Weight limits and detours

[richard5933]

Twice in the past week I've been faced with last-second road closures/detours. Both times were driving through Milwaukee getting to/from my woodworking shop where I'm doing some interior work. My shop is in an industrial zone and heavily traveled by heavy trucks. I was using my Garmin to help keep on roads with appropriate weight limits, until detours/road blocks got in the way.

One time was due to an accident which closed the road ahead of me. There was no way to see the problem until after I'd passed the last major intersection. The police set up a road block and were directing traffic to a residential street with a 5-ton weight limit due to a rollover accident.

The other time was due to poorly-marked road repairs. I turned a corner and was faced with a road closure and detour signs. As soon as I turned to follow the detour my Garmin started screaming about an upcoming 3-ton weight limit on a bridge.

Each time there was rush hour traffic behind me and no good alternatives. The time with the bridge I saw city buses crossing in spite of the weight limit sign and I know that they far exceeded the 3-ton limit. The residential street did not have any noticeable bridges or culvert crossings.

The police road block is almost understandable - there was an accident and the closure was an emergency situation and only short-term. The road construction though, I'll never understand. Surely the public works department knows the weight limit of the road they are closing and you'd think they would choose a detour route with a similar weight limit.

What's the recommended procedure in these cases? There was no way to back out and no good option to move forward. What have others done in these cases?

[Geoff]

Weight limits don't apply to motorhomes.  If your bus is registered as a motorhome look at the registration and it should have all 00000 for the weight.

--Geoff

[richard5933]

I'm registered as a motor home.

Weight limits may not apply, but gravity and physics still do. How does one know if the weight limit is just to prevent noise in the residential area from trucks or because there is a hidden culvert under the roadway with a weight restriction?

[luvrbus]

99 % of the time the bridge weight restrictions in areas is to keep the truck traffic out,you see it all the time a bridge with a 10,000 lb limit and a 60,000 lbs concrete truck hauling concrete to a job site.I am leery about old wooden bridges with a long span though I fell through one in Arkansas back in 1969 that made me shy of wooden bridges 

[chessie4905]

OH, that was you..we now know where to send the bill for repairing it. Trouble is is if you cause the bridge to fail while you are on it, somebody is going after you for the damage irregardless. Whether you're cleared or not...who knows.

[DoubleEagle]

Oh gee, this brings back memories of a certain hardwood log bridge on a construction road for a power line in Northern Vermont that one of my dump trucks was first in line to cross. The project engineers had certified the bridge as being good for 100,000 lbs, and my heavy dump was filled with large stone grossing 74,000 lbs. It made it across the bridge to the extent that the front wheels were off the bridge, but the rear tandems were not so lucky. The whole bridge collapsed into the stream, and the driver got the thrill of his life, ending up at a 45 degree angle. I had insurance on the truck to cover all damages, and the construction company covered the bridge and bringing in bulldozers and cranes to get the truck out (Diamond Reo with Mack 55,000 lb. rears). I am a little cautious of bridge load estimates, and even if someone ahead of you makes it across (of same size), that does not mean you will. An important distinction is the difference between the gross weight of the vehicle, and the actual axle load on the pavement as each axle moves across. The federal bridge formula was created to account for the axle loads and distance between axles.

[Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM]

Well if these kids can do it in big trucks, surely you can cross wooden bridges in your bus. :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZuLRIdEbK4

[Beesme]

I'd like too know more about the 0000 weight for motor homes . Here in NH they make me go to the state for the Newell and not for the 4106 . Newell is 40k so of course more $ . That could help my town clerk says anything over 30k needs to go too state grrrr 

[richard5933]

Here is Wisconsin the weight is definitely not 00000. Had to declare the weight when registering.

Is there a reference book/website somewhere that lists weight limits imposed for structural reasons vs. noise abatement reasons? I'm sure I'll be in this situation again.

The bridges we can see are not the only problem. There are many culverts and under-road water crossing points that we cannot see. It would be impossible to know when we're about to collapse one of these by being overweight, and as such I'm really hesitant to just assume I'm exempt.

It would be nice that when a truck route has a posted detour the road department chose an appropriate detour for heavy vehicles, but it's apparent that isn't the case.

[luvrbus]

If you look most detours where a major thru street at one time way back is what I have always found,there is one long bridge that I have crossed and I forgot where it was but the limit was 12,000 lbs so about the time I decided to turn around I noticed all the city buses crossing it so I crossed it