Low bridges

25 years as a Police dispatcher MOSTLY on the Detroit Freeway Patrol.

And though on side streets there are some low clearances. I'm not aware of any freeway bridge under 14' A few under 16 foot (All marked) but none under 14'. Only had four cases of truck v/s bridge

One was a very oversize truck on I-96/M-14 east of I-275 Tarp hit the bridge, NO DAMAGE

One was during construction, Dump truck bed raised lifted a bridge right off the mounts.. This truck was well over 13' tall with the bed up in the DUMP position.

One was a fatal, garbage truck carrying a dumpster (they are not supposed to do that) also well over 14' tall hit a bridge, the dumpster sliced the salesman (not authorised to drive it) in half (ouch)

And one was a crain.. he just nicked a bridge, again over size load.

Oh and one car v/s bridge but how he got that high I have no clue. He hit the name of the road sign which was a good 18' above the freeway.

One thing that really works for me when driving under a suspect bridge is just before I enter the underpass I duck. So far so good!

I use the truck driver road atlas. This list all bridge heights. Tractor trailers are 13'6 inches tall. Many run low profile tires which makes them 13' 4". If your fifth wheel is actually 13' 6" when hooked up to your truck you could be in for a crunched front end on the 5er.

fj12ryder wrote:
Low Clearances does work but it's debatable whether you need a yearly/monthly subscription. I did a one time download and am happy with the results.

I have had it alert me when I passed near a low bridge.

I get free lifetime updates with my GS GPS. No subscriptions here. Each time I connect to my home PC it looks for updates. Some are minor road changes and major ones come out maybe once a year. Usually the changes correct small glitches or added features.

Veebyes wrote:

wnjj wrote:

malexander wrote:

Veebyes wrote:
The semis are taller than you. As long as you see them going in the opposite direction you are good to go.

This may not be totally accurate. The "other side" could very well be higher. Depending on the grade of the road you're on.

It also depends upon what lane you’re in, even when traveling the same direction. That’s what caused the bridge disaster on I-5 in northern Washington a few years ago.

Hair splitting. You know the gist of the post.

Apparently you weren't one of the 71,000 vehicles per day affected by the truck that chose the outer lane...

moresmoke wrote:

fireman41 wrote:
You are not going to find any bridges less than 13'6" on any interstate. The 13' you seen on the bridges on I94 is the height of the bridge on the shoulder. The travled part of the road is at least 13'6".

^^^ Standard van semi trailer is 13 6 tall. There are a couple in Detroit that are marked 13 7. The CB antennas hit, but the trailer clears!

My antennas would hit some of the bridges on the PA turn pike.

Another note on bridge heights if you plan on traveling in New York. New York has a lot of bridges marked 12'9" but there are actually 13'6", but some are marked 12'9" and really are 12'9" tall.

There are no bridges on I-94 that a semi will not fit under. Guaranteed.

Low Clearances does work but it's debatable whether you need a yearly/monthly subscription. I did a one time download and am happy with the results.

I have had it alert me when I passed near a low bridge.

jerryjay11 wrote:
I'm not sure where that 13'limit comes from. I use GS Trip planner and have a route set up online now which shows a low clearance bridge of 13' 4". My camper is 10' 9" so plenty room. I can set my GS RV GPS/Rand McNally for camper height and never had a problem. I do watch for bridge clearance signs though.

Same here. Use a Rand McNally GPS, I programmed specifics of 5er in to it.
I use GS trip planner as a preliminary before I leave to see what is in store on the route.