The seat cover will never be the same though.

[maddawg46]

Bad day. I decided to try it. 2 miles from first tunnel is a huge yellow warning sign stating anything ove 11ft 9 inches must exit over Bridge of the Gods and back across to the Interstate! The trucker atlas was wrong, the DOT website for height was Wrong. I even called the state Police. They said I was too close the limit to call.
So I canceled my 3 days at the Elk RV park in Trout Lake, was not able to meet up with my old work mate. To top it off the RV park charged me $60 cancellation fee!!
So here I am in Kennewick Washington and headed to Idaho. What a stressful day. I'm beat.

[jorbill2or]

The normal truck trailer is 13'6" tall some older trailers can be as high as 14' the scrapes you see in those photos are from trucks who have drifted over the fog line on the right. And most likely from CB antennas mounted on the mirrors that exceed the trailer height , on purpose to transmit over the trailer
There is enough clearance on that tunnel to stay in your lane. I've driven semis thru it a few times and it's not a real issue. That said my normal route was I 84 on the Oregon side for speed reasons only.
If you are truly 13' at the ac the sides are no more than 12'6".no problem , other than the question , can you keep your vehicle centered in your lane in a situation like that?

[supercub]

The road on the south side of the Columbia is 4 lane hiway, you won't have any problem on that side. I've driven both sides, and personally, I think the south side is a prettier drive.

[SoCalDesertRid1]

That's a cool idea with the cameras! ^^^

[wa8yxm]

In theory the center is the maximum, that may be the left lane in a 4 Lane tunnel or it may be astride the center line

I would suggest an alternate route

Another thing you can do ..

I mounted a CB antenna.. THe tip of the antenna is just a bit higher than the A/C... You approach a low-underpass at a slow crawal. If the antenna makes contect. GO AROUND.

Next planned upgrade on MH is a camera array.. (They only cost a small amount each) one will be in the A/C shroud. Looking forward. One on each rear view looking backward.. Don't know where I'll put others yet but I already have one under the fuel filler looking straight out.. on this Gasser it's lke 30 feet from me to filler neck and it's on the other side as well making lining up on the pump next to IMPPOSSIBLE.. I switch to B on my Rearwiew monitor and when the pump is centered on teh screen.... I'm good.

[donkeydew]

i always cross the river when in my rv.if you "drive" the tunnels on google you will see scars the whole length inside the tunnels where big rigs could not fudge the center line. i know a lot of big rigs do it ever day but after seeing the battle scars i just don't have the guts to do it when i-84 is right there

[sdbounderdiesel]

I traveled HWY 14 east of Portland a number of times last summer and went through the series of tunnels just west of Hood River bridge. Choo Choo Man 74's pictures show exactly what it looks like. The posted signs show the clearance at the solid white line on the edge of the road. During my trips I saw at least half a dozen large semis going through the tunnels with no problem. The tunnels are fairly short and traffic seemed to be very light. Most of times the semis eased towards the center of road as they went through, but it looked like you could safely ease back to the right if someone was coming the other way. Your call on that.
Not sure where you are headed but if you are headed east on HWY 14 from Portland you could drop down across the Columbia River at Bridge of the Gods (near Stevenson) to Interstate I-84 and head east from there. It is a short drive from there to Hood River Bridge and then on to The Dalles. I am pretty sure you can cross back over at the Dalles and avoid the whole tunnel situation. Check it out. Good Luck!

[Mr_Mark1]

I sure wouldn't risk it as a gas unit cannot be lowered.

We can drop at least 5 inches if we need to but we would have to go slow and straight. We are 13'4" tall. I had to lower getting into Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort in Orlando.

They have a 1972 Kiosk that is being replaced with a taller entrance building. The kicker was, there is a speed bump before you clear the roof... how stupid. But, we made it.

The clerk show me where tall units had hit if they didn't lower.

MM.

[PastorCharlie]

There are two (2) low clearances east of Portland on hwy.14. One (1) to the west of Hood is listed as 12' 9" and one (1) west of Lyle is listed as 12'6"

The Hood River Bridge, crossing the Columbia River, is between the two low clearances.

[ChooChooMan74]

[rk911]

Hear-I-Am wrote:
I use an online program called RV Trip Wizard. It shows the tunnel at Lyle, WA to 13' 3" to me a different route to your destination would be prudent.

I found a neat interactive tool from the State of Washington. I input your RV height and chose to show all state routes. the Lyle tunnel at MP 76.77 reports 13' 3".

[enblethen]

WA 14 is used by many big truck rigs without issue. The tunnel low spots are at the right fog line.

[wolfe10]

Two alternatives we used this summer in NY and MA were:

Google earth the "obstruction". In many of the pictures, you will see an 18 wheeler going through. If he can go, I can go.

From Google earth, scroll from the obstruction until you see a business that likely has 18 wheeler deliveries/does road work, etc.

This summer's lowest bridge clearance (on paper) that we wanted to go under was less than 2 blocks from a NY DOT office. Took 10 seconds on the phone for him to tell me the exact clearance and assure me that Walmart trucks went under it all the time. So, we did not detour around it.