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Bus Discussion => Bus Topics ( click here for quick start! ) => Topic started by: Scott & Heather on April 06, 2015, 05:23:12 AM

Title: Just a reminder. Watch your height!
Post by: Scott & Heather on April 06, 2015, 05:23:12 AM
Saw this on I-35 south of Dallas. Bridge height indicated over 15 feet. But here's the issue sometimes in this case and in the case of our buses (especially 45 footers) the road has a gradual grade that goes up after you go under the bridge. Enough of a grade, and even though the front area of your coach clears, the rear area might not cause your front is raising up. Just a thought to keep in mind. This guys day was ruined. He was wedged under there.
(https://busconversionmagazine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftapatalk.imageshack.com%2Fv2%2F15%2F04%2F06%2F9bba81243145908f044991e690b1f36c.jpg&hash=fa8b40fc2f29583e7a2676e23ba704718f8c16b6)
(https://busconversionmagazine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftapatalk.imageshack.com%2Fv2%2F15%2F04%2F06%2F86d5168985bcbc2c43c91974ce546544.jpg&hash=4346114dfdcbdd25411f0512eb16c1c67da491e3)

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Title: Re: Just a reminder. Watch your height!
Post by: digesterman on April 06, 2015, 05:40:37 AM
Hey cheap diesel
Title: Re: Just a reminder. Watch your height!
Post by: luvrbus on April 06, 2015, 06:33:22 AM
Looks like they used a harbor/freight tape for taking measurements poor guy better hope his permit and measurements are in order if the State routed him under that overpass   
Title: Re: Just a reminder. Watch your height!
Post by: TomC on April 06, 2015, 06:48:32 AM
One reason I like my transit-only 11ft tall to the top of the A/C's.
Title: Re: Just a reminder. Watch your height!
Post by: lostagain on April 06, 2015, 06:58:06 AM
Easy said, but:

you would think that, knowing the height of your load, and knowing that this overpass is really, really close, you would stop and take a good look first?

JC
Title: Re: Just a reminder. Watch your height!
Post by: Boomer on April 06, 2015, 07:01:17 AM
Easy to get out, just dump the trailer air bags.
Title: Re: Just a reminder. Watch your height!
Post by: bobofthenorth on April 06, 2015, 07:12:18 AM
Quote from: lostagain on April 06, 2015, 06:58:06 AM
Easy said, but:

you would think that, knowing the height of your load, and knowing that this overpass is really, really close, you would stop and take a good look first?

JC

I'd say he did exactly that JC.  I can't see any damaged concrete which you would definitely see if he had hit at any kind of speed.  Looks to me like a "that's really close but I'll just make it" situation. 
Title: Re: Just a reminder. Watch your height!
Post by: Iceni John on April 06, 2015, 07:56:38 AM
Many years ago when I was working for an international moving and storage company that serviced the British army bases in the north of what was then West Germany, one of the army tank transporter squadron's officers told us of the memorable occasion (memorable for all the wrong reasons) that several tank transporter trucks each loaded with a tank had come to a halt on the autobahn because they were just too tall to fit under a bridge.   Bear in mind that cars go very fast on German autobahns, very very fast indeed!   This meant they couldn't move out from the slow lane to the fast lane where there was just enough clearance, nor obviously could they turn round or back up .   So what to do?   To a British army squaddie, there's only one solution  -  unload each tank, drive the empty truck and trailer under the bridge, then drive the tank under the bridge, then reload each tank, and repeat umpteen times.   Apparently it took them all day to get under this one bridge, and the locals whizzing by in their cars thought that World War III had started or the Soviets had invaded or something else dire.   And all this happened because someone had miscalculated an all-important measurement.   Oops.

Size does matter.

John   
Title: Re: Just a reminder. Watch your height!
Post by: luvrbus on April 06, 2015, 08:13:13 AM
If he was in the left lane he would have cleared all clearances in Texas are measured at the lowest point,I had a driver hit a overpass on I 45 in Houston it wasn't cheap but the state was found liable in my case for routing him on I 45 the over pass was the lowest on I 45 it has since been raised 
Title: Re: Just a reminder. Watch your height!
Post by: Utahclaimjumper on April 06, 2015, 09:52:59 AM
 Its a hell of a lot easier to lower the pavement than to raise the overpass.>>>Dan
Title: Re: Just a reminder. Watch your height!
Post by: luvrbus on April 06, 2015, 10:13:00 AM
Could be Dan but maintenance wise and flooding most go with raising the overpass in Texas 
Title: Re: Just a reminder. Watch your height!
Post by: Jim Eh. on April 06, 2015, 10:27:02 AM
We had a similar issue in town here. The sign was never updated after they capped the roadway with a fresh layer of about 4" of asphalt.
Title: Re: Just a reminder. Watch your height!
Post by: luvrbus on April 06, 2015, 10:44:41 AM
A 4 inch overlay at a underpass was some bad planning we never done one that way we always milled the pavement and put it back to the original height, it probably would cost a lot less money to make a different sign though milling is not cheap that takes high $$$ equipment with high maintenance cost  
Title: Re: Just a reminder. Watch your height!
Post by: boxcarOkie on April 06, 2015, 11:49:26 AM
Quote from: Utahclaimjumper on April 06, 2015, 09:52:59 AM
Its a hell of a lot easier to lower the pavement than to raise the overpass.>>>Dan

When the cops show up, he could say "he was delivering the overpass" and ran out of fuel" Dan ... I mean ... After all "It is Texas."

BCO
Title: Re: Just a reminder. Watch your height!
Post by: CrabbyMilton on April 06, 2015, 12:41:49 PM
That's a good one BoxCar. But as far as buses, that's how they convert regular double decker buses in to open top sightseeing types. Alot quicker than taking it to some shop to remove the top.
Indeed, poor planning. There is an underpass her in Milwaukee that runs under I-94 near MILLER PARK(BREWERS baseball stadium) that is notorius for trucks getting stuck under. It seem like on average it happens once a year.
Title: Re: Just a reminder. Watch your height!
Post by: Jim Eh. on April 06, 2015, 06:25:15 PM
Quote from: luvrbus on April 06, 2015, 10:44:41 AM
A 4 inch overlay at a underpass was some bad planning we never done one that way we always milled the pavement and put it back to the original height, it probably would cost a lot less money to make a different sign though milling is not cheap that takes high $$$ equipment with high maintenance cost  

Unfortunately it was on a sharp(er) right-hander under a rail line overpass at the base in the middle of two bridges so milling probably would not be feasible. The undulating S curve would make seasoned Nürburgring drivers nervous.
I believe the "lazer level" technology was also a few years in the future. Shortly thereafter, the bridges and overpass were replaced.
Title: Re: Just a reminder. Watch your height!
Post by: Ed Hackenbruch on April 06, 2015, 09:10:18 PM
If there isn't any traffic around me to keep an eye on, i check out the underside of the overpasses to see how many scrape marks there are or how many chunks of concrete are missing.....surprising sometimes how many of those have been hit.
Title: Re: Just a reminder. Watch your height!
Post by: scanzel on April 07, 2015, 03:59:40 AM
I was driving on I95 here is Connecticut one day and was behind a lowboy rig carrying a huge excavator when all of a sudden my windshield was cover with oil. It turned out that as the rig was traveling the trailer had some bounce to it as he went under the overpass the trailer bounced up and he slammed the excavator boom against the I beams blowing out the hydraulic pistons on the boom sending fluid all over my windshield. He must have never felt it because he kept on trucking.
Title: Re: Just a reminder. Watch your height!
Post by: Oonrahnjay on April 07, 2015, 04:45:05 AM
Quote from: digesterman on April 06, 2015, 05:40:37 AMHey cheap diesel 

      THREAD DRIFT ALERT!!!   Yeah,  Here in We-Never-Saw-A-Tax-That-We-Didn't-Love North Carolina, I just pumped a $2.39/gal tank in my TDI yesterday.  And the book says that my bus is right at 13' 6" so I drive with one eye looking upwards anyway.
Title: Re: Just a reminder. Watch your height!
Post by: dickegler on April 07, 2015, 04:47:27 AM
here is compilation of underpass mishaps.
  Entertaining

11foot8.com

dick